3 Games in ... are we missing Xabi already?

Of course we are we are lacking a midfielder that passes the ball forward. We've had a distinct lack of creativity in the first 3 games. Alonso is the most under rated player in World football. He is one of a few players that can dititate a whole game. I think he was important to us as Torres and Gerrard. I think if he was still with us we would have won the three games.

 Don't know where this thread is leading, He's gone , end of 
 We have to cope (and we will in due time) without him  weather we like it or not ,
 we should be discussing what we have at the moment  , not the IFs and the WHENs , its too easy to point out at xabi's departure for every bad display by the current squad

Don't know where this thread is leading, He's gone , end of 
 We have to cope (and we will in due time) without him  weather we like it or not ,
 we should be discussing what we have at the moment  , not the IFs and the WHENs , its too easy to point out at xabi's departure for every bad display by the current squad

Yeah i know mate. My fault, i should have named the thread differently. All i meant to do was highlight the distinct lack of creativity at the moment. I should have called the thread ' Need for Creativity' or something akin. I was very angry when i wrote it, and in hindsight i would have waited until i calmed down. I know next time to chill for a bit and then post. I work with a lot of 'Scum' fans so i'm constantly on a knife edge with regards to battering one of them. I'll think more next time. To the mods, please feel free to delete or lock this thread.

No, we're not missing Xabi.

We hammered the Scum in their own backyard without him last season and we've stuck 4 past Stoke and scored in every game this season so far without him.

We're 3 games in FFS and everybody is losing their minds.

It'll be a shame to watch Xabi warm the Real bench this season and not be playing for us but he wanted to go and that's the end of the story, he's history and he should be history as far as threads in this forum go too.

Of course we miss a great player like Xabi ! but he's gone and one player does not make a good team bad overnight , the simple fact of the matter ,as i see it is, the whole team had a mare of a game ...I wish Xabi all the best for his future as i think he had good reason to be disheartened by the Barry saga, we do miss creativity however and i feel we will have to ride the storm until Aquiliani starts and shows us what he can do , hopefully he will add another dimension to our team .

We are missing Xabi, no doubt about that,But what team wouldn't, He's gone now, part of our history,We have to move on and quickly IMO, what do you think of this...Drop Gerrard back to cm, Bring Kuyt in from the right to partner Nando and have Benayoun on the right with Johnson, When Aquillani is match resort back to as it is now, Do you think that is a viable solution?...Your opinions please...

The key point in this whole matter was Rafa's misjudgement at the beginning of the transfer window. Namely, he obviously appraised that he would come through to keep Xabi at Anfield and when he finally realized that he was wrong it appeared to be a bit late as there was not a sufficient time to work on a proper replacement. If we had sold Alonso earlier within the transfer window we would have had much more time for a manoeuvre. Now a lot of us are unfairly condemning hapless Lucas Leiva who is coerced to perform a role in which he feels uncomfortably.

No No No, this thread is stupid, we are not missing alonso, its just the other players whho havent y et lifted their game.

Everybody who is slating the thread, get over it. It is a valid point by any means.

Alonso was our best player last season. We were playing great. He has gone and let's face it as of yet we do not know if we have an adequate replacement. We lost 2 games all season last season and now we have lost twice in the space of 9 days. Our midfield for me dose not look right. Very disjointed and lacking service to the forward line. Put it this way if Xabi was in that side for those three games then i believe we would be looking at more points right now than the 3 that the solitary win provided.

I understand he has gone and we have to get over it. We have won many games without Xabi in the past and the players we do have need to up thier game. Quick.

Do we miss him? Yes, theres no point denying it.

well we lost a world class footballer but this happens to other teams as well. if a player wants out you only have one option right. the replacement might work out better its all a big crap shoot in reality looking at past history of transfers. the reds can do much better than the performances so far.

What hardcoresoldier is tyring to put is by Xabi's leaving, we've lost that spark of creativity in the middle.

But that spark will come back to light very soon just watch.

But that spark will come back to light very soon just watch.

I pray to god you're right mate. Aquilani, your fans await you.

Obviously we are missing Alonso, we are playing with a very much Inferior player in his vacanted position, any one who thinks differently is bonkers IMO.

It's tough to say whether we are missing Xabi or not because we have yet to find out if Aquilani would be a more than able replacement, so until he gets started playing then its always we are going to miss him (now) because Lucas is nowhere near Xabi's standard.

Of course there are many factors that determine our poor start to the season, perhaps Alonso is just one of them, but no one can make a decision until Aquilani plays of course. He might just offer something that Xabi didn't have and might give us a better title push. For now though, Xabi is gone and that is fact - we just have no choice but to cope without him.

But instead of looking at the difference of 1 player I prefer to look on the team as a whole. One player doesn't determine a team's results, no matter how good the player is. It's about the teamwork, cooperation and communication among the players and the team spirit, the drive and desire to win the game, that will determine our results. Obviously things ain't going in a right direction when Xabi is not here but we have got easily 10 other players that would make the difference.

I know we lack a creativity in midfield now but until Alberto plays that question will remain unanswered. As of now, I prefer to look at the fact that there is no point moaning about the loss of Xabi, and blaming it for our poor start to the season, but instead, I rather look at it that every player should play their part and chip in wherever possible.

It's tough to say whether we are missing Xabi or not because we have yet to find out if Aquilani would be a more than able replacement, so until he gets started playing then its always we are going to miss him (now) because Lucas is nowhere near Xabi's standard.

Of course there are many factors that determine our poor start to the season, perhaps Alonso is just one of them, but no one can make a decision until Aquilani plays of course. He might just offer something that Xabi didn't have and might give us a better title push. For now though, Xabi is gone and that is fact - we just have no choice but to cope without him.

But instead of looking at the difference of 1 player I prefer to look on the team as a whole. One player doesn't determine a team's results, no matter how good the player is. It's about the teamwork, cooperation and communication among the players and the team spirit, the drive and desire to win the game, that will determine our results. Obviously things ain't going in a right direction when Xabi is not here but we have got easily 10 other players that would make the difference.

I know we lack a creativity in midfield now but until Alberto plays that question will remain unanswered. As of now, I prefer to look at the fact that there is no point moaning about the loss of Xabi, and blaming it for our poor start to the season, but instead, I rather look at it that every player should play their part and chip in wherever possible.

Quality post ROF + for that mate.