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[Attilio the Hun]

anyone who doesn't rate alonso doesn't see many liverpool games, which is no crime, but I live with one (a 'pool fan) and x. alonso is awesome. he may not get the final ball and hence the assist but he spreads and dictates play beautifully and often provides the 'killer' pass that starts an attacking move.

also comparisons to pirlo are fair of course but in the milan game pirlo takes up the advanced/edge of box position more than alonso is ever permitted to at liverpool (where benitez keeps him deep or gerrard elbows him out of the way to go it himself)

I agree that alonso is a luxury and poulsen a necessity but putting xabi down now is a bit weak/sour grapes..

 

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[Mark]

assists mean sh*t in this case. Xabi almost never makes the last pass. He gets it to the winger with masterful passing from deep and they take care of the rest. He opens up plays.

 

[Bjerknes]

To even justify buying Poulsen over Xabi because Poulsen has more assists is just completely mindless. Who would have thought a slightly above average DM would be rated higher than one of the best passers in one of the best leagues in the world.

 

[v1rtu4l]

assists mean sh*t in this case. Xabi almost never makes the last pass. He gets it to the winger with masterful passing from deep and they take care of the rest. He opens up plays.

so what is the point here ?
do you want to say that we need someone who gets our wingers in good positions on the touchline ?
did you already forget that we had thousands of chances were either molinaro, nedved, camo, nocerino or zebina were on the wings and the crosses were just shit ?

we do NOT have a problem getting into the positions to make a cross... (browse through the old match threads where you wish molinaro to hell for his thousand crap crosses) we obviously have a problem with the LAST Ball ... so xabi will only help give molinaro the ball on the left for him to cross behind the goal ... what a fantastic imagination ... without someone who can play the last ball xabi is useless

To even justify buying Poulsen over Xabi because Poulsen has more assists is just completely mindless. Who would have thought a slightly above average DM would be rated higher than one of the best passers in one of the best leagues in the world.

i don't rate poulsen higher than xabi, but for that price poulsen is the more sensible player to get

 

[Bjerknes]

In the current market, 20 million Euros is a reasonable price for Xabi Alonso, whether people like it or not.

Clubs have got to pay for quality nowadays so if we don't, we're douchebags.

 

[PhRoZeN]

Lets face it though if its creativity we want then his not the man. Yes he helps the flow, and gets it to the wingers or the "playmakers", but where the hell are the playmakers or should i say assisters. do you really expect camo to do all the work. Dont get me wrong Giovinco could very well be the main man, but lets keep our heads to the ground. His good to come, but wont still solve the underlying problem, we seriously lack some flair, pace, creativity and most of all someone who isnt scared to run into the box.

 

[Osman]

You can say that again. And again, and again.

Statistics aren't always the best way to judge a player, especially when the player in question is a deep-lying playmaker.

He is only counting direct assists, that are in stats, not considering a player of Xabis quality sets up attacks, not the final pass (oftently too deep to make final passes), but second from last (indirectly, seen him often pass to a free winger that just needs to make an easy pass to a striker), or builds up killer counter attacks as easily with quick pinpoint solutions.

There are TONS of nuances to passing that arent covering in stats at all. He makes it sound like its an american sport, where only the stats matter.


Edit: Nevermind, the above point has been made 3 times by others. A point that needs to be repeated because there are alot of posters who would be swayed by stats like that.

 

[Bjerknes]

Lets face it though if its creativity we want then his not the man. Yes he helps the flow, and gets it to the wingers or the "playmakers", but where the hell are the playmakers or should i say assisters. do you really expect camo to do all the work. Dont get me wrong Giovinco could very well be the main man, but lets keep our heads to the ground. His good to come, but wont still solve the underlying problem, we seriously lack some flair, pace, creativity and most of all someone who isnt scared to run into the box.

But we lack ideas in the midfield with the ball, which is what Xabi would remedy. He has the passing ability to put the ball on a dime for the wingers, and since we will probably play with this damn straight 4-4-2, we will need somebody who can pass the ball like that and has his vision.

Please don't tell me Zanetti is anywhere near Xabi with regard to this job.

 

[Bjerknes]

He is only counting direct assists, that are in stats, not considering a player of Xabis quality sets up attacks, not the final pass (oftently too deep to make final passes), but second from last (indirectly, seen him often pass to a free winger that just needs to make an easy pass to a striker), or builds up killer counter attacks as easily with quick pinpoint solutions.

There are TONS of nuances to passing that arent covering in stats at all. He makes it sound like its an american sport, where only the stats matter.


Edit: Nevermind, the above point has been made 3 times by others. A point that needs to be repeated because there are alot of posters who would be swayed by stats like that.

People just don't take the time to watch football anymore, especially when it comes to everyone's hated Premiership and Liverpool.

 

[PhRoZeN]

But we lack ideas in the midfield with the ball, which is what Xabi would remedy. He has the passing ability to put the ball on a dime for the wingers, and since we will probably play with this damn straight 4-4-2, we will need somebody who can pass the ball like that and has his vision.

Please don't tell me Zanetti is anywhere near Xabi with regard to this job.

Ok in that case why dont we get ourself someone decent on the left wing, a real assister a good crosser. If we are gonna play on the wings we will get so predictable. we obviously need something through the middle.. chances are though zanetti does a pretty good job in passing through the middle. Yes he aint a better passer than xabi, but if your gonna cough up money for creating chances. (Note end product here), Then its time we got someone to give a bit of grief to the opposition.

 

[Bjerknes]

Ok in that case why dont we get ourself someone decent on the left wing, a real assister a good crosser. If we are gonna play on the wings we will get so predictable. we obviously need something through the middle.. chances are though zanetti does a pretty good job in passing through the middle. Yes he aint a better passer than xabi, but if your gonna cough up money for creating chances. (Note end product here), Then its time we got someone to give a bit of grief to the opposition.

Well of course we will play down the wings... that's all we can do with the straight 4-4-2. Camoranesi is our only capable winger so it beats me why we're going to take the field like that, but whatever. The formation is set in stone and with the current staff (old Nedved) and with the new signings, we will play just as miserable as last season unless Giovinco somehow starts.

Don't get me started on that fucking crap 4-4-2. But that's the reason why we need a passer in there with creativity. If we don't, we are one lethargic, shambolic unit relying on Del Piero to bail us out of jail again.

If Alex has a poor year, this could be a huge disaster.

 

[swag]

Tiago better light up the night sky outta nowhere on this team if that's the case.

 

[Nicholas]

Tiago better light up the night sky outta nowhere on this team if that's the case.

Tiago coulden't light up a cigarette if he tried,let alone a team lacking flair.

 

[Mark]

we had Zanetti, Nocerino and Sissoko to try to get some balls to our forwards and wingers. Zanetti was great with the through ball to DP and even if he played like sh*t Tiago make more good passes than the other two.

With Xabi we'd be able to double, triple our chances of scoring just with long balls placed perfectly to Camo, DP, Neddy, Amauri...'s foot.

 

[PhRoZeN]

Well of course we will play down the wings... that's all we can do with the straight 4-4-2. Camoranesi is our only capable winger so it beats me why we're going to take the field like that, but whatever. The formation is set in stone and with the current staff (old Nedved) and with the new signings, we will play just as miserable as last season unless Giovinco somehow starts.

Don't get me started on that fucking crap 4-4-2. But that's the reason why we need a passer in there with creativity. If we don't, we are one lethargic, shambolic unit relying on Del Piero to bail us out of jail again.

If Alex has a poor year, this could be a huge disaster.

And what about getting ourself another winger then? or does that sound overburdening? Considering we have already bought poulson I dont see why we would further recruit in that position. Yes he aint an alonso although I believe Marchisio could do a better job even though he may have question marks over his head. What im trying to say is make do with what we already but we need a different type of player or positional player afterall there is nothing worse than seeing the haunting "capello tactics".

 

[Bjerknes]

let alone a team lacking flair.

As if Poulsen and Sneezivic could do that ether.

 

[Nicholas]

As if Poulsen and Sneezivic could do that ether.

But since when have those two been classed as attacking.

 

[Bjerknes]

And what about getting ourself another winger then? or does that sound overburdening? Considering we have already bought poulson I dont see why we would further recruit in that position. Yes he aint an alonso although I believe Marchisio could do a better job even though he may have question marks over his head. What im trying to say is make do with what we already but we need a different type of player or positional player afterall there is nothing worse than seeing the haunting "capello tactics".

So which winger would you suggest? Malouda?

This is the whole problem though. You say we should use what we have, yet it's pretty clear to most people that we don't have the players to field the straight 4-4-2, yet we do it anyway like morons. Either way, we would have to buy another winger (which we won't do anyway), so what's the point?

Lets just be stuck with mediocrity.

 

[Bjerknes]

But since when have those two been classed as attacking.

Tiago isn't an attacker midfielder.

My hypothesis of nobody knows what sort of player Tiago is deems true again.

He's a center midfielder FFS.

 

[Nicholas]

Tiago isn't an attacker midfielder.

My hypothesis of nobody knows what sort of player Tiago is deems true again.

He's a center midfielder FFS.

I think you would find the role he held at Chelsea was just behind the front 2 forwards,so deem me blind but im sure thats an attacking Midfielder.