Is Alonso Coming Or Going?

Well I just don’t know what to make out of the situation with Xabi Alonso, is he coming or going? The whole thing has got me as confused as a blind lesbian in a fish market. One day he seems almost certain to be on his way out of Anfield after supposedly telling the boss that he wants to leave, and the next day he seems certain to stay with us after Real have supposedly given up on trying to sign him. I don’t know what to believe at the moment but I do know that I’ve got a great big pain in my arse with this ongoing saga. If Xabi does leave it will be a major disappointment but we’ve had plenty of those over the years and as ever we’ll get over it. No matter which way this thing goes, I just hope it gets sorted out as quickly as possible so we can focus on our preparations for next season. A few words from the man himself wouldn’t go amiss and hopefully we’ll hear something from him when he joins up with the squad this weekend, if not before. There’s no doubt losing Alonso would be a blow, he is one of our best players and would be very difficult if not impossible to replace but if he’s made up his mind to leave then it’s best to let him go and try to salvage something by getting the best possible price for him. To be totally honest, I’d be more than a little pissed off if he left us at a time when we finally seem to be on the verge of achieving things, but he’s a player I’ve developed a lot of respect for over the last five years so no matter what happens I certainly won’t be throwing any flak in his direction. However, it is annoying to see the media vultures using this situation as yet another stick to beat up on Rafa Benitez. During his time at Anfield we have regularly seen him being criticised in the press for his tactics, team selections, transfers, conduct on the bench, arrogance etc, etc, etc. Rarely if ever do we see the likes of Alex Fergiescum subjected to such constant critical analysis but it seems to be open season when it comes to our boss and anything goes. Now it appears that they are blaming his poor man-management skills as one of the main reasons why we may lose Alonso and just like much of the other crap they write, that is complete and utter bollocks! This is typical lazy journalism based largely on the fact that Xabi was nearly sold to Juventus last summer and to read some of the reports you would think Rafa had tried to drag him away at gunpoint. But this is clearly ridiculous and you only have to look around at what’s happening in the transfer market at the moment to see why. In the modern game the powers of the players and their agents seem to be increasing all the time, while the powers of managers and clubs seem to be diminishing. It makes me laugh when a player signs a new contract at a club and it gets greeted with headlines about them “committing” themselves to the club for the next 4 years or whatever. Contracts mean very little these days and regardless of their length it appears that players can walk away pretty much whenever they choose, and often do. Alternatively they can also sit on their arses, run down their contracts and refuse to move on even when it’s clear they are not in the manager’s plans, as we seen recently with Peanut. So my point is that had Alonso moved to Juve last summer, the player and his agent would have been very much involved in making it happen and he wouldn’t have been forced to go anywhere he didn’t want to. Besides this if Xabi was feeling so unsettled about what went on last summer, as the press claim, then it’s strange that he went on to have his best ever season for us and as recently as just before the Confetti Cup he was saying how very happy he was at Liverpool. So all I’m saying is that if Alonso does end up moving on to Real Madrid there is no way any blame should be placed at Rafa’s door. I don’t think the boss can do any more to keep the player then he’s already done. Time and again he has publicly stated that Alonso is an important player for us and he is not for sale, the club even released an official hands-off statement and let’s not forget the player still has three years remaining on a fat contract. These are hardly the actions of a manager trying to supposedly force a player out of a club, as some media morons claim. The reason why the boss has placed such a large price on the players head is simply because he doesn’t want to sell him but if he is forced into it, he wants to ensure that the club is amply compensated and has enough funds to bring in a couple of quality replacements. My intention here is to counter some of the crap that’s been in the press recently and I’m not trying to have a go at Xabi, but it has to be said that if he does move to Madrid it will be down to the efforts of him and his agent not Rafa Benitez. Anyway, like just about every other Reds fan I know, I’m just totally pissed off with all of this crap and I just want to see it sorted out as quickly as possible. Thankfully we’ve got a little game against St Gallen tonight and even though it’s a pretty meaningless friendly, I’m looking forward to seeing a little action. This is a very small first step in what will hopefully be a very memorable season for us and it will be particularly interesting to see Glen Johnson in action for us for the first time and some of the younger players getting a run out. Apparently Rafa intends to give all of the 24 players he has available, some time on the pitch. According to the official site our starting eleven will be Cavalieri, San Jose, Degen, Insua, Carragher, Spearing, Gerrard, El Zhar, Babel, Voronin, Nemeth and in the second half we can expect to see the likes of Martin, Darby, Skrtel, Johnson, Kelly, Plessis, Pacheco, Benayoun, Lucas, Ngog, Gulacsi, Ayala and Kuyt. The LFC TV station is available free for the next couple of weeks or so and they are showing a delayed transmission of the game at 9pm in this part of the world. So I’ll be having some of that and I’ve got some ice cold Stella waiting in the fridge, life is good! I don’t care too much about the result but just give me a few goals for The Reds and no injuries, and I’ll be as happy as a pig in shit!