Rafa Benitez dropped Xabi Alonso for the Champions League semi final against Chelsea, and this may become the trend next season, but how long will the Spaniard be willing to bide his time on the bench before saying `Adios´.
Before i go any further i think its important to say that i do not want Alonso to leave Anfield, he is one of the best midfielders in the world and if Liverpool are to truly compete for the league they need two players in each position, and if Gerrard gets injured there is no one that could fill his boots, but Alonso is as close as you will get.
Liverpool are at the dawn of a new era, cash is going to be made available to Benitez on a scale not seen before at the merseyside club, he will be strenghtening all areas of the squad but the positions with the most priority are the wings and up front. The wings will be where the biggest transformation comes, i can actually see two players being bought, one for each wing, and these will not be players that have potential, but players that have passed that stage of their career and are already able to compete at the highest level, Jermaine Pennant and Mark Gonzalez will have to fight for their place in the starting line up with the new arrivals and that is good healthy competition for the club.
Who these players are is anyones guess, the media give different names on any given day, but one thing is for sure Rafa will bring players in to fix this Liverpool Fc problem that has gone on for years, but when we have two good natural wingers where does that leave Steven Gerrard. It means that his days on the wing are over and he is going to be playing in his natural position, central midfield, what Liverpool fans have been crying out now for years.
But the big question is who plays alongside Gerrard in this new look Liverpool football team, most people would automatically say Alonso, but the Gerrard, Alonso combination has its problems, its a little bit similar to the England problem of Gerrard and Lampard, where people say they are too similar and cannot play together.
Alonso and Gerrard give the same problem to a lesser degree mainly because Alonso is a lot better player than Lampard and has learned to tackle and became tougher since he moved to Liverpool.
There was no problem in the Alonso Gerrard combination until Momo Sissoko arrived and then we seen how a real terrier such as Sissoko with his tackles, breaking down play and non stop running helped our midfield performance, but with Sissoko his distribution of the ball has got progressively worse so lately there has not been much point playing him because as soon as he wins the ball he passes it straight back to the opposition.
But the man who Rafa picked to play alongside Gerrard in the Chelsea game, has a mix of Alonso`s and Sissoko`s talents. Mascherano has it all, he can tackle, track back and even if his passes are not as visionary as Alonso`s he has the talent to spot the runs of the forwards and execute the pass, its simple play but very effective and the plus of having a player that can do this but also tackle and break up play means that he must be picked so that it gives Gerrard the freedom to surge forward and be a menace to the other team, all the time knowing that Mascherano has his back covered but can also launch his own attack given the opportunity.
It is no secret that Barcelona would love to sign Alonso, and it is also no secret that Benitez is a great admirer of Samuel Eto`o, he tried to sign him before Barcelona snapped him up. Because of Eto`o`s relationship with Barca all the top clubs in Europe will be interested in signing the Cameroonian this summer, but Liverpool if they decided to let Alonso move to the Nou Campcould work out a deal and jump to the head of the line.
So as unthinkable as it may seem, if what i think will happen and Mascherano is chosen as the best partner for Gerrard, we have to ask ourselves what is better for Liverpool Football Club, a disgruntled Xabi Alonso sitting on the bench or in my opinion the best striker in the world Samuel Eto`o spreading fear among all Premiership defences.
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