Date: 19th April 2011 at 11:46am
Written by:

I think this current Liverpool side is actually one of the worst in a while. We actually only have only one world class player left at the club in Reina. And the likelihood is he will soon depart. Gerrard has fallen off and will have to discover a new way of playing to remain relevant. Based on that we actually should be easy pickings for Manchester City and Arsenal. The fact that we aren’t is a testament to King Kenny but also largely to the fighting spirit our players have shown in big games.

Arsenal have declined but our decline has been more severe relatively.

In terms of mindset I think we are right to be a defensive team against big teams, both home and away. There is NO WAY, I repeat, NO WAY we are should dominate a game against Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City or Tottenham. They have superior players across the board, benches included. We should defend for our lives and hope for some luck in front of goal. That is the reality of our predicament. The fact that we dominated Man U and Man C is an outlier. It’s nearly impossible to sustain that level of performance. You cannot expect the squad to play at 90%+ efficiency on a regular basis. Teams that win games consistently do so because they are better than the majority of teams even when they play at 65%.

I am one of the most optimistic Liverpool Fans in the world. So for me to say this is not easy. But this is my optimistic view of our current state. The gulf in quality is not insurmountable but we need a near miracle to do it in one season. Realistically we are on a 3 season rebuild at the very least. Cups are our only real hope of success.

What makes this task so difficult is that we are aiming for a constantly shifting target. Teams around us change. Our team changes.

 

46 responses to “Liverpool only have one world class player”

  1. Chips says:

    Boloks! What quality or World class player is in Mancs team? We actualluy have better than them if you dare to check. Whats lacking is BELIEF! We can beat anyone in the league, that has already been shown an proven. We beat the two Manchester teams, we beat Chelsea away, and we drew 1 all in both matches against the cry baby Wenger! So what are you talking about? If LFc had managed to win the obvious matches against the weaker sides our position would have been diff today!

  2. greg says:

    Shut the fuk up u big horrible manc!!! Reina! Gerrard! Suarez! And soon to be carroll. Never mind the up and coming talent such as; kelly, spearing, flano, robinson, we have had a difficult season, give the lads a chance. This is the second article i have read of yours which is total shite. U need to get a grip of ya self and fuk off like i told u before. Twat

  3. Dove says:

    Roy?

  4. greg says:

    Shut the fuk up! This is the second article your all wrong about. Shut up slaggin lfc off u big horrible manc and fuck off!!

  5. me says:

    You’re right, I think the table is a pretty fair reflection of our quality. For once Lawro has a point …”they will need the addition of probably half a dozen players this summer.”

  6. ash says:

    Thats utterly despicable, i didnt even finish the article to have this judgement of you. This team is not a team of stars i may agree, but its a team of stars-in-the-making. Say whatever you want, but I have lots of confidence in kenny, and the young lads. Even lucas is giving man of the match performance. So please shut up and start enjoying the show

  7. Banjo says:

    U are full of shit.if king kenny was the one that started the league,we wont be less than 4th in the table.so fuck off

  8. Varun says:

    Sir Alex Ferguson, is it you?? Are you trying to destabilise liverpool for next season with your nonsense comments?? Have you pooed in your pants watching liverpool playing and dreaming to manage them?? LOL..

  9. cheyenne says:

    With friends like you who needs enemies, what a negative self-serving piece of tripe that article was. I put it you that Skrtel, Merelies and Suarez are capable of playing in any league in the world. What’s your definition of so called world class.

    You say we shouldn’t dominate against certain teams, I say we expect to dominate because we are Liverpool, when you work out what that means then you might begin to understand this club.

  10. cheyenne says:

    With friends like you who needs enemies, what a negative self-serving piece of tripe that article was. I put it to you that Skrtel, Meireles and Suarez are capable of playing in any league in the world. What’s your definition of so called world class.

    You say we shouldn’t dominate against certain teams, I say we expect to dominate because we are Liverpool, when you work out what that means then you might begin to understand this club.

  11. raj says:

    I wasted my time in coming here and reading this thing. I would never ever come back here… By the way who is posting these things anyways.

  12. Faraaz says:

    Fuck off u call urself a liverpool fan.Lfc is d best fuck ol the rest!!!!!!

  13. L Dunn says:

    What a load of shite. Have you been away on MArs for last few months? Looks at the recent results.
    The team under KK now has belief and are playing their hearts out, which they never did for that dumpling manager Hodgson.
    We have a very poor season, but wait and see towards the end of this season we will be getting another big result against Tottenham and push for 5th.
    Next year with some money spent, and with the youth coming through, LFC will be completely different animal.
    The others you say, who have so called world star will be running scared against us.
    Mark my words
    YNWA

  14. jues says:

    Listen LFC fans this person is an imposter, and a fool set to upset LFC fans, we need not entertain this rubbish because obviously this person does’nt know the wealth of history Liverpool has. ….Why is LFC till this day the most decorated English team, and with the lack of silver ware over last 4 to 5 years still attract some of the worlds top players……is this Torres….?….lmao

  15. amit says:

    hey u motherfucker u have no idea wat u r talking about the only mistake lfc made this season was to appoint roy as manager and from there our decline started bcoz he is a middle class manager who likes him team to sit in bottom half had kd been manager from start today we have been in top 3 easily we r jst 7pnts behind mancity and lfc had 25pnts from 20games and then we had 25 from 13games so understand that if u count that we would have been sitting behind asswhole united and anyways all has been changed and next season lfc will be in top 4 if not challenging for title and with 3years we will win the title u ass whole

  16. Jonski says:

    Ignor this pleb, it is surely Jaimie Kanwar (Liverpool Kop infamy) in a different guise. Surely we cannot be unfortunate enough to have two knobheads “supporting” us. If it is not then it is a Manc or Chav Wum. Won’t be coming on here again, I suggest everyone else does the same. Sad prick this fella what ever his motives.

  17. sean says:

    ha the team that won the champions league was worse than this on paper!

  18. ryan says:

    i agree with you its bollocks taht

  19. sense says:

    You failed to mention the players that are regular starters for their respective national sides… surely this would justify their world class status and they are: Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Gerrard, Meireles, Lucas, Kuyt, Suarez, Carroll (yes he is now). 5 new players in the window i.e. Defour, Hulk, Cissoko, Turan, Gervinho and we will have the most talented young squad in the EPL with the most well respected and talented in so many ways manager. The End.

  20. MoKo says:

    First of let me explain the source of my frustration. The performances we have pulled off with King Kenny and this current squad are great. What frustrates is the thought that if King Kenny had been in charge with the team we had 3 seasons ago we’d be defending champions now.

    I stick by my statement about world class. Reina, Kuyt and Suarez are the only players we had at the world cup who could get into one of the top sides at the competition.

    The biggest source of encouragement is that for the first time in about a decade we have a bunch of players coming through from the academy.

    What has happened since the new owners came in is massive. Under Roy we were well on our way to being a bottom-half-of-the-table team. But with new owners, two great new strikers and King Kenny we are moving forwards.

    This is really positive but doesn’t change the fact that we are not a dominant team in the Prem. But the form since January shows what can happen when you combine good leadership on and off the field and big investment in quality players. If we get another dose in the summer we will be on the rise. Lets just hope the teams around us don’t make bigger steps forward than we do.

    MoKo – Liverpool fan for life, no matter what.

    p.s. I’m definetely not SAF in disguise. If I was I’d have been sabotaging the Scum so Liverpool could win it all.

  21. Brendan says:

    You’re letting your frustration get the best of you and losing faith in your squad, the sign of a fair weather fan. I will not curse at you or anything like the others but I need to see your definition of “world class.” ANY TEAM in the PL would love to have Reina, Gerrard, or Suarez, so that’s 3 WORLD CLASS in my opinion. And theres not a single team that couldn’t find games for Carroll, Meireles, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel or Johnson. There is no doubt we need investment. We are about to experience a real coming together of youth and experience and you have lost your faith. It’s a shame you call yourself a fan and then temper your expectations. This is LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB. We are one of the biggest in the world and you’ll soon see. YNWA.

  22. maljay says:

    I’m not surprised at some of the extreme reactions here. Some people just don’t like the truth. And no, I’m not a Manc. I’ve been a Liverpool fan since my first ever match in 1964. I wouldn’t agree that we only have one World class player. Reina is. I think Stevie G still is. No, I don’t agree with ‘Sense’ above that Skrtl is World Class. Nor Johnson, Agger, Kuyt or Meireles or Lucas. the fact that they start for their national sides means nothing. For crying out loud, Robbie Savage used to start for his national side. Was he World Class?

    I agree that the rebuilding is going to be 3 years. Anybody who is thinking Premiership next season is on Fantasy Island. It will take time to build up a squad with the depth to challenge

    • Red Scouse says:

      Just because you’ve been watching the reds for a long time doesn’t mean that you are an intelligent person, who’s view is reasonable or typical of Liverpool supporters.

      You may be, but equally, you may just be another ignorant and disgruntled fan, who will take any opportunity to be critical.

  23. ThoroughlyRed says:

    Cretin!

  24. Scott B says:

    Bit of extreme reactions here. I don’t agree with the entry. I think Suarez and arguably Kuyt are what I would consider world class. Gerrard is debatable as of now, but I’d tend to agree he’s past his world class days now.

  25. J says:

    I think this article is spot on, more or less. The only thing I would argue is that some people wouldn’t even class Reina as world class. I personally think Reina one of the best keepers in the EPL if not the best but it depends on what your standards are in calling a player world class. My standards are the world viewing you as one of the best in the world and you having the trophies to back that up! Reina is a World Cup winner but never really played a major part in it and to my knowledge he is only really nationally recognized as the best goal keeper. I think anyone who does think we will win the EPL next season needs to have a word in the mirror! We are on the right track but we need players and cover in a lot of positions and even if we did bring the perfect people in it would still need time to gel. Our fans used to be some of the most knowledgeable in the world but now they cant tell the difference between the best team in the world (Barcelona) who have had core players playing together for over 7 years and LFC who have changed the squad, mager and tactics multiple times over the period of 5 years!

  26. Chris says:

    You are a fuckin manc bellend, just like taggert you are still obsessed with Liverpool, crawl back under your stone you fuckin tool and take your opinions with you, this will be the last year you cunts will be top dog and I say that loosely because the quality in the prem is fuckin awfull at the moment wich benefits you cunts as everything has since the Prem started and you landed financially on your feet, soon to end.

  27. Bryan says:

    Funny article. I suppose it depends on what you call world class. Myself I would consider nearly all players in the top 20 national teams plus a fair few stars whose national teams are not quite up to that standard. By that benchmark we have quite a few players at that level. We really need to remember we are talking LFC who play in the premiership – arguably the highest standard league in the world. I know it is purely a matter of opinion so you are entitled to yours. Our main weakness for several years has been money, but any team that can run from 19th to 6th in the prem over a few months must have several world class players by my book

  28. J says:

    Good point Bryan I could easily agree with that comment maybe I have set my standards a little high but the top 20 are Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, England, Uruguay, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Greece, Japan, Chile, Ghana, Serbia, Slovenia, Russia, France and Australia in that order and I would not class a heel of a lot of players in some of these squads as world class or all of LFC’s players would in deed be world class!

  29. CB says:

    Who cares about world class players??? Man City will keep buying everyone with that label who accepts a big check for a career and they still won’t have a team good enough to win the big competitions. I’d rather have a team and bench full of good players that complement one another, than having a team of Galacticos! That’s the Liverpool spirit, and it has always been like that. And if we get a good winger and a good left-back, and some more options throughout the squad this summer, we’ll have a decent shot at the title. Can’t see why not, when you look at the Manure and Arse teams fighting for the it. Are they better than:
    Reina
    Kelly/Johnson-Agger-Carragher-Enrique
    Kuyt-Lucas-Gerrard-Young
    Suarez-Carroll
    ?
    Hell, no! Let’s try and be positive

  30. tom says:

    Don’t be a dingbat, we don’t need a team full if stars, we need a star team that’s built in team spirit, the biggest change Kenny has made is that he stopped the team being based on torres and Steve Gerrard and made it all about lfc, that is what needed to change no more being afraid to drop star players, torres going means lfc now have the very best chance if pushing for the title, si thanks torres, dare to dream

  31. nick says:

    how the hell can you not include suarez as world class? Gerrard may be out of form, but form is temporary,and class (WORLD CLASS in gerrards case) is PERMANENT. Carroll is a rising star, so is spearing and flanagan! If Kenny had been our manager since day 1 we would be above 4th. To add to that, FSG will give Kenny sufficient funds to buy young, skillful and talented players, proven stars like ashley young, or rising stars like hazard. Gone are the days of overpaying for old mediocre players, this club has a really bright future.

  32. Alan says:

    Jaimie, you’re getting from bad to worse with your fukup journalistic ideas. Just shut the fuk up and go talk about other teams if you don’t know what you’re talking about. We do have world class in Gerrard, Carroll, Suarez, lucas, Kuyt, Carrgher. All have participated in World tournaments.And also pls note also that we are in the process of rebuilding a great team and that we have a some very skillful youngsters being groomed – some maybe potential future world class players.

  33. Abhi says:

    Man Who are you! if u are manc fuck off.

    Example: how many so called world class players are there in borrusia dortmund and they are 7 points ahead in bundesliga and making far more better squads chasing their tails.

    its just not about quality. for a team of any sport you need all kinds of players like class, hard workers, under dogs and also some under achievers and a mix of youth and experience.

    Clear example take man city bolatelli is voted the best u-19 player and would u dare to have him any where near our squad. so what makes a world class player is just not quality or technique but also determination, work ethic, team spirit etc.

    I agree that we do need some world class players or young ones who are goin to be. But u are wrong when u say we have got only one. we still have glen johnson, meirless, suarez,carra, gerrard. Pls dont compare them to our previous players. every player has his own style of play and how affective they are. EG: torres who is once the lord jupiter and now little pussy.

    Man just get ur facts right

  34. MoKo says:

    Considering I was a Liverpool fan from before they won their last league title until this day i don’t think my faith in the club is shakeable.

    We are only just emerging from one of the worst periods in the history of the club. We’ve really taken a battering. It’s unbelieveable that we were in a relegation spot a third into the season. But as unbelieveable as it may be it is a fact. We have to be honest about our team. This is as much as Lawro and a whole bunch of Liverpool Legends were saying about this team earlier this season.

    Coming from that base it’s a tough ask for us to win the league next season. But early signs of forward progress are there for everyone to see. Now we all wait to see if there is the commitment from the owners to keep pushing for more improvement. We could really use a period of stability and investment. If the new owners can hang on for 5 years to draw a profit we may be able to build LFC up to where we belong.

  35. MoKo says:

    As for this ddebate on what a world class player is, I guess there is not absolute truth here. In my opinion you’d have to be in the top 10 players in your position to be a World Class Player. This is obviously way stricter than most judging from the comments.

    But Abhi says you don’t need a team of world class stars to be successful. Just look at Shalke. But we compete against teams at the top of the Prem who have world class players.

    If you have a team of high quality Prem players with experience you can win the league. It’s about the total quality of your squad at the end of the day. Chelsea brought on Torres to replace Drog on the weekend. We brought on Jonjo to replace Carroll. Our alternative was Ngog. That’s a massive difference. Not impossible to overrcome but masssive nonetheless.

  36. david walsh says:

    i am a blackburn fan and the one thing i cant beleive is its taken this long for lfc to bring dalglish back,the man is a genius,his tactical awareness and man management skills are second to none,his abillity to make average players into good players and good players into great players is amazing,so whether u think u have world class players or not kk will build a team of winners,as for your future i can only see good things,the rest of the footballing world better watch out,because the sleeping giant is waking up……p.s i would love any of your players at ewood

  37. Blindside says:

    Your English grammar is dreadful!

  38. kevlar says:

    Who says you need world class players to compete for trophies. Stoke, Birmingham, Tottenham, Schalke. You need players who play from the heart and truely love the team they’re playing for, not these highly paid badge kissers who will leave a club as soon as the next big pay day comes along. Your comments are ridiculous.

  39. Dick says:

    Pathetic! You wasted minutes of your life writing this article that you can never get back! I wasted valuable minutes of mine reading it which I can never get back! I feel i have to tell you that you are making a fool of yourself to justify those minutes I just wasted.

    Please stop having thoughts make up your football knowledge and try and understand what you watch more before having opinions. The Liverpool sides of the 70’s and 80’s didn’t have world class players you fool – just very very good ones who all knew how to combine together as an 11 to make THE world class TEAM!

    Sammy Lee? David Fairclough? Phil Neal? Tommy Smith? John Wark? Alan Kennedy? Mark Lawrenson? Any others you care to think of world class? Of course not! Hardly anyone really is and it doesn’t matter you bozo! It’s team ethics and a high consistent ability level that good teams need week in week out! UURRGGHHH!!!!

    You’ll be telling me Cantona was World Class next and of course he wasn’t – he just did well domestically and convinced idiot Manc fans he was better than he was – he might be cool – but he wasn’t world class – Hardly anyone really is remember!

    Even Pepe Reina isn’t or Stevie G – but they are very very good and the best about at the moment!

    Messi maybe at the moment! Maybe!

  40. patrick kielty says:

    Stupid article!!
    With the rebuilding process in swing and all fans and players looking towards a bright future is there any need for rubbish like this?
    Reina is the best keeper in the epl, saurez, carroll are quickly adapting and world class already, gerrard plagued with injuries this season but still world class, lucas best def. mid of the year with highest tackle completion record.
    Amazing youth shining through, mierelez and skrtle world class and improving daily.
    Dont give up the day job my friend.

  41. Steve Mckay says:

    Mate – your article is b*llocks. You know f*ck all about LFC and you are also a knob.

  42. MB LFC says:

    Mate I think you’re being a bit harsh with the f* bombs but otherwise totally agree with you – but include Mereiles he’s definitely world class midfielder! If Agger can stay fit he’ll be our new Jan Molby one of the best around and also Dirk Kuyt is proven at the highest level.

  43. MoKo says:

    I agree with everyone on here in that the future for Liverpool is definitely bright. We are on the road to regaining what has been lost. I’m just highlighting what it is we have lost. We have a long way to go yet but we will get there.

    In response to Dick:
    As for Liverpool teams of the 70s and 80s not having any world class players. That is just inaccurate.

    Kenny Dalglish (1977 – 1990)- considered one of the greatest players EVER in the game.

    John Barnes (1987 – 1997)- one of the best wingers in the history of the game.

    Greame Souness (1978 – 1984)- feared not just for being hard but for being a supreme passer.

    Kevin Keegan (1971 – 1977)- absolute magicial. Went on to win European player of the year two years in a row. Only surpassed by Dalglish.

    Alan Hansen (1977 – 1991)- protypical ball playing defender. Modern players only wish they had his technique.

    Ian Rush (1980-87 & 1988-96)- scoring legend respected throughout Europe. European golden Boot Winner 1984.

    Ray Clemence (1967 – 1981)- goalkeeping genius, full stop!

    As has been said the whole team doesn’t have to be world class is the supporting cast to the above are all good-to-great players. We’ve had plenty.

    But in the current age of football having one or two world class players still puts you behind your competition. They are buying anything that moves.

    I’d be happy for one additional dominant world class midfielder and so top quality supporting players.

  44. nitin says:

    agree with all what a fuc…g article it is. if liverpool don’t have enough world class players then how in hell can they defeat the likes of the top four and next season all these assh..s will have their answers

  45. andrew lawson says:

    two things that i think need to be addressed in the summer are creativity and pace and if you look at the targets we are being linked with then the signs are good.
    since the turn of the year and the return of king kenny, we now have skill,pace and ariel prowess up front,but more importantly 2 players who want to be at the club and work extrememley hard and are totally commited.
    many a time in our recent past it seememd like the managers only way to get something out of certain players would be to ridicule them or embarass them, ie johnson and ” well he is englands right back ” comments or ” i didnt sign cole ” and many many more that dont just include roy hodgson s period..
    with kenny the underlying message is the most important thing is the club and the most important players are the ones who are fit and he has not belittled anyone, even the players not in the team,ngog,cole,jovanovich,poulson have the utmost respect for him and yes part of this is because who he is but also surely about the way he conducts himself and represents liverpool football club.
    i dont see how you can be so negative about the team, when you think at home we are very strong and to find 5 defeats in the league at home you would have to go way back, we also have owners and a system in place which is about buying good young players and bringing talent through the ranks.
    only the team down the east lancs road have picked up more league points since january and if you think in most of that time there has been no gerrard and no torres that has to be a massive improvement on previous seasons.
    so my message to you is lets wait and see what signings are made in the summer and in the mean time get 100% behind the team, because all the teams above us are not happy with there team and are going to have to kick out good players to improve, we dont we just need to add a few more !!!!