Vote - Barry or Alonso

Hands up - who voted for Barry!

I did. I'd choose him over Alonso.

The timing of this poll is not kind to Barry after Alonsos Vålarenga-game anyway.

Alonso.

You just have to ask yourself:

Would AC Milan, Real Madrid, Scum, Arse, Chelsea, Barca etc be chasing Barry or Alonso? Thats when it really hits you.

Alonso is in my books, top 5 centre mids in the world without doubt and so is Stevie. Them two together with Mascher is a dream midfield.

Alonso.

You just have to ask yourself:

Would AC Milan, Real Madrid, Scum, Arse, Chelsea, Barca etc be chasing Barry or Alonso? Thats when it really hits you.

Alonso is in my books, top 5 centre mids in the world without doubt and so is Stevie. Them two together with Mascher is a dream midfield.

Agree wholeheartedly!

Only thing is, would it be a different story if any of those teams had Gerrard? That's the exciting prospect, of seeing how well they work together in our team.

I voted Alonso of course though, no doubt about that!

Alonso

He's had a good pre-season and a good summer with Spain, he may be showing his qualities again. Forget Barry Rafa, he's too old and we'll never get £18m back if we wanted to sell him on. Same with Keane, a dumb buy.. we can't get £20m back if we want to sell him on.

I this 27 going on 28 is also the age of Gerrard; so I dont think he is so old, It was just a case of being overpriced by the silly rabbit MON. Keane scored over 20 goals last season, I bet we will all be singing a different tune if he deliver another 20 goals this season.

Alonso has the accuracy of a sniper, but Barry can play LM comfortably, Alonso wont do well there; We also need Barry to take some positional burdens off Gerrard, something Alonso has not been able to do. I'm gonna vote for Barry. But I hope we get to keep them both.

I think that Kuyt can play LM, and you no that he'll give 110% so thats why Alonso is the answer for me. Gerrard can play on the right no problem, i dont no why people are worried about not getting the best out him if he's on the right when he scored 20+ goals from there 2 seasons ago. Mash and Xabi would rival any team in the worlds CM, so i think that has to be the option. I dont feel any need for Barry

100% got to vote for Xabi

I think Barry could be a useful addition to the squad, but not instead of Xabi, he would give us nothing that Xabi can't, and we'd miss all the goals from outside of the area.
I thought Xabi was gonna miss last night, coz he was a bit too close!!

I But if it comes to the crunch, it will be Alonso. But it would have to be on the condition he can get forward more.

Spot on Kenny, I feel the same way, if for some reason Stevie was out or being pushed out wide, love to see Xabi getting forward more with Masch protecting the back four. Oh yeah I pick Xabi 

If we could i would have both, but we cant so

Alonso all the way

I've voted Alonso but it doesn't matter.  We'll have both before the end of the week.

i would say barry at the present time.

he can give us more options , fill in for stevie and play on the left where we are sorely lacking quality, (babel aside)
and xabi is far too slow in a league that is all about power and pace.

Xabi may be a pretty good passer but his tackling is also suspect, and hes caught on the ball far too much   !

i think barrry is a better all round player and rafa can see that !!
barry may not be as good a passer but he certainly isnt a bad passer of the ball,
plus he can tackle and is much quicker than xabi.

I desperately want Barry!

He is a very good player who plays well with Gerrard, he has determined and enthuisastic attributes and he wants to play for our football club. He can also play on the left wing or at left back which proves his versatility.

However....


Xabi Alonso was awesome yesterday against Valarenga (ok there not a phenomenal side, but we know how good Xabi is at his best!), he proved how good a player he is technically, what we desperately need. I think his injury pushed him down the pecking order last season but on that evidence we cant afford to lose a player of his quality.


So for them reasons I refuse to vote for any player, my only hope is we get Barry in ASAP and keep Alonso and I will be a very, very happy man! 


Have them both is what i say!!

I think Barry will def improve us, but not at Xabi's expense I'm afraid. So if its a choice between the 2 most DEFINITELY XABI ALONSO - The best passer we've had since The Great Dane, Jan Molby!

I coudn't agree with you more

I did. I'd choose him over Alonso.

The timing of this poll is not kind to Barry after Alonsos Vålarenga-game anyway.

I didn't vote on the basis of that one game, although he was excellent, I voted for Xabi because he is a proven world class player 

I didn't vote on the basis of that one game, although he was excellent, I voted for Xabi because he is a proven world class player 

yeah id go with xabi

XABI has just proved that he has a lot left to offer...but I hope we can still have them both.

I will have to disagree with the majority I'm afraid as although I would prefer to keep both if its a case of choosing one over the other I would like to go for Barry.

Xabi has been a disapointment for me in the last couple of seasons and I feel some peoples judgement may be clouded by things he has done in the past, yes he is still a class player but has now faded for me to the point where he is not first choice for club or country. Granted he has a lot more competition than Gareth Barry has at Villa and England but for me Xabi is guilty of maybe resting on his laurels a little too much.

Barry has just cemented a place in an ever changing England side and granted does shine in a average Villa team but I have seen bits of him playing with Gerrard that are encouraging to say the least and I feel in a class Liverpool midfield we could bring him on so much more.

Maybe the threat of being sold is the reminder Alonso needs that no one not even Stevie G can guarantee himself a place and for me if Barry comes that will certainly be the case, the question was Barry or Alonso but frankly a world class team could have them both.

wow, this is one hell of a close poll  : 

alonso for sure but if we can have both i would still be happy.

Lets remember Gareth Barry shines when he has Craig Gardener and Nigel Reo-Coker beside him. His goal tally and assist tally is simply down to the simple fact that he takes every set piece Villa get. At Liverpool he's gonna be competing with Gerrard, Aurelio and even Alonso for set peices. I think it was 10 goals he got last year, 5 from the spot (includin one against us on the openin day) so I wouldn't expect him to be exactly as good for Villa. Plus when you've got John Carew to aim for with every free kick or corner it's very likely you'll pick him out. Bit like us with Crouch, we could just aim for him. Don't get me wrong I like Barry, think he's a decent player but for me I'd always have Alonso.

8 million for a new left back, so Barry certainly wouldn't be first choice there. Xabi, Masch and Stevie so I don't see him just coastin into the middle. Babel down the left gives us that get out ball with his pace, somethin Barry doesn't have. For 18 million I think Barry's overpriced. Half it and I'd be pleased, but 18 mill is just too much for someone who I can only see bein a squad player at best.

dont know if this was brought up before ,but isnt barry cup tied now because he came on after 60 mins after that lad had that bad injury, id prefer a focused and fit alonso than barry any day.   

voted for alonso without even thinking, i just think he is world class and i don't understand how we can even consider to sell him

I will have to disagree with the majority I'm afraid as although I would prefer to keep both if its a case of choosing one over the other I would like to go for Barry.

Xabi has been a disapointment for me in the last couple of seasons and I feel some peoples judgement may be clouded by things he has done in the past, yes he is still a class player but has now faded for me to the point where he is not first choice for club or country. Granted he has a lot more competition than Gareth Barry has at Villa and England but for me Xabi is guilty of maybe resting on his laurels a little too much.

Barry has just cemented a place in an ever changing England side and granted does shine in a average Villa team but I have seen bits of him playing with Gerrard that are encouraging to say the least and I feel in a class Liverpool midfield we could bring him on so much more.

Maybe the threat of being sold is the reminder Alonso needs that no one not even Stevie G can guarantee himself a place and for me if Barry comes that will certainly be the case, the question was Barry or Alonso but frankly a world class team could have them both.

While its well thought out and some good points, i must disagree.

Xabi has been played in a defensive midfield role thus holding him back from showing what impact he can have on a match. I mean you only have to look at his first season where he played in a natural role and he was brilliant, his second he was hampered with injury and last season when he did play after injury he was held back.

I think with the ever increasing possibility of there being a natural role in the centre of the park then Xabi no doubt would be the more effective than Barry in my opinion. You only have to look at what he has done this pre season when aloud the freedom to attack to see what he can do for this team and also when you look back to the Euro's and he came on, Spain changed. His game against Greece was classic Xabi and he played it in his natural role.

I think for the 4-2-3-1 when used, Plessis and Masch should be used but the 4-4-2, Gerrard should be pushed to the right and play Xabi with Masch in the middle.

Just my opinion though.

Morning crouchinho ,

Sorry mate but I don’t see how Xabi’s dip in form is due to being played in a more defensive role, he has never been what you call an attacking midfielder if anything he has always sat whilst Gerrard bombed on. That said he never needs to get up and down the pitch as for me when on his game his passing is very Molby like and of course he can be a major asset to any team.

2004/5-32 Games with 3 Goals
2005/6-53 Games with 5 Goals
2006/7-32 Games with 4 Goals
2007/8-27 Games with 2 Goals
Spain   47 Games with 1 Goal

If he is an attack minded player he obviously isn’t going forward for goals so its purely down to his creative talent he gets to start games, and that’s a good enough reason for me if he brings his top game. The question at the beginning of the topic is either/or and if you put a gun to my head I would choose Barry purely because of the central midfielders we already have, I don’t know how much credence people give to opta/actim type indexes but Barry was rated as the second best midfielder in the country last season behind Ronaldo and two ahead of our own Stevie G!

http://www.pa-sport.com/en/actim/actim-index-premier.html

I concede Barry tends to shine in an average Villa side but I like the way he plays with Gerrard with England and I also like the fact he has a cracking left foot that enables him to work the flank as well as playing a part in the middle.
I take your point Xabi has looked good pre-season even if it has been against mediocre opposition so maybe just maybe the threat of nearly being sold is the kick in the pants I think he needed and as I said earlier a truly big club should be able to buy (agreed at a massively over inflated price!) and keep hold of class players at the same time.