molby prendrait la comparaison entre lui et xabi comme un compliment majeur pcq xabi est un très grand.
molby dit qu'à son époque,les strikers se promenaient bcq plus dans les defenses adverses donc les passes de molby etaient un peu plus hautes.
donc molby jouait un peu plus haut aussi.
molby a entendu qu'alonso ne faisait pas assez de tackles mais il n'est pas d'accord avec ça.il n'a pas le même gabarit que momo sissoko,stevieG ou didi,mais xabi est unique.
evidemment,il pense qu'alonso n'est pas aussi bon qu'hamman ou steven gerrard pour tackler mais son intelligence fait qu'il lit très bien le jeu adverse et peut parfaitement s'insérer qq part pour récupérer le ballon ou faire récupérer le ballon par qqn.molby pense qu'il est parfaitement capable de faire d'excellents tackles aussi.
molby pense qu'alonso peut améliorer son nombre de buts ,aussi.
il pense qu'alonso oit pouvoir marquer 7 ou 8 buts par saison,avec ses qualités de tireur de coups francs.
il pense qu'il sera un joueur parfait une fois que qu'il marquera plus de buts,comme jaimie redknapp quand il etait au top de sa forme.
"ce qui est impressionant avec xabi,c'est qu'il soit si jeune.quand tu parles avec lui,il apparait comme étant qqn qui a vraiment la tête sur les épaules.il a l'air de bien se plaire à liverpool,donc j'espère qu'il sera là pour longtemps."
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I don't know whether Alonso has ever seen footage of me in action or what he thought about the comparison between us but I can honestly say I took it as a major compliment.
I think Xabi is an exceptional footballer and I'd agree with the journalist that we do have more in common that just wearing the No.14 shirt for the Reds.
I'd watched him play once or twice for Real Sociedad in La Liga and I was quite impressed with him but he really came to my intention during the European Championships in Portugal. I was thinking that any player that makes his international debut for his country at the age of just 21 must be a little bit special and when he came off the bench in Portugal, he looked some player. Being a former midfielder, I tend to focus on other midfielders first when I'm watching games and what I saw in Alonso in Portugal was not only a good passer but an intelligent footballer who can sort things out with short or long passes.
After the European Championships it emerged that Rafael Benitez was bringing him to Anfield and I thought what a good player he could be for Liverpool. His style of game is quite different to that of the other midfielders at the club and I think Rafa recognised that there was a need for a player in the middle who could help us retain possession in a way not seen at Liverpool since Jamie Redknapp was in his prime under Roy Evans.
When you play in the middle of midfield, there's a lot of scrappy and messy play all around you and there's a lot of midfielders in the Premiership who can't sort messy play out. I'd say nine out of ten midfielders will serve the ball right back into an area massed with players. Xabi doesn't do that though.
His first thought - and it obviously comes instinctively to him - is to get the ball away from the trouble. That in itself is an ability and he does that as well as anyone in Europe right now.
To be a top class midfielder you need to have a quick mind and quick feet and Xabi has certainly got both of those qualities. Some midfielders have got one or the other but very few have both.
When people make comparisons between what I used to do for Liverpool and what Xabi does now for Benitez's team, I can certainly see what people are talking about but without wanting to sound bigheaded, I was probably a bigger goal threat than Xabi has been so far for Liverpool. When I say that I'm not undermining Xabi's ability but I used to play a bit further up the field than he does in this current Liverpool side and maybe I was a little bit more aggressive in my forward passing into space for players like Ian Rush, Craig Johnston and Peter Beardsley. The reason Alonso doesn't make passes like that is because we don't currently have the players running behind the defences like Ian Rush did in my time.
What that means for Xabi is that his passing has to be very calculated. When Rafa can introduce one or two new players capable of making those runs, Xabi has enough about his game to start finding them.
One criticism I heard a few times of Xabi last season was that he didn't put in enough tackles but I don't go along with that. We all know he's not as physical as Dietmar Hamann, Steven Gerrard or Momo Sissoko, but he's a different type of player to those three. They are excellent at what they do but Xabi excels in his own unique way. I certainly don't think it's a hindrance to his game that he's not a Hamann or a Gerrard in terms of winning the ball back.
His game isn't about 100mph tackles. His game is about reading the situation, nipping in and bringing the ball away from the opposition and playing it out to a teammate in more space than himself. He doesn't need to go flying in to tackles although as anyone who saw him against Chelsea on Wednesday night can testify, if a tackle needs to be made, he's not scared of getting his knees dirty. His tackle on Arjen Robben in the first-half yesterday was superb.
While I don't think he needs to worry about the physical side of his game, I still think he can improve his goalscoring record. I believe a central midfield player, with set-pieces ,should weigh in with seven or eight goals a season and last year Xabi didn't do that. Having said that, he's already off the mark for this season with a great free-kick against Sunderland so there's plenty of time to work and improve that aspect of his game.
I don't think he'll ever score as many as Steven Gerrard but if he can weigh in with the same amount of goals that Redknapp used to when he was fit, I think he'll be the complete midfield player. In fact, I'd say that the comparison between a fit Jamie Redknapp and Alonso is as valid as the comparison between Xabi and me. He's very stylish with his range of passing and like Jamie, and even David Beckham, he doesn't need to dribble past players when he can find a player from almost any position on the pitch.
You can practice being able to strike the ball 20 yards, 40 yards and 70 yards but in terms of seeing a pass that's available, that is either something you have or you don't have. You simply can't learn that. It's instinctive and fortunately for Liverpool, Alonso has got that.
The best thing about Alonso for me though is the fact that he's so young. When you watch him play or listen to him talk, you forget that he's so young. The fact that like Jamie, Xabi's father was a football manager and he's always been surrounded by football has shaped his character as well as his game. He doesn't appear fazed by anything. He's settled in at Anfield very, very quickly - in fact, he appears so settled that you'd think he'd been here all his career. He looks happy, he's enjoying himself and he's settled in the local area. Just like me, I think he'll be here for a long time.
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