Liverpool are yet to prove themselves as Prem’s best – let alone greatest Reds team of all time

JURGEN KLOPP’S record-breaking Liverpool team are yet to prove themselves the best in England right now – let alone the greatest of all time.

Reds fans have waited 30 years for their club to be crowned English champions again and will take nothing for granted until captain Jordan Henderson is lifting the trophy.

Jurgen Klopp’s side are cruising towards the league titleCredit: AFP or licensors

And even if – when – the drought ends at last, the suggestion that Klopp’s men may be the finest side in the history of the club or the competition will remain highly controversial.

Not least among those who played in the great Liverpool teams of the past.

In the case of Kop legend turned Sky pundit Graeme Souness, you can picture the blend of disbelief and fury settling menacingly on his face.

Klopp’s stars have some pretty special Anfield antecedents.

Bob Paisley’s 1976-7 vintage won the league and the European Cup. They were denied a Sir Alex Ferguson-style Treble only by a Manchester United side who lifted the FA Cup thanks to Jimmy Greenhoff’s bizarre winner, one of the flukiest goals in any final.

Or what about 1983-4, when Joe Fagan pulled off a hat-trick of sorts as the Reds were crowned domestic and continental champions again, with a fourth League Cup in a row for good measure?

Greatness is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Some fans believe the Liverpool side of 1987-8, which won the title by a street but missed out on a second Double in three seasons by losing the FA Cup Final to Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang, played the best football in the club’s history.

Like Klopp’s men, Kenny Dalglish’s team enjoyed an incredible start to the season, setting a then-record of 29 games unbeaten.

And the combination of John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge and Ray Houghton was a joy to watch, most memorably in the 5-0 drubbing of Nottingham Forest at Anfield in April 1988.

Bob Paisley poses with the European Cup, 1977Credit: Getty – Contributor

United’s treble-winning team of 1999 is considered one of the best everCredit: Getty – Contributor

No less an authority than England legend Tom Finney said of that performance: “It was the finest exhibition I’ve seen the whole time I’ve played and watched the game.

“You couldn’t see it bettered anywhere, not even in Brazil. The moves they put together were fantastic.”

So for Klopp’s current crop, there’s plenty to live up to in the Anfield annals alone.

And in terms of being the best team of the Premier League era from any club…well, people have very short memories, don’t they?

Ferguson’s United won the “proper” Treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in 1999, the only team to achieve that feat in the history of English football.

In 2003-4, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal Invincibles went unbeaten for an entire league campaign.

And last year Manchester City did not just hold off the unprecedented challenge of Liverpool, who finished second in the league despite amassing 97 points.

Pep Guardiola’s team also became the first to complete a clean sweep of domestic trophies, something not even the dominant United and Liverpool teams of the past ever managed.
Of course, Guardiola’s own assessment, that Klopp’s Liverpool are the best team he has faced as a manager, has to be respected.

Yet even with Jose Mourinho joining in the chorus of “Liverpool are the best team in the world”, Klopp himself is refusing to get carried away.

Liverpool’s win against Mourinho’s Spurs last weekend made it 20 victories from 21 games this season, the best start ever in any of Europe’s five biggest leagues.

But statistical records matter little right now to Klopp, who said: “The moment when we have enough points that we cannot be caught, let us talk about them, but I couldn’t care less and not interested right now.”

It’s trophies that count, especially at a club with Liverpool’s rich tradition of success.

Winning that elusive Premier League title, after last year’s Champions League triumph, would be a significant step.

But only if they do it without losing a game, like Arsenal’s Invincibles, would Klopp and his men have a real claim to being the greatest Liverpool and English club side of all time.
And even then, there would be plenty of room for debate.

Just ask Souness. If you dare.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk