Alonso welcomes new additions and promises better this season

Xabi has analysed our performance on Saturday and spoken with his usual intelligence about the season ahead.

"You can improve the squad, no matter how well you're doing," he says. "I think we have good players here but a side will always look for new players to add other qualities to the team. That's Rafa's job and we know that's what he is thinking about. "We need to get better in certain areas. People will say we only scored one goal and that's where we must improve, but that shouldn't be a problem because I still think we have the players here to ensure we'll score lots of goals this season. "I'm happy with my goal and we're happy with the points, but we're not happy with our performance. There were a lot of things wrong and it turned into a tough game. "It was difficult for us, but now we must look forward and think of performing better against CSKA. We can take positives because we won and had a clean sheet. "For me personally, I will try to have a big impact in my second season in England. I want to improve my level and help the team make at least the top three in the league."

Alonso is such a class act it is difficult to know how he can improve.