We all hear about how Alonsos range of passing is missed for us and about how he could spread it 50 yards and neither MAsch nor Lucas can do this to the same efffect but Alonso was playing it short and simple most of the time. He was not only playing those Hollywood balls. Short passes are vital in keeping the flow of the game. The problem is that there is a major difference between the way Alonso plays those short passes and the way Masch does. Alonso is a natural passer of the ball. He played those short simple pass with the right weight and into the right space. And he did it spontaneously. It kept our game flowing fluently and it made us tick. With Masch, the passing is much more laborious. You'll notice that a lot of his passes are not put in with the right weight or into the right space. A few times I saw him playing the ball behind his team mate, so the latter had to stop, go back a yard to get the ball. It is a successful pass technically but it breaks our momentum. Alonso's passes were put into the right space and he also knew how to create that space for his team mates. You'll also notice that Masch's passing is not as spontaneous as Alonso's. He takes that extra second to decide where to play the ball and it makes it more difficult for us to advance as the opponents have that extra second to get well organised and to close us down. When we played Villa and Spurs, they pressed us high and we were giving the ball away easily. Lucas is a more natural passer of the ball than Masch (although he is not at the level of Alonso). The problems lie with the fact that he doesn't take that initiative enough (or he isn't being allowed to because he is playing in a more advanced position). He also has some problems related to consistency and mental toughness. So, as Harry Redknapp (**** and all that he is) pointed out after the Spurs game, we seem to be missing Alonso's range of passing quite badly. What Harry pointed out after the Spurs game was that when Xabi was around, teams couldn't afford to press us in the same way they are doing now. You put 2 or 3 players on him to press him in our own half and he would have the ability to find a team mate through the eye of a needle and all of a sudden, through one pass you have taken out 2 or 3 opponent players and with loads of space to attack. Now when teams are pressing us high, we either give away possession or go for the safe backward or lateral pass and it means that we are find it harder to advance. It is ok against weaker sides cause we will break them down anyway but against decent sides (not even the top ones) we are struggling without this fluidity to our passing.
Sorry its not about him as more to do with the problem without him, the problems now facing the team. Why we lack creativity, I know he sint coming backa dn dont want to debate that but just that we are now suffering and I think the reasons are not to do with his 50 yard passing as the tv keeps telling us but more to do with the fluidity he brought to the game!
I amn't saying we should of kept him or why did we sell him, I am simply pointing out what is wrong with the team now. I should of called the thread something else!
soory but your right as much as it would be great to think he might be back or we have others to fill in theres no hope of either at present, just to hope we can get someone or someone does do even better.
He may want to come back sooner than you think. I watched Madrid get wallopped last night ( only 2-1 but they got a hiding) and himself and Casillias were the only 2 who even made an effort. Same old Madrid, bunch of fairies and Guti is the Queen of them.
Lads, he's gone, I didn't really expect to see ANOTHER Alonso thread,. I know we all loved him and we miss him, and undoubtedly he'd make the team better,. But the bottom line is he is gone. And most of us are sick to death hearing about it on the radio by TV pundits reading about it in the papers, 'oh if Alonso was there we'd create more chances, we wouldn't have lost, etc etc' again the bottom line is he's gone, and you play what you were dealt and make the most of it, and that is Lucas, and he's done a great job so far, even though he shouldn't have to, because he's not there to replace Alonso, I feel awfully sorry for that chap having to shoulder the burden and blame for Alonso's absence. And i'll say it once more Alonso is gone and he's not coming back anytime soon, so for now, Lucas and Mascherano will have to do, until Aquilani comes back, but even then, he's further from a replacement of Alonso than Lucas is,. He's a good player and will be a huge boost when he's fit, but dont be expecting Xabi like passing and vision.
It's fair to say we all miss Alonso, but lets move on .... I'm looking forward to reading a few articles, once Aquilani has played a couple of dozen games, hopefully they'll all be praising him instead of talking about what we're missing now Alonso is gone. Sure we may aswell be reading about what we're missing now Kenny, Fowler etc are gone as much as Alonso at this stage ... all distant memories now, despite being well regarded.
He didn't go to Real Madrid because of Real Madrid, he went because of Spain. If he was to leave Madrid at any stage it most certainly wouldn't be for a return to England.
Until this weekend (with arsenal hitting 6) we were the top goalscorers in the Premier League... why not start this thread after the hull game? Did Alonso not play in all the games we dropped points last season?
Excellent post - could not agree more. We also miss his tackling ability which he never got credit for. You were always gong to get the "move on" brigade and sarcastic Steve Heighway remarks but just ignore them as you have a completely valid point. The answer, imo, has to be drop Gerrard back into the middle beside either Mascher or Lucas and play Yossi off Torres. Gerrard is currently being wasted and is disillusioned as himself and Nando are not getting the quality of supply that made them such a lethal partnership. That supply mostly came from Xabi. It's true we have to move on, but that does not mean it wasn't a mistake to let him go. Please don't post "he wanted to go" as it doesn't matter, he was on a contract. However, we have to redeploy the forces to get the best balance for the team and that means Gerrard in the middle!!! Win the next two and stay in touch with the chavs until january and we're right in the title race but the change in formation must be made!!!
Hi, Firstly, I was not being sarcastic, but purely making the point that Alonso is now part of our history, rather than our future. Not intended to be sarcastic, sorry if it came across that way to the original poster. It might have been better for you to check if I was being sarcastic rather than just jump to conclusions here btw General Secondly, while I was resisting getting into the Alonso conversation yet again, I believe he wanted to go ... and had wanted to go for the past 12 months, having gone through the entire Barry saga (when the real mistake was made) without saying a word, there's no doubt that was deeply upsetting for him, so off Alonso went, played probably his best season ever for LFC and got a lovely contract from Madrid ... good for the fella. Thirdly, I agree with your suggestion about bring Gerard back into Midfield and playing someone like Yossi off Torres, thats assuming Kuyt would not be the man obviously. However, until our new Italian starts playing regularly, I don't think we can all agree a new formation for the rest of the season, only for the next few games.
I'll let paul Tomkins answer for me... Amazing player, missed obvioulsly but give me a break, every time we drop points its Alonso who single handedly would have won the game for us. Sure if Liverpool had no zonal marking we'd never ever concede. Typical Andy Gray Jamie Redknapp tripe.