Xabi Alonso Won’t Let You Quit Him and Other Thursday Notes

By: Ed | May 26th, 2011

xabi Yesterday was a nice day. We were able to put the painful memories of bad losses behind us with a perverse sort of poll-focused celebration while also harkening back to the glorious triumphs of Istanbul. We didn’t pay much attention to any of the individuals involved in either category, because it was a time for condemnation and rejoice of the collective. Liverpool have won and last as a team this season, and the effort in Istanbul was as good as it gets when you’re talking about everyone working for the same cause. And better still, there were no seductive ginger beards involved.

Those days have passed.

* I have a curious tendency to both loathe and love Xabi Alonso—I cringe when I read that he’s again doing something associated with Liverpool, but it’s only because I loved him while he was with the club, hated the fact that he left, and continue to be absolutely enamored with him and his beautiful beard. So it’s particularly painful when the official site trumpets their world exclusive as having unbelievably emotional insights about his Liverpool tenure and his passion for the club and holy shit I’m going to pass out. Anyway, some quotes:

On the reasons for his exit:

“At the end of that season, speaking to Rafa, he told me the situation and that he wanted to sign other players and I could be one of the replacements. If an offer would have come, probably I would have been sold. That’s when I told myself that the situation had changed – from being a very important player to being one of those who can be sold to get funds to sign other players. I accepted it because I am a professional but you have to realise what your situation is. At the end nothing happened because there was no agreement and we started my last season in Liverpool, but knowing what had happened.”

On the Champions League final in 2005:

“It was a crazy night because we were so enthusiastic before the game but the first half was really tough and really difficult to take, but the team spirit was high and we kept believing, even when it was mission impossible. But we made it and in six minutes scored three goals against a top team like Milan with so much experience. It was a miracle. After scoring the third goal you had the feeling our name was written on the trophy. Look at the pictures and my face tells everything before taking that penalty. The responsibility, the tense look. It was more than nerves, it was about the responsibility. It was one of the biggest moments of my career. I missed it but got the reward and it was probably the quickest five metres I have ever run.”

Apparently there’s even more to come, which, depending on your blood pressure, could be either a blessing or a curse. As I mentioned, it’s a little bittersweet every time he speaks about the club, since he’s clearly still passionate about Liverpool but also very clear about the feeling that he was no longer wanted. For all Rafa Benitez’s faults (the number of which vary depending on which camp you’re in), the alienation of Xabi Alonso will go down as one of the worst. Sad that Liverpool lost a footballer of his caliber, but even worse that they lost someone who felt so strongly about the club.

* From one former Liverpool midfielder to another, except this one’s got decidedly less good-looking facial hair and an objectively shorter neck. Danny Murphy, who’s really cool except when he’s talking about the evils of foreign players at Liverpool or the reasons that Roy Hodgson is the right man for Liverpool no just kidding, Kenny Dalglish is the right man for Liverpool, but there’s no pressure, and…wait, what was I saying about him being really cool?

“He [Murphy] should know there is always pressure here. He played here long enough, didn’t he? I just know that we played fantastic that night against Fulham and so does he. There’s always a caveat in there somewhere, isn’t there? There’s always somebody that asks a question. But if you take any pride in your work, you are under pressure in any walk of life. It’s not just exclusive to football. You worry about their ability to play first, and I’m sure the players can handle anything else that comes with it.”

I think the bitterness in the statement is something I’ve injected myself, but it’s an idea that we discussed a few weeks ago, and in hindsight I think it was Murphy’s comments that got me all up in arms about the “Liverpool have no pressure” argument. There’s no sense in rehashing it now, as Dalglish’s comments put it far better than I did or would be able to. But I will say that I’m fine with Danny Murphy taking a break from his armchair analysis of Liverpool, at least as long as his opinions about what’s “right” for Liverpool are so…varied.

That’s it for the morning, but we’ll be back with more later this afternoon. Reminder that more poll results are posted today, so keep an eye on Anfield Asylum, Paisley Gates, and Oh You Beauty for that. And for everything else, of course.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Miscellaneous, Special Features, Team News

« Six Years Later: Victory in Istanbul | Home | Winner: Liverpool Player of the Season »

G Mallon

wish lfc could bring alonso back to us i miss the man as a player and a all round genuine person and a teue red at heart if they could find it in there hearts to bid 4 him i garantee he would jump at the chance to put the red jersey on him again.im not just speaking for my self all the fans want him to come home YNWA alonso we will hold ure memories close to our heart!!!!
Ed

Great comments and discussion everyone--the worry on our end is that
this sort of thing dies down once the season's over, so it's great to
see everyone chiming in.

Except now, of course, you're obligated to continue to do the same thing on every post. Suckers.
cheekyfellow

master troll
matt

just scoped out some of the best goals of the year over on oh you beauty. i hope people take this the right way but torres really had some great moments for us getting closer to the winter... touch back, confidence back, finishing back. then we sold him for 50 mil, he sucked, we laughed. it wasn't all bad this year eh?
DJ-Chutfield

Perhaps unbelievably in retrospect, Torres scored 9 goals before departing and looked well on his way to having another 20+ goal season. Makes his joke of a presence in a blue shirt all the more enjoyable for the still-bitter fan. Can you tell I fall into that. category? He was 7/2 at one point to go scoreless the whole season. Hilarity.
REDJONJO

WE SHOULD GET ALSONO BACK FOR NEXT SEASON HE WAS A PLAY MAKER HE READ THE GAME
YNWA
Mike

Against all my better judgment, this comment just feels right.
cheekyfellow

lol
Maybee

I honestly don't understand what's going on in Xabi's mind. I love him, would give anything to see him playing for Liverpool again (though I highly doubt that will ever happen). But I just don't understand why he doesn't seem to be able to move on. When was the last time MUTV interviewed Cristiano Ronaldo? How many Lyon games has Karem Benzema attended in the last two years? How many times has Kaka tweeted about AC Milan? When players leave clubs, they tend to not look back (at least publicly). But I hardly every read an Alonso interview where he doesn't mention Liverpool. As someone who follows Real Madrid, I honestly don't think he looks happy there, and that he would return if he could. But I think the money makes it impossible now. Sad. Not only a world class player, but a true red who really understood our history and our club and loved us as much as we loved him. YNWA, mate.
Ravenilli

Loved Xabi when he played for Liverpool and he is also doing very well for Real whenever the the so called special one hasn't all 11 players defending.

Also will never forget this goal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Ismael Jawad

Alonso is one of the best midfielders to ever grace the Premier League. The man simply oozes class, whether its on the pitch or in interviews. The team's downfall in 2010 might not be completely caused by his departure, but it certainly highlighted the importance of his presence in the middle of the park. I have nothing but admiration for Rafa, but he is the main villain in the Alonso saga. His suggested solution afterwards wasn't that brilliant either; signing a player who wouldn't be able to kick a ball for months to come as a replacement made it seem like even Benitez wasn't entirely aware of the hole that would be caused by Alonso's exit.
redtrev73

Danny will always be 'The Manc-buster' in my mind and his recent penchant for pissing people off in the national media is down to his efforts to establish himself as a regular tv pundit / gob-for-hire, so i'm sure Kenny won't be holding any grudges, given that virtually all his ex-team-mates are 'gainfully' employed in that area.
As for Xabi, well, what a player. Lawrenson, (one of the afore-mentioned tv 'experts'), said in 2005 that if Gerrard got crocked or transferred LFC should simply "lock up the stand". I'm a huge fan of our prodigiously gifted captain but the only player i had in Lawro's stand-locking bracket was xabi, so central to our play was he. Loved Rafa but his alienation of xabi was his biggest mistake. Maybe barry and stevie would have done well...but the trio of masch, gerrard and the ginger-bearded-one was the best midfield the club has seen since the days of houghton, molby,barnes and mc mahon. Sadly missed and a class act.
Guest

Well I made this comment in response to Sam on Anfield Asylum re: Rafa being to blame for Alonso yesterday, but to sum up my point of view on the issue, I think that if a Liverpool fan were to update Dante's Divine Comedy, the three heads of Lucifer would have to be changed from Judas, Brutus, and Cassius to Hicks, Gillett, and Parry. Why? Because they were bastards, that's why!
Avinash

I have heard this before and generally the pro rafa people say that alonso was declining in the last two years before the gareth barry saga and barry was the heartbeat of a villa team. Hence benitez tried to get him but failed. And then alonso went on to have the season of his lifetime in his last season. But damage was already done. Can someone clear this up for me as I didnt follow liverpool as ardently then as I do now.
redtrev73

As a 30 something life-long redman, Avinash, i'll give you my take, for what it's worth. Even xabi-acolytes like myself could see a falling-off in the lad's form in 07/08 and yes, that season saw barry perform fantastically as a left-of-centre linch-pin for o'neill's villa....but probably only rafa could see the positive change that could result from replacing our metronome-esque maestro with the more pedestrian talents of gaz baz. And yes, xabi's final season was a lesson in imperiousness which only left redmen like me (and Ed, it would seem) even more heartbroken to be parting with him.
Ismael Jawad

Just to clarify matters, Alonso wasn't all that bad in the 07/08 season. Actually, he started the season well and ended it pretty much in the same manner. However, injury struck against Portsmouth and he was sidelined for about 6 weeks. Rafa's decision to gamble on his fitness against Arsenal fired back and Alonso came off injured again. Subsequently, Alonso had to miss another 5 weeks. It wasn't a simple dip of form, as some might suggest, but rather a succession of injuries which deemed Alonso's season a failure back then.
dcyberwolf

Absolutely love Alonso (one of my favourite players) but I think there is need for some perspective here. The summer that Rafa tried to sell Alonso for c. 16m, there was absolutely nobody willing to stump up that cash. That was how much of a gamble potential buyers felt he was. A year later, he had upped his game and was sold for c. 30m. However, while the dip in the teams form the season following his departure could not be wholly attributed to his leaving (injuries to other key players, distractions from he hopeless H&G, etc), it did contribute to it.
redtrev73

Injuries complicated the situation certainly, as they had done when fat frank crocked alonso previously. However, the man was not operating at his best that season Ismael. He's never been poor and that wasn't what i was suggesting, but when a visionary passer like xabi is off form it just shows more than when a journeyman-type has a dip. He was a victim of his own standards, not that me or any of the guys around me at the game ever lost our love of the guy when he was struggling a bit to reach his usual heights. Redmen are amongst the most knowledgeable and patient fans you can talk to.
Avinash

Thank you for yours and others insights. I think my post gives a wrong notion, I absolutely LOVE alonso. And I am neither pro rafa nor anti rafa. I just wanted to confirm my views about rafa benitez's role in the departure of alonso. I mean you cannot blame him if he tried to find a replacement when he thought a better player could be brought in for someone who is loosing form. And you also cant blame him when alonso hits the form of his life after the incident. Anyway what I conclude is that he wasnt as good as he was but still too good to be thrown away. So rafa is the villian. :)
paul

Even when he was struggling getting his form back, his performances back then would still put him straight into our current midfield. And anyone claiming it was only his last season that was any good has a very short and selective memory, a classic IRWT candidate?
redtrev73

Dont follow paul...agree that an off-form xabi would probably still get into our current team but who are you saying is a 'classic IRWT candidate'? And who suggested that only alonso's last season was good? Having read my contributions i assume you can deduce that ain't me..? Will always be grateful to the goateed one for returning my club to the status of true euro power but not so one-eyed as to think the guy was faultless.
Ismael Jawad

I'm sorry if it seemed like I was having a dig at you in my previous post. That wasn't my intention at all. It's just that some people seem to forget the facts after a while. When you compare his last season to all of the rest in a red shirt, they all seem below standard in a way. I suppose, he is a victim of his own standards as you suggested.
redtrev73

No worries man, we're all singin' the same hopeful tune 'round here
Tommy smith's nose

Bang on la.
Nic

i LOVE Danny Murphy...

...when he's taking free kicks against Manurehttp://www.youtube.com/w...
JP

does anybody remember the news story before we sold Alonso; when he stated to the Spanish media, that he felt that the British tax regime was too punative, and that he could make more money in Spain. Also, why did a Basque go to Franco's team - money?