Xabi Alonso reveals sacrifices he made so Liverpool could get best from Gerrard

Xabi Alonso has lifted the lid on the inner-workings of Rafa Benite z's Liverpool and revealed the sacrifices he had to make so the Reds could get the best out of Steven Gerrard.

Moving to Anfield from Real Sociedad in 2004, the Spaniard spent five years at the club before signing for Real Madrid in 2009 and predominantly lining up alongside either Gerrard or Javier Mascherano in the middle of the park.

Having also played for the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, Alonso has now taken his own first steps into management with Sociedad's 'B' team.

And he has revealed all on his role under each manager when speaking to The Coaches' Voice , explaining how his own style changed at Liverpool depending on Gerrard's position.

“With Rafa we used to mainly play in a 4-2-3-1 formation during my years with Liverpool,” he recalled. “I used to play as a left 'double-six' and I had to adapt depending on who was my partner.

“I had to change my style and role in a team a little bit depending on who used to play alongside myself and who was number 10.

“If I used to play next to Stevie (Gerrard) with another player in the hole, I knew I had to be positional and he was going to make the offensive runs and the triangle would be the other way around.

“When I played with Mascherano in the last years, Javier was more positional, very competitive and made good (defensive) runs but more in the position and not that offensive so I had to play further (forward) and get closer to Stevie and (Fernando) Torres and try and connect with them.”

He continued: “That was offensively my role, connecting with the wings. I used to play short and long, it was not just looking for the players that were 20m away, it was always trying to find the space.

“We were very intense and that worked pretty well because Stevie's and Torres' connection was really good, my partnership with Mascherano as well was good.

“Carra (Jamie Carragher) and (Daniel) Agger used to work very well, we had very competitive full-backs with (Alvaro) Arbeloa and (Fabio) Aurelio. (Albert) Riera and Dirk (Kuyt) were very intense and we had a very balanced team. We could beat anyone.”

Arguably one of the great playmakers to have played the game in recent years, Alonso also elaborated further on what was going through his mind in games to ensure Liverpool got the best from Gerrard.

“If I was getting close, I was attracting players so we could play it straight to Stevie in space,” he explained. “He could get the ball and make the last run, action or last pass to Torres.

“It was all about the space and who was the free man. If I am the free man and the man comes to me, I won't be free but (Stevie) will be free.

“That reading of the game is important. Where is the space and who is the free player. That is the game understanding and intelligence of the great players.

“The better you'd do, the better you'd play normally.”