Berger was decent. Then you’ve got Riera who I thought was better than many give him credit for. Kewell, of course, was brilliant but rarely fit.
If you go further back though you’ve got the likes of Barnes, Whelan, Johnston, Heighway, Liddell…
Just think though. If we hadn’t fucked up, Salah could have played with Suarez in the run-in for 2013/14.
He is just the ultimate professional isn’t he.
Quality
Oh, I love Berger but did he ever truly come into the territory where you could consider him a top winger? Riera was a really nice signing in his first season but still way below Kewell and Berger when they were fit, in my opinion at least. Put them all together and give them Kuyt’s fitness and maybe that player would come close to what Salah and Mane are to Klopp and Liverpool.
Just to make it clear, I’m only talking about the wingers from past thirty years.
I don’t agree with Carra on the RW spot in the Liverpool all time XI. I think he rushed that one. Let Mo continue his Liverpool story and we’ll see when it’s over. I wouldn’t be so sure that he gets in. For now, not in my book. As for proper wingers overall, in my opinion the last 3 best Liverpool wingers were Mane, McManaman and Barnes. I see Salah more as a wide goalscorer. Not saying he should be competing with Rush in that best XI, but before all this best XI talks we first have to agree on some criteria. It doesn’t necessarily have to make outstanding sense tactically because it’s just a theory or an idea. Of course, we can’t put Rush as a CM. I just don’t feel the need to name him the best player I’ve seen in a Liverpool shirt, the best right winger in our history and the best everything just because he’s in hot form. No. Great player for us in the last 4 and a half years, great goalscorer in a very specific position/role in the team, great cherry at the top of our cake. He’s still active, he’s still in his prime so we’ll see what else he does for us. I don’t think he’s underrated or undervauled.
Nah, Berger is really stretching it. Not to mention Riera. Berger is one of those cases where a player is more generally likeable than how good he was. Shame he wasn’t fit, but he wasn’t that calibre either. Since Barnes, I think of genuine quality there’s a big hole between him, McManaman and Mane. But especially between McManaman and Mane. We really struggled in wide areas in that time. So much that Stevie had one of his best seasons playing coming inside from the right. Of course we can talk about Salah, not being so tactic-nazi. What we have in Mane and Salah, the outstanding consistency, reminds me of Ribery and Robben at Bayern. Though those were also different in style. I’d say they were more winger half creators, half scorers. Our duo are more like wide forwards. Also how they play anyway, with Bobby being the unusual mix of a midfielder and a forward.
Corrected that bit. He merely threatened to go on strike
Yes, I knew someone would come back saying Salah isn’t a proper winger (though he’s as much of a winger as Mane is). I don’t care where you play him, I think Mo gets in our all time XI
come on, he broke most of our records in his first season, won all the PL awards, and has been consistently brilliant every season since. Bit more than ‘hot form’. He’s scored 3-4 very similar goals to yesterday’s in previous seasons
That’s fair enough, like I said, I feel like he’s not yet all time XI material and there’s still time for him to possibly achieve that. He could be. It’s not a big deal anyway, opinions of millions of fans over something that we can’t see on the pitch. Main thing is that he’s been a constant success for us so far. The rest are just details.
Until recently, I also thought that Luis was the better player, but that is about to change for me. Mo is so incredibly consistent… I don’t want to play down the role of our other players who have helped him to become what he is now, but he is a rare kind indeed, and is still developing into a better player than the one he was when he joined us.
So, if Salah signs a new contract and stays here for four-five more years, and continues to play and mature like he has done until now, then he’ll not only overtake Suarez in Liverpool folklore for sure, but he could join the Valhalla of the old legends: Dalglish, Rush and the others. This will of course depend on whether he can win a few more major trophies with us.
Like Valhalla but less violent?
Walhalla, Victoria - Wikipedia
no no. i think he means the Walhalla FC who play in the central victorian masters league…league runs every second sunday in winter , trainings on wednesday, sponsored by the local pub. good team. pretty sure Mo could do better though…
I think the best XI stuff is done. The question now is where does he sit alongside the likes of Kenny, Gerrard, Barnes etc.
Exactly as you say. Alongside.
Weirdly I feel as if he’s achieved it slightly under the radar almost. I cant say why but the noise that surrounded other players seems to have been a lot higher somehow. Likely to be my own personal perspective.
I think a lot of it is because he plays in a great side, so he does not have to carry it in the way Gerrard used to, or Suarez did in his incredible season.
Gerrard and Suarez were head and shoulders above their team mates a lot of the time. They commanded all the attention.
If we win the league this season Mo goes into the top 3 players I’ve seen play, alongside Barnes and Gerrard. I’m 38.
Exactly this. Also he doesn’t get any negative attention. He’s not hated by opposition like Stevie was (or big debates about his place in the England team) and not constantly on the back (and front) pages like Suarez. Hence under the radar of media attention
41…Barnes was my hero as a kid. Gerrard my favourite player. But for raw ability and consistent brilliance I think it’s between Salah and Suarez, whether we win the league again or not
He doesn’t? It’s laughable how falsely maligned he’s been with suggestions he’s a diver.
Same on all accounts, the players, our age (fucking 40s looming!), and the top 3.
For me (I’m 31), it’s Stevie first, Suarez second and then I didn’t really think about the 3rd. It would be between a few players.