Is the Klopp era our strongest era in terms of player quality and team balance?

[Doc_Piptorious]

Am wondering if the current Liverpool team/squad (2018-2022 era) is possibly the best one I have seen in my time following this club.

Am struggling to find any real weaknesses if you look at every players we had during that spell and take them at their peak for us during that spell.

If we take each layer we had or have during that period and cherry pick the version that was at his best during that time I think the starting XI would be (maybe a debate on whether Jota takes Bobby'spot but I am going with Bobby from his best season or two with us)



Alisson
Alexander Arnold
Matip
Van Dijk
Robertson
Fabinho
Thiago
Henderson
Salah
Firmino
Mane


So then I started thinking about the Rafa, Ged, Kenny and Rodgers years and tried to think of the best starting XI I could pluck from it, again taking each player at his peak rather than just taking all from the same one or two seasons. So the players from this era have an advantage as more years so more players to pick from and more players in their prime. I came up with


Reina
Babbel
Henchoz
Hyypia
Riise
Mascherano
Alonso
Gerrard
Sturridge
Torres
Suarez


Bit fiddly with the front three there but could not really leave any of them out.


So going head to head it left me with this



Alisson > Reina
Alexander Arnold > Babbel
Matip > Henchoz
Van Dijk > Hyypia
Robertson > Riise
Fabinho = Masch
Thiago = Alonso
Henderson < Gerrard
Salah > Sturridge
Firmino < Torres
Mane < Suarez

So 6-3 for the Klopp era over every era from Ged to Rodgers.


So then decided to look at the first Kenny era and got this starting XI


Grobbelaar
Nicol
Lawrenson
Hansen
Staunton
McMahon
Molby
Whelan
Beardsley
Aldridge
Barnes


Then went head to head again using the peak versions only.


Alisson > Grobbelaar
Alexander Arnold > Nicol
Matip < Lawrenson
Van Dijk > Hansen
Robertson > Staunton
Fabinho > McMahon
Thiago > Molby
Henderson < Whelan
Salah > Beardsley
Firmino < Aldridge
Mane < Barnes


So 7- 4 to the current squad for me.

Then I made a list of the Fagan era and what I remembered from the very tail end of the Bob era and lost where I saved the team I picked along with the meat and bones of some more squad/manager and tactical comparisons between eras and I am fecked if I am going to retype all of it along with this post but basically ended up with a score of 6-5 to the current squad.


So I think we may well be looking at the strongest era in the club's history in terms of individual players being in their prime during the era along with how balanced they are as a unit.

[wiw]

Yes

[Doc_Piptorious]

Dick

[baitman]

Great work Jaco

I'd agree with almost every choice.
Maybe matip over lawro. Matip is better but only let down by his injuries and lack of availability.
Or chuck Hansen in for matip.

[badpiggy]

I don't know how nostalgia is affecting me here but Im reluctant to say that Thiago is better than Xabi. I was happy to say that Xabi was better than Molby though. There were passes last night that were as good as anything Xabi ever did but I still think that if Thiago can be the engine of this team than Xabi in his prime could fit in with this team perfectly. Better tackler too. Maybe.

[wiw]

Dick

Good post...clearly some thought went into it!

I'm 35 so am too young to remember the older teams, but for my lifetime the answer is unequivocally 'yes'. I can't imagine anyone will say otherwise Fairly sure my Dad thinks the same and he witnessed Shanks onwards.

Hansen would walk into our current team though

[Doc_Piptorious]

Great work Jaco

I'd agree with almost every choice.
Maybe matip over lawro. Matip is better but only let down by his injuries and lack of availability.
Or chuck Hansen in for matip.

Matip vs Lawrenson was a very tough choice. Went with Lawrenson on durability and longevity as much as ability. I think if Lawrenson had been born in the modrn era that he may well have been a Kounde or Jose Gimenez type CB. One or the other I suspect as he had the physical and technical abilities to be either type.

Good post...clearly some thought went into it!

I'm 35 so am too young to remember the older teams, but for my lifetime the answer is unequivocally 'yes'. I can't imagine anyone will say otherwise Fairly sure my Dad thinks the same and he witnessed Shanks onwards.

Hansen would walk into our current team though

I tried to go like for like in terms of where each player performed/performs the best or in what role they had their best season in. RCB vs RCB, RM/RW vs RM/RW etc etc

So as Hansen was primarily a LCB his competition is VVD and nobody imo is walking into our team at the expense of VVD.

[Exiled_red]

I was thinking about something similar last night after the game, regardless of what we do or don't win this year or in the next few years this is probably the best Liverpool team I will see in my lifetime, I am (just) old enough to remember the team of ca 1988 which is probably regarded as the LFC team that played the best football, but the lack of exposure to so much football back then (being young and there being little football on TV and not really being able to go to many matches) makes it difficult for me to really remember how good that team was. But this is the best team for at least 30 years, and I think I would consider myself to be lucky to see another team as good as this, we really should enjoy it while we have it. We only have to look at last night's opponents to see how quickly things can go to ****...

[RedReet]

It's hard to argue against, but we are only one poor result away from them being sh*t again.

Happens time and time again, we're playing well, best squad ever, lose, squad is cr*p. Pre-season, we needed a complete overhaul according to some, but even more recently the squad was taking a bit of a hammering when we were losing to Leicester in the league cup.

[baitman]

Likewise, if we had to compare our bench to the previous non 1st teamers, would we have a big drop off in quality

[Doc_Piptorious]

Likewise, if we had to compare our bench to the previous non 1st teamers, would we have a big drop off in quality

Think with some of our past great teams we could afford a greater drop off in quality when it came to some of the back ups because we were generally the stand out great team in the league and could carry more passengers in a sense due to the drop off in quality between us and a lot of the other teams.

During the Klopp era we are contending with a powerhouse in City and not too far off of another one in Chelsea, along with a Premier league with more money in it than any other era of the English game and as such there are more very good to excellent players in the league than maybe a lot of other past eras.

[Rich]

I don't know how nostalgia is affecting me here but Im reluctant to say that Thiago is better than Xabi. I was happy to say that Xabi was better than Molby though. There were passes last night that were as good as anything Xabi ever did but I still think that if Thiago can be the engine of this team than Xabi in his prime could fit in with this team perfectly. Better tackler too. Maybe.

The only area where I would say Xabi beats Thiago is with passing choice - there are a couple of occasions in a match when the latter's need for progression just outweighs the sensible passing choice. Xabi instinctively knew which pass to play and edges that skill IMO.

But if I had to pick from either of them - it would be Thiago.

[Irishnev]

We are seeing them at different points of their careers also - Thiago is the wily veteran who’s seen it all and done it all and is coming to us for his last big move. Xabi was a kid when he joined us and he grew into some player - I’d argue his best years were at RM where he won the lot and Bayern was his swan song.

I think they ate slightly different to each other so I’m not sure the comparison is fair - Thiago’s had the better career and they’d have worked well as the left and right sided 8s behind a proper DM in this formation

[kev776]

-----------Clemence

Neal--Hanson--VVD--Robbo

-----Gerrard-----Alonso

Salah-----Kenny-----Barnes

-----Suarez or Rush (can't decide)

[Norbs]

Dick