Will be interesting to see how he copes and if he can hold down his place. Sarri's given him the starts so far, can he adapt to thrive in a high line?

13 minutes ago, Semper Fi said:

None of the Liverpool fullbacks hold a candle to Alonso.

Alonso has played full back for a couple of games in 2 years for us, so I don't think you can argue that he is better than 2 full backs that reached the champions league final last season. 

I would definately say both are better crosses though.

Edited August 16, 20187 yr by big blue

1 hour ago, Semper Fi said:

None of the Liverpool fullbacks hold a candle to Alonso.

Would take Robertson over Alonso in this system. Better defensively and can put in a better cross.

8 hours ago, coco said:

Is it coincidence that our three best ball players have all been chased by the Spanish giants this window ? Thankfully so far we have held them off, bar letting the moody bitch Courtois leave.

I heard somewhere that Coutrois is pretty good at playing with balls....

 

yeah yeah I'm a 10 year old..

27 minutes ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I heard somewhere that Coutrois is pretty good at playing with balls....

 

yeah yeah I'm a 10 year old..

Bitches don't have balls, unless you're a friend of @yorkleyblue

It’s ridiculous how under appreciated Alonso is, I think he is such a classy player. He has everything in his locker, great passing, lethal finishing, incredible free kicks, he’s one of these few players who has ‘flair’.

The only thing that lets him down is he hasn’t got pace like Ashley Cole. Still a brilliant player and I really can picture him playing as a striker or winger.

Terrible defense but brilliant clutch offense as usually 

3 minutes ago, BKLYNProdigy said:

Terrible defense but brilliant clutch offense as usually 

What does this mean? What is a clutch offense?

41 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

What does this mean? What is a clutch offense?

For some reasons, he was always there when we needed a goal. Tie or go ahead 

He has 7 winning goals out of his 23 goals in PL/Championships. Three with Chelsea 

Marcos is okay. 

Very good at grabbing an important goal.

Defensively, he's not good enough. He's far too slow and his positioning is terrible.

Needs to be upgraded on next season otherwise we will continue to be exposed down the flanks.

He was very good going forward, but definately struggled defensively 1st half, although I think the team defended poorly from the front in the first half.

Having David Luiz next to him definitely doesn't help either.

Loved his goal and attacking player, but he's still playing the LWB, not what he's assigned to do. He scored one, but conceded at least 3 clear cut chances on his flank, on another day he'd be the guilty party. He needs to adapt, otherwise I reckon Emerson should start, I'm happy to got with stability on the left flank, scoring goals from LB isn't the top priority with the way we are playing.

Alonso at left back is an experiment worth having a real go at. He has production most attacking minded players dream of. What Alonso needs two or three touches to do, other players need 15-20 to do the same damage. One of the most effective players I've seen in a blue shirt. Sarri needs to look at his team and try to figure out how Alonso can be on the pitch.

You'd have to assume that when Hazard gets back, and Kovacic gets rolling, it will help defensively. Hazard will pin back the opposing full back and wingers a lot more than Willian, and Kovacic is much better defensively (and imo offensively) than Barkley.

He's lethal in attacking positions because he can wonder into the box and doesn't get picked up, and even when he does get picked up he's hard to stop as he's quiet a big player. His first touch is always brilliant, probably the best first touch in the team, and that left foot is the best left foot in the team.

If you want a LB who is good off the ball at defending, but has little else to offer, then you can expect to see a lot of defending. But if you have a LB with flare and a proactive attitude your'e going to see a lot of attacking.

One-on-one defensively he actually did quite well yesterday, it was when faced with players running into the spaces between him and Luiz where we really struggled.

 

If he's going to come out wide to defend, it needs either the other 3 of the back 4 to shift across.

 

Or for the deep midfielder (Jorginho) to move into that space to cover it.

Unfortunately Jorginho isn't very athletic and doesn't have the pace to sprint into those positions, which is why I would have Kante deeper personally.

 

Another other alternative, is to keep the back 4 narrow and make it the wide midfielders responsibility to track runs back, but that's more suited to the 5 at the back with wingbacks, and I can't see Hazard doing much of that.

Good analysis Zeta. I think Kovacic could help there. He is the athletic type who can run up and down the field and is bulky enough to handle even big opponents. It all comes down to fluidity of our team play which takes time. Jorginho for us is the hub. 

Alonso is technically very very gifted. He has a silky touch, great shot and a good vision. He surprises me time and time again. He can well be the next Branna for us in the sense he sort of was under the radar buy but keeps on delivering even in this new role. 

If Alonso played the way he does for us for Real Madrid, Bayern or Juventus everyone would be saying he is the best attacking left back in the world.

We are so used to playing defensive football that we as fans are under appreciating what a player we have.

We need to get used to the fact that we are going to get caught out alot no matter who plays at left back with our new style of play.  But he is so productive going forward that i am delighted we have him as an option and think we have one of the best 5 left backs in the world.

What a game he had, tons of effort and defensively great while ghosting in the box like Lamps, creating and scoring goals.

Problem is we have a LB charging all the way forward, I feel like teams will eventually exploit this and counter the space he left behind and he'll be pegged back, maybe Sarri doesn't give a f**k and would take the risk with his system though.

22 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

What a game he had, tons of effort and defensively great while ghosting in the box like Lamps, creating and scoring goals.

Problem is we have a LB charging all the way forward, I feel like teams will eventually exploit this and counter the space he left behind and he'll be pegged back, maybe Sarri doesn't give a f**k and would take the risk with his system though.

?? No one was defensively great yesterday.

6 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

?? No one was defensively great yesterday.

2nd half we were defensively great. First half not so much 

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

?? No one was defensively great yesterday.

I missed the first half, he was really good second half but after watching the highlights yeah everyone was bad in the first half but that is probably more down to our defensive tactics (or lack thereof)

12 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Having David Luiz next to him definitely doesn't help either.

Another point that is a shame but is spot on, nonetheless.

12 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Loved his goal and attacking player, but he's still playing the LWB, not what he's assigned to do. He scored one, but conceded at least 3 clear cut chances on his flank, on another day he'd be the guilty party. He needs to adapt, otherwise I reckon Emerson should start, I'm happy to got with stability on the left flank, scoring goals from LB isn't the top priority with the way we are playing.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but do you feel that Emerson has shown anything to warrant staking a claim to LB over Alonso.

For me i look at Luiz and i look at the performances that Ampadu has put in and I get the feeling that Ampadu could easily slot in and, notwithstanding the occasional similar mistake would actually improve in the position. I don't get that feeling with Emerson yet.