(This article was written with the Premier League era as the main focus)
Before we get into it, let me remind you that Liverpool Football Club is a soccer team from the United Kingdom, so there’s no surprise that this current Liverpool generation is already spoken of as being one of the best European teams in history.
The British are very quick, and good (this writer must admit), to overpraise things they’re good at, a football team in this instance.
As mentioned, the Reds, as the club is fondly known, have been talked up in recent times as one of the best Liverpool teams in the history of the club, making the current crop of players one of the best group ever assembled in European football history.
It’s an understandable point with Jurgen Klopp’s men well on their way to lifting the league for the first time in the English Premier League era.
You will have to go all the way back to the 1989/90 season, which was the last time the Anfield faithful watched their team lift the league title. The Premier League came into existence in 1992.
The current crop of Liverpool players have of course helped put beyond doubt that their club is one of the giants in Europe as they won the club’s sixth European crown last year with a comfortable victory over Tottenham Hotspur – this after they fell desperately short off Manchester City who went on to win their umpteenth Premier League title.
Credit to head coach Klopp for quickly identifying his side’s shortfalls from last season, and correcting them in emphatic fashion, as the current Premier League standings prove, and perhaps on a bigger scale. Credit to the German master for engineering the sixth Champions League victory for Liverpool Football Club.
But let’s pump the brakes by suggesting the current squad is the best in the club’s history.
There’s a lot to consider:
The first Liverpool team that comes to mind, that could’ve had something to say about this bold statement, is the 2008/’09 squad led by captain, fantastic Steven Gerrard, and his then partner in crime, Fernando Torres.
Gerrard and company were far from being as successful as Klopp’s team, but one could argue, perhaps on paper, that they were superior.
Allow me to pick the top four players from the current team: Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
Here’s this writer’s top four players from the 08/09 generation: Steven Gerrard (c), Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Martin Skrtel.
How did the latter group and company do in major competitions? Second in the Premier League to a great Manchester United team led by one Cristiano Ronaldo, and exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, in the hands of a powerful Chelsea side.
The current crop had a fairly easy trip to the Champions League final, barring perhaps a rather poor Barcelona side by their standards, before meeting a Tottenham Hotspur side which undid all of its hardwork to get to the final by basically lying down to get beat.
Manchester City aside, there’s no competition for Klopp and company – part of the reason being his brilliance, and the squad belief in each other and their coach.
But perhaps the lion’s share of the reason is that the quality of footballers has significantly dropped.
Liverpool has Mane and Van Dijk, Salah; Manchester City has Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva; Leicester City has Jamie Vardy and James Maddison.
In 2008/ 09, it’s already mentioned what weapons Liverpool possessed. Man United had Ronaldo, Tevez, Scholes and Vidic; Chelsea had Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien; Arsenal had Robin van Persie, Andrey Arsharvin and Cesc Fabregas.
Elsewhere, Barcelona’s ‘tiki taka’ was at peak, they were simply unstoppable.
Liverpool 2008/ 09 was awesome. They were unlucky to have had to compete with that juggernaut at Old Trafford driven by one Sir Alex Ferguson. And had Liverpool 08/09, let’s say, made it to the Champions League final – were they going to beat that Barcelona team led by Pep Guardiola, and a 72-goal-in-one-season Lionel Messi? I don’t think so.
As great as Mane and company seem to be, they too I can’t see they would’ve been as great in yesteryears. It’s not their fault of course, they’ve done everything in their control extremely well.
But best ever?
Let’s pump the brakes.
