Topic: Xabi Alonso

[Chivasino]

Why are we still arguying over his departure. Who cares who was at fault? He's gone and that's the bottom line.

I reckon the www would've gone into meltdown the day Kenny and Rush left.

Get over it and move on.

[walshys_mullet]

Alonso had done fuck all for 2 seasons when we tried to sell him and Rafa was right to try and sell him at the time
Its not bad man management trying to sell a player who is not performing
funny how no one would pay 18 mil for him after he had been playing shit, it shows how much he improved last year as his price nearly doubled, people who blame Rafa for Alonso wanting to leave are fucking clueless



This is absolute bollocks

Thats the post.

[djphal]

Thats the post.

Thankyou 

[PanchDeBurca]

Thankyou 

Why don't you just marry him

i'm sorry but this rubbish of him not playing well for 2 years is simply not true, he'd had several injuries in that time and when he didn't play the team played on the whole rubbish and when he did play he was on the whole excellent (allowing for a game or 2 to get back into it), not only that but the team played alot better when he returned.  Why do people continously bring up this 2 bad seasons rubbish,  thats the part that bollocks

[djphal]

Why don't you just marry him

i'm sorry but this rubbish of him not playing well for 2 years is simply not true, he'd had several injuries in that time and when he didn't play the team played on the whole rubbish and when he did play he was on the whole excellent (allowing for a game or 2 to get back into it), not only that but the team played alot better when he returned.  Why do people continously bring up this 2 bad seasons rubbish,  thats the part that bollocks

can you explain why no one would pay 18 million last season then?
alonso had 2 great seasons at liverpool, the first and the last, if he had played the same for the other 2 rafa wouldnt have tried to sell him last year

its quite simple really

[PanchDeBurca]

can you explain why no one would pay 18 million last season then?
alonso had 2 great seasons at liverpool, the first and the last, if he had played the same for the other 2 rafa wouldnt have tried to sell him last year

its quite simple really

Well Madrid and Man City weren't throwing ridiculous money around last year, this year  the market had been mad, prices paid have been out of hand.

Well what we do know is that Wenger, who is as good a judge of a good footballer as there is, was interested but we wouldn't sell to a rival.

Can you honestly say that Barry was worth more than Alonso??  18m for Barry was just ridiculous and to have to sell Alonso to fund it just took the biscuit, I really can't see how people can justify Rafa's decisions last summer

[carling]

Alonso had done fuck all for 2 seasons when we tried to sell him and Rafa was right to try and sell him at the time
Its not bad man management trying to sell a player who is not performing
funny how no one would pay 18 mil for him after he had been playing shit, it shows how much he improved last year as his price nearly doubled, people who blame Rafa for Alonso wanting to leave are fucking clueless



This is absolute bollocks

So during the second half of the 07-08 season after Alonso came back from injury and we had the best form in the league, how would you describe Alonso's peformances, and the midfield axis of Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso in general?

And in the 06-07 season what did you make of Sissoko's mediocre passing and how Alonso virtually had to carry him through games in this respect?  Also how furious were you at the end of the season when Alonso was rewarded with a 5 year deal after doing 'fuck all' that season as you put it?

Anyone else who agrees wholeheartedly with djphal's post please feel free to answer.

[BazC]

Never heard of this guy, who is he.

He's the one who scored our 3rd goal in this match. You might remember the match I'm talking about?

[Danny_]

I knew they'd be out in force on this one.  Rafa gave Alonso the kick up the @ss he needed.  He and some of our fans didn't like this.  They feel that the way to get the best out of players is to praise them when they are playing cr@p.   Lets see what happens if Alonso has a season or two at Madrid like the ones he had in between his two good seasons for us. 

[GinuWhine]

See, changing Mascherano to another defensive midfielder would not alter your game plans, even if that replacement isn't as good as Mascherano. Mascherano is a pure destroyer. Rafa should have known that changing Alonso means changing game style.

Its like you saying what if Barca had to get rid of Toure or Xavi. Toure is a great player, younger than Xavi, but Xavi is 10 times more important to Barca. Same is true with Mascherano, a great player, younger than Alonso, but far less crucial, IMO.

I don't even know where to begin with this muppet post. F*ck it, point blank:

"Rafa should have known that changing Alonso means changing game style": As the manager, Rafa deemed that he needed more goals from central midfield and that was the problem breaking teams down at home who park the bus. Of course Rafa knew changing Alonso meant changing his game style. He decided he needed to replace Xabi who is also going on 30, Masch is mid 20s. And he was getting 34m for him. I don't give a flying f*ck if Masch is a destroyer or not. Xabi was the one to sell. Your insinuation that Rafa was oblivious to this is laughable.

Great post and sums up exactly how i feel, Masch is a great player but Alonso was the man in midfield who was unsaleable.  You've also highlighted the problem with Liverpool, we are rubbish out wide, still are if you ask me which means we are weaker in centre mid (no judgement yet on Acq) and still have poor attacking options in wide midfield. 

Also people mention our lack of goals from centre mid, for me there was a simple solution to get Alonso involved more in the box, have Masch sitting deeper and push alonso on, i.e swap them.  For me it was madness asking Masch to play in the more advanced role, can't shoot, passing average, absolutley no goal threat.  I think if we'd swaped them then we would have been much more threatening.  This combined with some true class out wide and we wouldn't have half as many 0-0's.

You have also mentioned the 1 man who i think could have solved this following Alonso's sale, idiot that he is he is still a true world class winger.  Question for people, would we have been better splashing 20m on Robben, moving Gerrard back and not signing the Roman??

Alonso was a brilliant player, my favourite since Fowler and without a shadow of doubt he will be sorely missed this season by the team and not just me.  this ridiculous fascination that Benitez has with Barry has cost us dearly as i said last year at the time

Can people honestly say that we are stronger starting this season than starting last season??  I can't and I really don't think we are strong enough to win it this year. 

This is utter garbage. Alonso is unsaleable? Give me a f*in break. He's going on 30 FFS and we got 34m for him. What? You want a 40-45 year old Alonso running the midfield because you can't let go of the guy? Players come and go.

20m on Robben rather than Aquilani? So the other half of you wankers could complain about breaking up the Gerrard-Torres partnership?

Rafa didn't have a rediculous fascination with Barry. Xabi was garbage the year before last. The fact that he picked up his level last season proves Rafa was right. Xabi wasn't bringing what he could have and Rafa had to light a fire under his ass. If Rafa didn't, we wouldn't have come 2nd. And Xabi isn't the be all and end all of football. There are other players in the world.

Comments like these are utter sh*t.

[owens_2k]

Its simple, if your not with us then you are the enemy.

[sunny_LFC]

Alonso had done fuck all for 2 seasons when we tried to sell him and Rafa was right to try and sell him at the time
Its not bad man management trying to sell a player who is not performing
funny how no one would pay 18 mil for him after he had been playing shit, it shows how much he improved last year as his price nearly doubled, people who blame Rafa for Alonso wanting to leave are fucking clueless

hits nail on head

[HarryLabrador]

He's no longer a Liverpool player. Let's not waste any more time and effort discussing him. I loved Xabi when he played for us, but in a very astute way he's pointing the finger of blame at Rafa. He's moved on and it was entirely his desire to do so. That's all he should say.

[The Cobbler]

We can debate the merits of Alonso all day but it doesn't change anything - he's gone and it was his choice, but he made his mark with us.

I think he's a wonderful player - His first two seasons were very good (04/05 and 05/06) but 06/07 and 07/08 were fairly forgettable and I'll never forget that home FA cup tie against Barnsley in Feb 08 where he got the run around from average championship players and I thought he's lost it....His subsequent fall out with Rafa (doesn't matter now whose fault it was) didn't help and not playing at Inter in the CL seemed to seal his fate. I know for a fact that no team would pay the £16M we were asking for in Summer 2008, he was hawked around to at least 10 clubs (one of which was Real Madrid by the way...) and apart from a derisory bid of £9m from Arsenal ( Wenger trying it on) there were no takers.

The Barry deal fell through because Rick Parry had blown the budget on Robbie Keane and we were skint and couldn't pay the fee, Villa wanted - unless Alonso was sold for the £16M - so Alonso stayed for 08/09 - but not for the want of Rafa trying to get rid of him - he so wanted Barry and thought we'd got him for this season at £9M in May 09 till moneybags Man City came in!

Remember Alonso was on the bench for the first game at Sunderland last season  08/09 despite no Mascherano or Lucas available ( both at the Olympics) and our Centre Midfield was Gerard and Plessis! That's how far Xabi had fallen down the pecking order, but he then went onto have probably the best season of his time with us - he told the club in May 09 he was going and nothing would make him stay. Fair enough says I - Thanks for the memories and for the the large fee (£30M) which finally came from Real when a year earlier, they wouldn't pay just under half that for him with LFC looking to sell to anybody who'd take him!

The reason why it dragged on for so long this summer - quite simply brinkmanship by Real who thought we'd cave in and take less than the £16M we'd asked for the year before and us being stubborn and exploiting their large bag of money. At one stage, the deal was off and Xabi thought he was staying, but finally Real paid up.

A bit of a tawdry end to a top player's time with us, but if and when he comes back to Anfield with Real, I'll give him a clap as I recall that night in the Ataturk when he put that rebound past Dida - players come and go, but the memories remain!

[djphal]

So during the second half of the 07-08 season after Alonso came back from injury and we had the best form in the league, how would you describe Alonso's peformances, and the midfield axis of Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso in general?

And in the 06-07 season what did you make of Sissoko's mediocre passing and how Alonso virtually had to carry him through games in this respect?  Also how furious were you at the end of the season when Alonso was rewarded with a 5 year deal after doing 'fuck all' that season as you put it?

Anyone else who agrees wholeheartedly with djphal's post please feel free to answer.

so you think he played consistently for 4 seasons?

[Stussy]

It was nice of him to make a point of praising the fans. Obviously he is a nice guy and he wants to maintain good relations with us. But there's no point in falling out over him now, because he's gone.

And it doesn't matter because we've got a league to win, and we can do it without him.

[sunny_LFC]

his form for 06/07 and 07/08 was poor and i agreed with rafa's decision to try and sell. we needed xabi to be better or a player that could perform better and we couldn't sit around and afford to wait another year or two for him to get back with it.

had it not been for our efforts to offload him to juve, etc he may never have found the form of last season. who knows.

what we got from the whole affair was a xabi on great form, one of the best around. if the summer made him decide his future couldn't be with us then that's an issue for him. he should think about where the club and rafa have taken him and that as well as a couple of great seasons with us, he had 2 very average to poor ones as well.

[barnseysleftpeg]

It was nice of him to make a point of praising the fans. Obviously he is a nice guy and he wants to maintain good relations with us. But there's no point in falling out over him now, because he's gone.

And it doesn't matter because we've got a league to win, and we can do it without him.

I agree with this.

When I watched his interview on Revista last night, whilst being happy that he praised us, I just knew that, when he said the reason he left, the fans, sky and other media outlets would jump on it.  But for me it's old news.

Alonso was my favourite player but he's gone, we've just got to get over it.  I look at it like this  I coped when Fowler and Macca (my two favourite players from the 90s) left, so I can deal with Xabi going.

Some of you just have to let it go.

[red_til_i_die]

all this interview highlights is that G&H are screwing the club over on the pitch as well as off it by not making funds available to strengthen.

if your still angry about xabi leaving then thats where to direct your anger not at each other

[Sat1]

So during the second half of the 07-08 season after Alonso came back from injury and we had the best form in the league, how would you describe Alonso's peformances, and the midfield axis of Gerrard, Mascherano and Alonso in general?

And in the 06-07 season what did you make of Sissoko's mediocre passing and how Alonso virtually had to carry him through games in this respect?  Also how furious were you at the end of the season when Alonso was rewarded with a 5 year deal after doing 'fuck all' that season as you put it?

Anyone else who agrees wholeheartedly with djphal's post please feel free to answer.

Thats right

[Daranoza]

He called them "our two top pros". Clearly wrong

He may well have simply meant "two of our top pros" which is not wrong. They were. No matter what has happened since, they were that.

[uni]

He's no longer a Liverpool player. Let's not waste any more time and effort discussing him. I loved Xabi when he played for us, but in a very astute way he's pointing the finger of blame at Rafa. He's moved on and it was entirely his desire to do so. That's all he should say.

But that's truth. When asked about when did he change his mind, there is no other answer. Why did you bother to degrade ex-player?  You must move on, Xabi and Rafa seems move on already.
Just thank him for 5 years service and memory and wish him good luck, that's the way to properly move on. But I understand why that's so difficult for some.

[scatman]

i agree with djphal, end of discussion

[Regi]

During the 2 seasons of supposed 'poor form', IMO it was only in the big games where his form wasn't what was expected.
I also think that's what prompted Rafa to consider selling him.
Xabi was always pivotal to our good form when on the pitch and playing the weaker teams, but IMO until this season he was regularly unable to properly influence games against United, Chelsea or Arsenal...and those are the games that are likely to decide the title.
I especially remember the game against United at Anfield when even Carrick and Anderson appeared to get the better of him, despite not being in the same league talent-wise.
Maybe it's because Rafa didn't think Xabi was physically imposing enough, I don't know.

All the bickering in the world doesn't make blind bit of difference though.
I firmly believe that even if last summer's nonsense hadn't happened, if Real had come calling this year Xabi still would have gone.
His form this season made sure that Real would come sniffing, and the fee they paid made sure we wouldn't be able to refuse given our financial mess.
So while Rafa made a possible error of judgement last summer, it wasn't that which forced Xabi out.
Xabi might say that but IMO he's simply trotting out the handiest excuse to interviewers.
He wanted to go home and took the most tempting and lucrative path to do so

[HarryLabrador]

But that's truth. When asked about when did he change his mind, there is no other answer. Why did you bother to degrade ex-player?  You must move on, Xabi and Rafa seems move on already.
Just thank him for 5 years service and memory and wish him good luck, that's the way to properly move on. But I understand why that's so difficult for some.

That's where you are wrong. If Xabi had moved on, he simply would have ignored stating the Barry saga. We don't know what exactly happened there. There was the Keane and Parry cockup, and by all accounts Rafa did not want Keane and £20m of Rafa's budget was blown away. I think it was Xerxes1 who stated Barry said Rafa wanted both Xabi and him playing together.

Xabi gave us 5 good years and I thank him for it. But as I said, we all need to move on. He has gone, and Rafa is still our manager!

[yafoy]

I agree with this.

When I watched his interview on Revista last night, whilst being happy that he praised us, I just knew that, when he said the reason he left, the fans, sky and other media outlets would jump on it.  But for me it's old news.

Alonso was my favourite player but he's gone, we've just got to get over it.  I look at it like this  I coped when Fowler and Macca (my two favourite players from the 90s) left, so I can deal with Xabi going.

Some of you just have to let it go.

as I did when Keegan & Emlyn & ...Kenny left...

we need some "balance" here...Rafa looked to strengthen in the summer of 08 in a deal that meant Xabi would go, after a season when Xabi was less than on form (albeit probably due to injuries) a reasonable managment choice (not "bad man-managment) ...

Xabi felt time to move on, but of course his pride wanted to show he still had it & gave us some of his best performances and probably one of the best LFC players in the last season, with Xabi it can be argued that we would have been favourites to win the league..

this summer the biggest club with immense pulling power for spanish palyers wants him (yes we know what sort of club they are but ...) whilst I loved the guy hes gone, the king is dead, long live the king ..or kings as we DO now have a few top world class players to adore..

theres no blame (except maybe whoever crocked xabi. 2 years ago..) but thats probably just fate..

and...just maybe , remember how many players got red-carded against Xabi last season...he was and would be a "target" /...and whilst (*with SG on his day) he was probably the best long ball specialist in the PL ...he could have again been "targetted" by opposition this season, and be on the sidelines anyway, plus...a more "fluid" attacking formation (with Masch doing his sweeping behind) may suit us against "smaller teams" who park the bus,..

whatver, we should get over it, and hail our existings REDS, Supprt the lads (yes even Lucas or Voronn) look forward dont look back in anger...

[AlanK]

He may well have simply meant "two of our top pros" which is not wrong. They were. No matter what has happened since, they were that.

No, he stated that it's his opinion that Sami and Alonso were our 2 top pros, and gave his reasons.

[MidwestWool]

While I may have appeared critical of Benitez before, I would like to state that both him and Alonso made their own choices. Neither is to be blamed for the transfer. Rafa had issues with Alonso's performances on the pitch the season before, which were compounded when Alonso was indecisive about staying back with his wife for the birth of their son or going for the Inter game. On the other hand, Alonso had a couple of below-par seasons due to injuries, and it was right on the manager's part to look for a replacement. While the transfer did not materialise, it led to Alonso being unhappy and unsure about his future at the club, because of which he looked to move on at the first opportunity he got.

I for one, can only thank Xabi. He's left us with great memories, of his goals, assists and Istanbul. Plus, he gave us his best season in the red shirt, because of which we got the highest transfer income on a player. It is unfair to Xabi that we abuse him for leaving. We should act like proper Liverpool supporters and thank the player for whatever he has done for us.

On the other hand, we should refrain from blaming Benitez. He was looking to sell Xabi the previous season, but despite Xabi's brilliant performances, he went after Barry again. Maybe he was looking to change our style of play. But he ensured that we got top dollar for Xabi. And a talented, albeit injury prone, player in return.

I have moved on from Xabi leaving us. I will only thank him for everything he did for us. And I will continue to support my manager, who brought this guy in the first place. The manager who has led us to glory, and will help bring the good old days back.

[afour]

i actually thought i was reading redcafe for about half this page that's how full of shit it is.

[Alan_X]

I think you'll find that last summer he was 26 not 28, he won't be 28 till later this year.  Age was not a factor in Rafa's stupidity (anway Barry is a year older than Alonso so i don't see why your bringing age into it)

You call it exectuvie decision, I call it stupid decision.  you simply cannot say that Barry is a better player than Alonso (not fit to tie his boots in my opinion) and for me we would have taken a big step back last year had the transfers occurred.  Lets just wait and see what happens to us

So you think Rafa should go then? If he does I hope you put yourself forward as a a candidate for his replacement. I'd love to possess the certainty that you and some others have on here. You can read the past and the future, you can see into the men's souls and understand what they're thinking even if you've never met them. You even know how we would have played with Barry in the team, and know that we would have been shit...

Barry isn't a better player than Alonso. He's a different type of player and sometimes you just need the right player for the way you're trying to play.

It's fine to have different opinions but for fucks sake, show the manager a little respect. We are one of the best teams in Europe now with a win, another final, semi finals and quarter finals, beating Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus etc etc.. last season we beat Chelsea twice, United twice and took four points off Arsenal. Who the fuck do you think is responsible? Oh yes, that stupid idiot Benitez. All while being undermined and short changed by a pair of poisonous yanks.

I think Rafa will be off sooner than later and I tell you what, he'll find it a lot easier getting a top club than we will getting a top manager. Anyone who believes, like the wankers on 606, that Mourinho's lined up are having a laugh.

[xavidub]

While I may have appeared critical of Benitez before, I would like to state that both him and Alonso made their own choices. Neither is to be blamed for the transfer. Rafa had issues with Alonso's performances on the pitch the season before, which were compounded when Alonso was indecisive about staying back with his wife for the birth of their son or going for the Inter game. On the other hand, Alonso had a couple of below-par seasons due to injuries, and it was right on the manager's part to look for a replacement. While the transfer did not materialise, it led to Alonso being unhappy and unsure about his future at the club, because of which he looked to move on at the first opportunity he got.

I for one, can only thank Xabi. He's left us with great memories, of his goals, assists and Istanbul. Plus, he gave us his best season in the red shirt, because of which we got the highest transfer income on a player. It is unfair to Xabi that we abuse him for leaving. We should act like proper Liverpool supporters and thank the player for whatever he has done for us.

On the other hand, we should refrain from blaming Benitez. He was looking to sell Xabi the previous season, but despite Xabi's brilliant performances, he went after Barry again. Maybe he was looking to change our style of play. But he ensured that we got top dollar for Xabi. And a talented, albeit injury prone, player in return.

I have moved on from Xabi leaving us. I will only thank him for everything he did for us. And I will continue to support my manager, who brought this guy in the first place. The manager who has led us to glory, and will help bring the good old days back.

Correct

[Spanish Fan]

The Gareth Barry thing is hard to defend. Bad mistake by the gaffa. Then playing Plessis instead of Alonso at Sunderland put the cap on it. Their relationship must have been fucked after that.  Fortunately Alonso is a professional and he gave us his best in his last season. Christ, if he'd played in a few of those 0-0 draws we might have won it.

I wouldn't call it a mistake. With hindsight I'd say that signing Xabi Alonso in the first place was the "mistake".

When Benitez signed the Basque I thought he wanted Liverpool to play in a different way than his Valencia side. After all, he had inherited the backbone of that Valencia team and there was a chance that he may want Liverpool to play differently,now that he was allowed to build the team from scratch.

But looking at his followings signings and his courtship of Barry, it seems pretty obvious that what he wanted/wants is to replicate Valencia's blueprint. He already had his Albelda in Mascherano. Now Aquilani may become his Baraja.

On the Alonso case, I think all the "blame", if you want to call it that way, should go to Benitez, who wanted to seel him last season....and probably this season too, at least until he found out that Barry was going to City.   

[carling]

so you think he played consistently for 4 seasons?

He had bad games like every other player, but he was certainly consistent enough not to deserve to be replaced by Gareth fucking Barry!  Oh and most definitely consistent enough for the 'did fuck all for 2 years' mantra to be an absolute steaming pile of horseshit.

Do you have any intention of answering my questions then?  Or do you want to leave it at he was shite for 2 years with little to no evidence to back that up.  That does seem to be the case most times it is spouted out.

[killer-heels]

I don't blame Rafa at all for Alonso leaving. Not one little bit.

Alonso may have had reasons to go back, wanting to be closer to family, better weather, more money and more chance of success and all that. But I don't think that the decision to sell him made one bit of difference at the end and even if the Barry debate had never had happened, I still think Alonso would have left for Madrid this summer.

Alonso is just looking for a way to place the blame on that saga for his reasons to leave. I think he has gone to Spain for those reasons listed (money, weather, closer to family).

Players get a hell of a lot of protection from their managers in public when they make a mistake on the field. Very few top managers will mention individual players names. Thus, players themselves have to accept if a manager makes a mistake and not hold it as a grudge.

[Regi]

I don't blame Rafa at all for Alonso leaving. Not one little bit.

Alonso may have had reasons to go back, wanting to be closer to family, better weather, more money and more chance of success and all that. But I don't think that the decision to sell him made one bit of difference at the end and even if the Barry debate had never had happened, I still think Alonso would have left for Madrid this summer.

Alonso is just looking for a way to place the blame on that saga for his reasons to leave. I think he has gone to Spain for those reasons listed (money, weather, closer to family).

Players get a hell of a lot of protection from their managers in public when they make a mistake on the field. Very few top managers will mention individual players names. Thus, players themselves have to accept if a manager makes a mistake and not hold it as a grudge.

Agree.
As I said above, it was easy for Xabi to throw in that reason for leaving.
Diverted attention away quickly.
It was more complex than that I'm quite sure

[uni]

That's where you are wrong. If Xabi had moved on, he simply would have ignored stating the Barry saga. We don't know what exactly happened there. There was the Keane and Parry cockup, and by all accounts Rafa did not want Keane and £20m of Rafa's budget was blown away. I think it was Xerxes1 who stated Barry said Rafa wanted both Xabi and him playing together.

Xabi gave us 5 good years and I thank him for it. But as I said, we all need to move on. He has gone, and Rafa is still our manager!

Maybe Xabi's not moved on yet that's no wonder for him leaving Liverpool was difficult.  And fact is that the club proposed he may have to be sold to sign new players and it was when Xabi started to consider his future elsewhere.  Who can doubt that?
But that's not I was arguing about. If you've moved on you need not bother to degrade ex-player.
Why not just fond of good memory but waste of time for bad word for him?

[macca888]

Last word on this whole fucking vicious inquest. I'm glad he's fucked off. It was his fault that Rafa got in trouble last year. If Xabi hadn't ignored Rafa with the free kick against Blackburn, Torres wouldn't have scored and Rafa wouldn't have got put in his place by Taggart and Fat Head. Hopefully Lucas and Aquilani will do precisely what they're told, and we won't have to hear how much of a horrible bastard Rafa is on Sky Sports every week now. Try ignoring Perez at Madrid Xabi, and within a week you'll be playing reserve goalie for Tenerife.

[AlanK]

all this interview highlights is that G&H are screwing the club over on the pitch as well as off it by not making funds available to strengthen.

if your still angry about xabi leaving then thats where to direct your anger not at each other

That's the point that about half the contributers in this thread are trying to make. The other half are too busy crying into their milk that mean oul' Rafa dared to prioritise the team over their golden boy.

[uni]

...
I for one, can only thank Xabi. He's left us with great memories, of his goals, assists and Istanbul. Plus, he gave us his best season in the red shirt, because of which we got the highest transfer income on a player. It is unfair to Xabi that we abuse him for leaving. We should act like proper Liverpool supporters and thank the player for whatever he has done for us.

On the other hand, we should refrain from blaming Benitez. He was looking to sell Xabi the previous season, but despite Xabi's brilliant performances, he went after Barry again. Maybe he was looking to change our style of play. But he ensured that we got top dollar for Xabi. And a talented, albeit injury prone, player in return.

I have moved on from Xabi leaving us. I will only thank him for everything he did for us. And I will continue to support my manager, who brought this guy in the first place. The manager who has led us to glory, and will help bring the good old days back.

Spot on. I couldn't say better.

[scatman]

to be fair i couldnt care any less or more about Xabi, he's an ex player, he'll be in our hearts like Kvarme, Piechnik, Biscan, Hamann, whoever, because he played for the club. But played is the key part, he's gone now, we should support the players we have here like Lucas, Babel and Voronin instead of berating them.