Mascherano

Mascherano, Alves, Ribery, Diego, Huntelaar, Richards, Bale, Buffon.

The idea that Cisse is or was a winner caused me a degree of consternation. Standing there after a pass he could have used his pace to get to just standing on the spot. The ball and their team moving around and him standing there, showing disdain to the fact that the ball was not placed on the end of his foot, his right foot. In my view, we would benefit from selling Xabi Alonso. I'll start by saying something contradictory. I think he is great, lovely passer of the ball, creative and he is determined. However, teams in this league know that all they have to do is crowd him out, get on his case and he won't be able to do it. Everton and Bolton did this well, with Cahill taking him out of the game with aggression and giving him no space, even though some of it in my view deserved a booking. Alonso is a great player but won't make the top in this league. He is too soft, he has little influence when he is constantly under pressure. Looks great in europe, as he would, I just don't think that Alonso will be a league "winner".

I would like to see Luis in the team. I have taken note of the things said in this thread and I agree with different aspects of most of the posts. I just don't see Luis as an effective option in midfield. His lack of passing consistency frustrates me. however, he is a very good goal scorer. A bit like with Michael Owen when he was here, I don't want to see Luis contributing to build up play, only contributing to being at the right place at the right time to finish it off. I would like to see Luis being trained and used as a selffish goal scorer. I don't want to see him offering himself as a passing option when he is likely to give the ball away. There are others who can offer that option better, but no one better where he can be employed, positioning himself to pick up the ball and shoot, long range or short. I love his goals, so let him shoot.

Didi and his desire to always make a back pass is infuriating. Didi would have to have good reading of the game or at least it would be more noticable because he does not have Momo's work rate. Didi did not fill the void left by Momo's absence in my view. Momo is a brilliant player.