I believe Benitez made an honest mistake with the Barry/Alonso saga. If you look at Alonso's general standard of play prior to the season where we looked unbeatable, he was nothing spectacular. Good, yes. Irreplaceable? No.
He definitely stepped up a gear during that season, as did Mascherano, but unfortunately the harsh words had already been said and he wasn't interested in playing for Rafa any more. I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that he didn't want to play for us, and yet still produced memorable performances that season. I can't work out whether he was a really good professional about the entire thing. Surely he and Rafa should just have buried the hatchet? No idea who's fault that was, but it cost us both of them, and look where we are now.
