Kenny Dalglish recently suggested that Steven Gerrard could be Liverpool's best player. Many fans would agree with that, but Anfield legend Mark Lawrenson has a different view.
In his weekly press conference last week, Dalglish was asked if Gerrard was the club's greatest player. He responded:
"I wouldn't disagree. He has certainly made a huge contribution to the club but he wouldn't be far away from being mentioned as the best player".
Speaking on Today FM, Lawro gave his view on who is Liverpool's best ever play:
"I'd have to disagree with Kenny; was being nice there about the greatest player to every play for the football club.
"He should've mentioned himself, but he's obviously never going to do that.
"Dalglish has been the best ever. Steven gerrard would be second best for me".
The Gerrard/Dalglish debate will probably run and run forever (!), and if I had to choose, I'd select Dalglish; however, I would take John Barnes over both of them.
In my Liverpool dream-team, Barnes would always be the first name on the team-sheet:
--------------------------- Grobbelaar
Nicol --------------- Hyypia -------- Hansen --------- Kennedy
----------------- Souness (c) ------ Gerrard
McManaman ------------------ Dalglish ------------------ Barnes
------------------------------ Rush
Jaimie Kanwar
In his weekly press conference last week, Dalglish was asked if Gerrard was the club's greatest player. He responded:
"I wouldn't disagree. He has certainly made a huge contribution to the club but he wouldn't be far away from being mentioned as the best player".
Speaking on Today FM, Lawro gave his view on who is Liverpool's best ever play:
"I'd have to disagree with Kenny; was being nice there about the greatest player to every play for the football club.
"He should've mentioned himself, but he's obviously never going to do that.
"Dalglish has been the best ever. Steven gerrard would be second best for me".
The Gerrard/Dalglish debate will probably run and run forever (!), and if I had to choose, I'd select Dalglish; however, I would take John Barnes over both of them.
In my Liverpool dream-team, Barnes would always be the first name on the team-sheet:
--------------------------- Grobbelaar
Nicol --------------- Hyypia -------- Hansen --------- Kennedy
----------------- Souness (c) ------ Gerrard
McManaman ------------------ Dalglish ------------------ Barnes
------------------------------ Rush
Jaimie Kanwar
God up front for me thanks
ReplyDeleteReina in goal, Fowler up front! Otherwise, I'd stick to the rest of the formation.
ReplyDeleteKEEGAN -TWICE FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR - Fowler dont be daft - not in top 30
ReplyDeleteKeegan - twice european footballer of the year - Souness was 5 times better than Fowler
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree with Lawro but one serious but obvious error made is lack of Robbie Fowler's name.
ReplyDeleteI think that Robbie should rank poosibly alongside Ian Rush as Liverpool striking greats.
As much as I love Stevie G, its got to be said that playing around such mediocre players for most of his Liverpool career has made him look better than he is.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, very few players would be able to do the 'Roy of the Rovers' act that Stevie G has done wonderfully for us at times but I just feel because of that and being the star man surrounded by, most of the time, average players, flatters him and hypes him up to be better than he is, to me anyway.
Thanks Stevie G for the service but sometimes for your sake, in terms of how good you really are, I wanted u to test yourself in a team of higher quality team mates. Just to see whether you could shine as much as you do here or whether you would simply turn into a wallflower in a great team.
Riquelme needed the entire team playing to his tune at Villareal, before we saw the peak of his powers, whereas at Barca, with far better players, he was poor.
Clemence would get in before Reina for me. Heighway would play before Mcmanaman, but I'd have Keegan before them both, and Souness has to play, he was a monster for us. Barnes was the best Liverpool player in my opinion. He came close to winning titles single handedly in his day. Neal and Lawrenson would have to get in before Hypia and Nicol in my opinion also.
ReplyDeleteClemence, Neal, Lawrenson, Hansen, Kennedy, Souness, Gerrard, Keegan, Dalglish, Barnes, Rush.
Subs would include, Reina, Thompson, Hughes, Heighway, McDermott, Fowler, Owen, Torres. Torres is only a sub behind Rush by virtue of the fact that he did not stay long enough to win anything.
That team would beat almost any team who has ever played.
Sorry, Fowler does not compare to Keegan in any shape or form. He does not even surpass Torres, really. Gerrard would not be above Barnes, Dalglish or Keegan for me. Barely above Souness. But those would be my top 5 all time LFC players.
ReplyDeleteagree, I think that i La Liga with Real or Barca, Gerrard would be seen as a defensive midfielder. Good passing, good tackling, can get around the pitch. But he would not be able to demand the ball all the time from the likes of Messi or Ozgul. The fact that he became captain fantastic for us is probably why we have been lacking a proper attacking playmaker for all of this time. And, to be honest, we were higher up the table when Suarez was the main man than we are now!
ReplyDeleteAgree with Paddy. He fades into the background when playing for England. I think he's been flattered by the poor players around him. Carragher even more so.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, do you actually remember Grobellaar? He was garbage! Had he not had one of the best back fours in football in front of him he would never have a medal to his name. I remember Paddy Roche at Man U. and Grobellaar was in the same league. Worst signing by Paisley by a mile.
steven gerrard
ReplyDeletekenny daglish
billy liddell
kevin kegan
McManaman was good. But I'd want Stevie Heighway on the wing. So we can have dreams and songs to sing, of the glory round the fields of Anfield Road.
ReplyDeleteStop bumming Torres just because was the quickest to score 50 goals in a red shirt other his first 18 months were great but after that he did nothing. Don't get me wrong had we not sold Torres and still got Suarez they would be the most potent strike forc in the league but let's face it when the going got tough Torres got going by jumping at the first chance to double his wages!
ReplyDeleteHypia and hansen before Carragher no chance. Carragher is living legend . once dalglish retires Carragher will be manager and stevie g as his assistant
ReplyDeletethink there might be a scrap between souness and gerrard for the arm band!! lol
ReplyDeleteAgreed, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't a better player than Fowler. He led our attack during our worst spell for 40 years, who's to say that the others would not have jumped ship as well? Owen and Mcmanaman jumped ship as well! And our team was a lot better then.
ReplyDeleteAs long as Souness was prepared to play Phil Collins, he'd be ok!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Heighway over Macca.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Steve Nicol, Terry Mac, Peter Beardsley, Steve Mcmahon, Molby you have to put into context of all of the players past and present into the modern game in their era they were all greats how can you compare?????
ReplyDeletePls we don't call him King Kenny for nothing...
ReplyDeleteKing Kenny, King Kev...barnes, rush, Stevie, fowler, jamie (he is no. 3 on our all time appearance list for god sake), bruce, reina or ray clemence as 2nd choice keeper, souness (though he can't manage shit and to me is the cause of us going downhill), beardsley, hansen, macdermott, nicol, ray hauton, hyppia... owen and torres would be on the list as they gave so much joy to watch but unfortunately...i don't support Judas!!! Owen's jersey is under my flower pot and Torres jersey is on the floor in my kitchen! Damn it feels great that they are both big time flops after leaving us!
btw i'm a fan from the 80s onwards so obviously my list is made up of mostly players from that era (King Kev and all the greats from Shankly's days must have been great too but unfortunately i don't have the prevelige to catch them in action).
ReplyDeleteOne player I would never leave out of a Liverpool dream team would be Emlyn Hughes. He had a heart as big as Anfield.
ReplyDeleteWhatever lah, Me Ashfah loves both Kenny and Gerrard.
ReplyDeletehe doesnt even surpass torres???? are u mental??? fowler was twice the player torres is and twice as loyal. good in the air and with both feet, and an amazing goalscoring record!!!
ReplyDeleteMy Favorite Team
ReplyDeleteCelemence
Neal Hughes Hansen Kennedy
Gerrard
Macca ........... Barnes
Dalglish . Fowler . Keegan
come on guys if gerrad play in la liga he will be far better than anyone .y because english premier league is the toughest league of all ....and most important a player like gerrad has proved that he is the best player not only in liverpool but to the world... he can be better than any players in la liga he can tackle he can create he can defend at last and the least he can score at any range... people whom everyone consider likes of (zidane, henry and lot which now i cant mention) have said steven gerrad should have been given the best player award but he is an unlucky player.... if ur a liverpool fan gerrad should be the number one(kenny keegan rush barnes was playing in a team were all the players wer world class they played a game which was considered better than barcelona who are now so gerrad till i die it shud be for everyone who are liverpool fan u noe wat he did in 2005 champions league and fa cup 2006...come on gerrad till i die till i die till i die..........................................................................till i die till i die till i die gerrad is the god of football ...
ReplyDeleteNo room in your team for Partridge I see Jaimie. Fucking typical.
ReplyDeleteSo playing with players like Alonso,maserano ,yossi,Torres this are mediocre players anywayz if Alonso can command the pace of RM i guess gerrard can do better and its much harder for a player surrounded by better players to look good than with mediocre players ask Messi while playin for argentina and yes Suarez around we were much higher but lucas was alwayz there to hold out his role than spearo of hendo ...watch Gerrard against Olympiacos, westham FA final or even MIlan in istanbul and terll mi how many can do that
ReplyDelete------------Clemence
ReplyDeleteNicol---Thommo---Hansen---Kennedy
----Gerrard---Souness---Alonso----
----Keegan---Dalglish----Barnes----
All though Marcus Babel was propably the best ever full back at the club before getting ill.
ReplyDeletecomparisons are odious....who saw Liddle,Stubbins,Payne et al ?
ReplyDeleteThis is my definitive all time Liverpool squad, based on today's 25 man squad.
ReplyDelete1st Team
GK: Ray Clemence
RB: Phil Neal
CB: Mark Lawrensen
CB: Alan Hansen
LB: Emlyn Hughes (capt) Best ever Liverpool capt although not best LB
RM: Steve McManaman
CM: Steven Gerrard
CM: Graeme Souness (vice capt)
LM: John Barnes
SS: Kenny Dalglish
CF: Ian Rush
GK: Pepe Reina
RB: Chris Lawler (best scoring defender 61 goals (no penalties)
CB: Sami Hyypia
CB: Tommy Smith (It was a hard choice between Jamie Carragher & Tommy but I went with Tommy because he scored more goals & could play a bit more than Jamie)
LB: Steve Nicol
RM: Ian Callaghan
CM: Terry McDermott
CM: Ray Kennedy (Paisley's favourite Son. What a left peg. Almost the forgotten man in our folklore)
CM: Jan Molby
LM: Steve Highway
SS: Kevin Keegan
CF: Robbie Fowler (GOD)
CF: Billy Liddell (Never saw him play But a true Legend. He was yester years Stevie G
CF: Fernando Torres (I know the rebel outcast, but his inclusion is for what he did for us as Liverpool's N09 Na na na....)
This team would of course be managed by Shanks with a backroom staff of Paisley, Rafa (for European knowledge), Fagan, Bennett, Moran. We would run a riot. With this Squad Fergie McTaggert would become bartender (quicker access to the drink).
Sorry to those left out Phil Thompson, Jamie Carragher, Ron Yeats, Ian St John, Roger Hunt, Didi Hammann, Peter Beardsley. I know people will have different views, but this was fun putting this squad together. YNWA ScouseBell
He would be on the bench, along with Jon Otsemebor, Darren Potter, Erik Meijer, Sean Dundee and Bjorn Tore Kvarme.
ReplyDeleteI think You are all missing out on quite a few quality players, like especially Ray Kennedy, John Aldridge, Roy Houghton, Jimmy Case, Ronnie Whelan, Jamie Redknapp, Bruce Grobbelaar and many more. It is not possible to compare all these players from various times in soccer history.
ReplyDeleteermm who is Partidge?? sounds oddly familiar but can't put a finger on him... ;o)
ReplyDeletevery true. the few times i couldnt go the match coz of work i would look on the tele txt to see how many he scored not to see if he had scored !!
ReplyDeleteIf Big Andy's at a loose end that day, maybe he could tag along too?
ReplyDeleteRichie Partridge - Irish former midfield powerhouse. Interestingly enough (or not, as it happens), he's Michael Owen's brother-in-law.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that la liga seems to favour the smaller players as attacking midfielders. I agree that SG would probably be wrongfully cast as that. Perhaps it's due to a physical presence (yaya toure was the same at Barca whereas at Man city he has played in hole as a second striker at times.
ReplyDeleteI disagree though . gerrard is much more than a defensive midfielder. It is the very fact that he can do so much that hinders him. Any of the top teams and managers would have taken him a few years ago and many would have now. 'lacking a proper playmaker'? Gerrard is a playmaker. The fact is when Owen or Torres were in the team they loved the service they got from Gerrard. He scores goals sets up goals is one of the best crossers in the country makes runs takes on players and beats them and an excellent passer - if that isn't a playmaker then i don't know what is... Oh i've got it! Unlike Scoles, Pele, Iniesta, Ronaldo, Messi and Maradonna - Gerrard is as good defending as he is attacking.
I still dont understand how the so called experts constantly rate Gerrard above Barnes. The man was awesome! Touch, passing, power, pace, courage, crossing, shooting, dribbling, vision, set-pieces....he was better than Gerrard in all of those! I pity the youngsters today who didn't get to see this legend in action.
ReplyDeleteHow many players can carry a team like Steven Gerrard has done on countless occasions? Dalglish, Keegan perhaps, but no other player in Liverpool's recent history ...
ReplyDelete... and I would rate Ray Clemence as Liverpool's best goalkeeper of the last 40 years or so.
ReplyDeleteSo true. Barnes my fav all time player.
ReplyDelete