The "Xabi Alonso" Effect

Steven Gerrard is a complete player and therefore capable of taking up this role, but probably not to an extend Xabi did.

I've said it before and I will say it again. The Gerrard-Torres partnership excelled and the whole team benefited is because of the presence and abilities of Xabi. It's no coincidence that our team's performances on the pitch have dropped ever since that Spanish midfield masetro left the club. With someone as reliable as Xabi at the back, Gerrard was given the free role and he had no pressure. It was evident last season also that our team played better attackingly when Aquilani and Gerrard were on the pitch.

Alonso's gone and he won't be back anytime soon or even at all. The only players I'd put in the same bracket as him are Xavi and Fabregas and there's no way we're going to get any of them. We can minimise his loss by placing Gerrard back in the centre and have Cole in the hole. Why?

Firstly, Stevie can spot passes and space and he was probably our mini playmaker before Alonso arrived in 2004. After Alonso's departure, in various occasions, Gerrard, who started the game in the hole, had to drop back deep just to retrieve the ball because it's not coming to him when he's behind Torres due to the negative pairing in the centre. When Gerrard comes deep, Torres is all alone up top and we can't hoof the ball to him and expect him to take on 3-4 players at one go.

Secondly, Cole can't do much on the wings. He can play there but he's more dangerous in the centre, IMO. After all, it was his passes from the centre that led to Babel's goal against Trabzonspor and to the penalty against United. Even his first goal came as a result of his free role.

I don't believe that where people say Gerrard and Meireles can't be paired together because neither are good defensively. Well, neither Lucas nor Poulsen are hardly better than them at that.

Couldn't agree more with you, Cole needs to play behind the striker and not be left out on wings, he can put in a decent ball now and then but his true skill is with balls on the ground.

This also brings up another point. I feel like we have 10 of the same player and we have no width on the wings and haven't for a while. Kuyt and Jova have been our wide men when both of them lack the speed and ball delivery to truly be an out-an-out winger. We have a host of quality players that play in the center of our defense and the center of our midfield yet no one on the wings.

With his lack luster defending but speed and ability to cross should Woy move Johnson up to RW with Kuyt out with injury? (After Johnson gets healthy)
@artalyor
I think Shlevey would be brilliant too, he showed his class on a big stage in Napoli away with an extremely hostile crowd in the stands.

Many have said it but Alonso is quite simply irreplaceable. Personally I think a change of formation is in order and should have been on the cards since the day Alonso left, possibly being the reason we are no longer managed by Rafa. It was Rafa's stubborn continuation of a formation centred around Alonso following Alonso's absence that saw us playing such dire football last season, that and the absence of any real out and out wingers.

Saying that.

Lucas improved his game tremendously this season, playing with a lot more confidence and ability, so while I doubt he will ever get to a player of Alonso's calibre, he is certainly improving at a remarkable rate, and in similar areas as Alonso too (a deep passing player).

Let's all remember that when Alonso arrived he wasn't the finished article that we all see now, he was a talented, quality player yes, but he was nowhere near the standard he achieved in 08/09, probably down to Rafa.

Isn't this what Raul was bought for though? To fill the gap Xabi left?

He was a fantastic player but he's gone now.

The biggest mistake in the tactical sense we have made in the last year and a bit is playing the same F***ing system without the players to play it.

Alonso and Mascherano were the perfect duo to play that central role in that 4-2-3-1. Masch to win it, Xabi to feed Kuyt, Gerrard and Torres. But the fact is we don't have that calibre of players to play that formation anymore. Lucas is developing yes but come on he can't pass as well as Alonso or tackle as well as Masch. So far, the same for Meireles (although to be fair he has time to prove his worth) and don't get me F***ing started on Poulsen.

It's time to evolve, Alonso and Masch have gone. We can't play that system anymore effectively IMO. I don't know what formation will work to be honest, I'd like to see us try a 4-3-3 when we get proper wingers but for now a simple 4-4-2 would do me just fine.

If we do continue to play the same system at least FFS drop Stevie into midfield and let him boss it. We were tonnes better yesterday when he dropped back.

I miss Xabi Alonso.  And I miss that we were once spoilt for choice for quality central midfielders.

Momo, Xabi, Masch, Aquilani, have all moved on, we've got Merieles (who is a good player), and our other suspect two, Lucas & Poulsen - which will barely make us contenders in the League?  But definitely Xabi leaving was the start of our downfall on the pitch, I'd jump at the chance to re-sign him but the reality of that, is purely non-existent.

It was Rafa's fault, and he knows this, for flirting around with Gareth Barry who we never signed in the end, telling Xabi he could of been sold to sanction the move?  When it all collapsed, the damage was done, and Xabi's mind was set.

At least he gave us his best performance in a Liverpool shirt in his last year.  He'll always be one of the greatest players of my generation to play in a Liverpool shirt.

Thanks for the memories Xabi.  Miss your 60 yard pinged passes!

Isn't this what Raul was bought for though? To fill the gap Xabi left?

Well I don't think that's going to happen. I see Meireles as our Darren Fletcher type player. He's a good player, and an excellent guy to have in the squad (which is why I congratulate Roy on signing him for £10million or so). However I just don't think he's in Xabi's class.

We dont need to replace him, we need to stop relying on Gerrard as much for linking up with Torres.
We can all clearly see, and have done for a while, that Torres is not happy up front on his own and, as you rightly say, if Gerrard is up front with him we are lacking strength in midfield. We have bought attacking midfielders, why not use them, or even better, play Ngog up front with Torres to hold the ball up and feed him [until we get someone better], but that would mean playing 4-4-2 and it seems the premiership clubs have fallen out with that formation now. This obviously leaves Gerrard furthur back and we will miss a lot of his attacking game, but we have dont have other options for defensive midfielders, so needs must.

I know we had a great season with Gerrard and Torres leading the line, but with no Alonso and no Masharano, its no longer working.

Lucas is defiantly progressing, which can only be a positive. If he can improve his passing and distribution even further, there is no questions that he can do a good job LFC for years to come. Watch this space...

Alonso left a long time ago.

I can deal with praise for him (credit where it is due & all that)
And comments on how we miss him- but jesus! This whole mess is more than Alonso leaving.

Alonso left a long time ago.

I can deal with praise for him (credit where it is due & all that)
And comments on how we miss him- but jesus! This whole mess is more than Alonso leaving.

Well said Ms Torres.

I think he brought us another dimension, but he also made us quite predictable, whhich is why he was targeted so much.

He had 2 and a half good seasons for us, one of them truly excellent, but he's gone now.

This thread strikes me as more than a little revisionist - yes he was a good player, and still is, but the loss of him is not the cause of our demise.

Couldn't agree more with you, Cole needs to play behind the striker and not be left out on wings, he can put in a decent ball now and then but his true skill is with balls on the ground.

This also brings up another point. I feel like we have 10 of the same player and we have no width on the wings and haven't for a while. Kuyt and Jova have been our wide men when both of them lack the speed and ball delivery to truly be an out-an-out winger. We have a host of quality players that play in the center of our defense and the center of our midfield yet no one on the wings.

With his lack luster defending but speed and ability to cross should Woy move Johnson up to RW with Kuyt out with injury? (After Johnson gets healthy)

I guess some have pointed that it's not real wingers we need but what we need is our 'wide' players to STAY wide and that depends on what the manager tells them to do. However, it's not easy, being in an unnatural position, it's normal that players tend to drift into their more favoured roles, that's why we keep on seeing Cole and Meireles drift back into the centre when out wide. And for Kuyt, granted he isn't a right winger but we were not complaining during the season we finished 2nd.

I agree about Johnson. Seeing Gareth Bale excel on the left wing for Spurs makes me think that Johnson should be given a go on the right. He's pretty fast and can dribble alright. And of course, his defending is nowhere near Arbeloa or Finnan.

And like MsTorres stated, while Xabi's departure left a huge hole in the team in all sorts of ways, there is more than just that. I wouldn't say he was poor in the two seasons before Rafa tried to sell him (though he claimed he wanted Barry and Alonso in the same team but couldn't have them both). For me, Xabi has always been a quality player. He may have dropped a little below par in 2006-2008 but he will always possess those qualities that are rare to find.

I genuinely feel our inability to challenge others in all departments are costing us. First, after the departures of Hyypia and Crouch, we hardly challenge aerial battles effectively. Only when Kyrgiakos is in the team, we look more able to deal with high crosses at both ends of the pitch. Torres can challenge but he seems always out of order this season and one player to challenge in the air is not enough.

Secondly, we lack pace. We hardly had any in the last few seasons. I'd really be glad if we had someone like Walcott, Lennon, Young or Malouda to run on the wings and put a cross in.

No doubt we have some gifted players in Agger, Gerrard, Meireles, Torres and Cole but it's just not enough.

When Xabi left we lost our orchestrator , everything started with Alonso during the season we came 2nd ,the Gerrard/Torres partnership was lethal but had to be serviced with quality and  Xabi was outstanding , replacing him with an injured Aquillani was a joke ,the nearest I  have seen to Alonso is Tom Huddleston and would have been a better option .

I kind of fail to see the point in this thread.

Xabi is long long gone, i thought Aquilani was going to fit the bill as his 'direct replacement' but he's also moved on so here we are.

What Stevie needs is a manager who can give him instructions.

.....and eight new players around him.

The way i see around this problem lies in the manager making a desicion for the good of the team and not to curry favour with any individual irrespective of who that may be, the Alonso, Gerrard midfield partnership worked a treat because they knew each others games and played together consistently for 4 seasons at least, since Xabi left our midfield has struggled to create that dynamism, so much so that its unlikely we will see the influencial play that was created, for me Gerrard has to be in midfield with at the moment Meireles, we have players like Cole, Pacheco. Kuyt, Shelvey all capable of filling the role Gerrard played with Alonso in the side, personaly out of those 4 i would have Shelvey, he is not only quick on his feet but in his mind, he can pass shoot score defend from the front, link up play and basically terrorise defences, backed up with Gerrard pinging passes and generally beefing up the midfield and of course his charging forward in to space we would have a pretty frightening pairing, with Torres at his best its hard not to see success coming from this, add Turan and Amoo on the flanks, certainly has me licking my lips, for this to have a realistic chance of happening is remote but we can all dream, Kelly at RB, Agger and Skirt at the back and a new top quality LB, Pepe of course between the sticks and a manager that knows what he is doing orchestrating from the touchline, dont know about you guys but i'm loving it already.........AWWWW f***in BOLLOCKS it is only a dream!!!!!

Obviously nobody can replace Xabi. Want him back . But barring that, am I alone in thinking Charlie Adam? Might be shot down on this one but thoughts?

at the end of the day guys Xabi has gone and thats that. outstandingly fantastic and a dream to watch on and off the ball. we need to get our heads together now guys and see who we think would be his perfect replacement. me personally would bring Aquillani back and get in a red shirt where he belongs

I'm thinking the team has seen drastic changes since Xabi left, both on and off the field and it's time people stopped banging on about him. Yes he's a quality player, yes he was a vital part of our team but the fact is he's gone to another team so it's time for us all to go over the Xabi Alonso effect and start focussing on the current crop of players and not past players that are in no way shape or form going to have any further effect on our team. This topic is just echoing what's been said in countless other topics.