Just to start the discussion. How Good is this team? As you can tell I'm born 1989 and this is the best Liverpool team I've ever seen. So then the question is where do they compare to other great teams? Liverpool teams or others. Also for me this is the best Liverpool team I've ever seen whether they win something or not. If we weren't up against the greatest premiership team of all time we'd have strolled the league already. Even if we win nothing I think what this team is doing this year should go down as an achievement. It would be too tough on the players not to give them that. I really love how well we defend now and we are adding the attack now as well. Just a joy to watch.
They're awesome, they really are. I think they'd eventually crush our 2013/14 team into submission and that had been the best team I'd ever witnessed in a Liverpool shirt. However, they cannot and should not be truly compared to the great Liverpool teams unless they start winning things. They may be a better team than we have ever had but sadly how you compare with your contemporaries is how your legacy will stand and winning leagues and CL's is what is usually the yardstick for that.
It's always hard comparing teams and players from different eras because of the amount of changes to the game...everything from fitness levels, training methods, amount of games played per season and even the playing surfaces. I would say we have the best Liverpool squad I've seen (been a red since the early 80's) but again, squad sizes have changed over the years. I wouldn't say this is the best first team, yet. For me the teams of 86 and 88 are the finest. I'm sure a few older gents might pick the team of 77?
Before this season the best Liverpool team I witnessed was 2008/2009 team and they won nothing, this won't happen with this team. Having a balance in the team is huge and this team has it.
81-83 with The King, Rushie, Souness, Hansen, Lawerenson, Nichol, Neal, Brucie etc was about as complete a team as you could have hoped for. 86-88 version with Digger, Houghton, Aldo added wasnt half bad either. Pure excitement watching would be 13-14 and last season. This squad could pass the later vintages for me, but will have to go a bit to beat either of the earlier ones
This team reminds me of the Utd side that beat us in 2008/09. They had a top keeper and a rock solid defence, think they broke the record for consecutive clean sheets. Midfield was full of hard runners with Tevez Rooney and Ronaldo up top. We are like that, if needs be we will wait until one of the front 3 damage you or alternatively we can put 4 past you but the key is not conceding goals or even giving up chances.
It didn't stop them winning the league in fairness. On the original topic I hope we can keep our best players injury free this season They are a fine team, very enjoyable to watch at times, early days for them but encouraging signs Great teams win titles
I think this is the real question,can you be considered a great team if you don't win the title? For me the team we have now would win the league ahead of teams down the years that are considered great teams.
Yeah i take the point that a team could finish and record points and not win For me we have a very very good side They have the potential to be great and to also win trophies Im enjoying the ride There's no definitive answer to this and its all opinion which is great Up the table topping potentially great reds
The current squad has less genuine world class players like Suarez, Torres, Gerrard, Alonso etc but the difference is that the whole match day squad is of a similar high level. The ‘09 and ‘14 teams were let down by 3/4 poor players whilst this team is strong across the board. Klopp must also take huge credit for improving players and making them fit the system .Case of the whole being better than sum of their parts. Saying that the squads in the late 70’s and 80’s had quality throughout the pitch along with superstars like Kenny and Rush who gave them that extra edge to win silverware.
08/09 was a fantastic team but still had the likes of El Zhar knocking around as backup after Robbie went. Difference now is that you see the likes of Shaq coming on to score two against United. Unreal. Although a few injuries are building up at the moment, we still have something now that it doesn’t feel like we had too much of before, depth.
No you can't in my opinion Babbs. I know it's such a tight margin to judge a team on but those margins are what turn a team from good to great. Had we been a great team last season we cope better with losing Salah in the final but Real were stronger than us, it doesn't take away entirely the run we had but the legacy will not live on because we fell just short. You can't judge a team from now against a historical one, the game has changed, a championship team might now be better than our best teams from the 70's with the conditioning and training they do, it's a purely hypothetical question so all you can judge a team by is how they compare to their contemporaries and to be considered a great Liverpool team you need to be the best in the league or the best in Europe to even enter the argument. Again it's a hard yardstick to be measured against but they are the standards at LFC and falling just short isn't quite good enough.
Hard to argue with most of that mate but where I'm not sure I agree is that how good a team we are is very dependent on what City do.If they get 4 or 5 big injuries tomorrow or an internal rift destroys their morale and form,in real terms we haven't got any better,we're still the same team. And compared to the best teams in Europe we're right up there,imo only City can realistically claim to be better at football than we are right now. So does that mean no other team in Europe can be great if we don't win the league or can teams in other leagues not as good as us be great if they win trophies?
I'm not saying it's right Babbs, I think this Liverpool team might be the best in the league right now which puts them in the frame for talking about the best league teams ever as City last season seemed to be but history will judge you only on what you win, that's elite sports and the margins are unimaginably tiny, you can win or lose a game in a matter of seconds and you might go from being considered one of the greatest ever to a footnote. Imagine we had lost the shootout in Istanbul, who'd still be talking about us now? Doesn't change anything about the team or it's abilities but history is not a kind judge to teams that don't win things. In short Mick I agree with you, I'm loving this season and like 2013/14 it will live long in my memory regardless of the outcome but outside of Liverpool fans it will be irrelevant in 5 months time if we don't win.