19 Mar 2016 11:00:46
Ed01, If you got some time to spare mate.
Kenny or Souness, Better player or most important player?
Souness was the best some say.

Your thoughts mate.

{Ed001's Note - no doubt that Kenny was the best player ever to play for Liverpool. Souness is the best midfielder ever, but Kenny was a class apart from anyone.}

1.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 11:20:04
Cheers mate, Another one if you could, How was He ( Souness) different from Molby?

{Ed001's Note - Molby just stood in the centre circle and everything went to him, somehow. The play seemed to be drawn to him like a magnet and he was the fulcrum of everything. His passing was incredible. But he offered little in the way of workrate. He is the only player I have ever seen who lost weight after retirement....
Souness offered more all round though, he could get up and down and get stuck in. He was a proper central midfielder, with no real weakness. He put the fear of god into anyone who faced him. The Wembley defeat to Wimbledon would never have happened with him in the side, because he would have scared them. He could be brutal. The likes of Roy Keane were just pale imitations of him. In these days of specialist positions I doubt we will ever see the likes again.}

2.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 11:38:07
We did a see a similar pair in Alonso - Gerrard may be Ed01, I have heard from an old frnd of mine, Alonso was the closest to Molby when it comes to passing.
He rates Souness ahead of everyone. Without Souness your midfield isn't complete. Such was his impact on the team and game.

{Ed001's Note - Alonso similar, but a different type of player, probably a slightly better player overall to be honest.
Gerrard is not like Souness, he was always poor defensively, while Souness provided excellent protection to the defence.}

3.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 13:04:12
Jan could just simply stand still and ping a 40yard pass to the feet of our player his passing was freighting, I've never seen a player who can pass better than molby IMO.

4.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 13:24:32
Do you think people's views on Souness as a player are influenced by his managerial stint at our club as some folk would put Gerrard and say Molby ahead.
I agree our best midfielder ever, love him in our side right now and the lad could finish.

{Ed001's Note - yes, that has very much coloured people's thinking. I can't forgive him for selling his story to the S*n, but he was a supreme force as a player.}

5.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 13:43:16
I read an article some days so by someone who had seen all the greats play, Kenny, Souness and those during that time. He is adamant on Souness as the best and most important player. He claims the Liverpool team were in-complete without Souness and he sets the tone.

6.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 14:27:55
ed001 you mentioned souness and roy keane who was defo a pale comparison to souness, he was a proper midfield general and the one who got back at an opposing player who drty fouled one of our players, i would have loved to have seen souness v keane as you know there would have only been one winner, these posts have brought back some good memories of what our team was like in those days, the game has changed but what a team we had in those days, hey ed001 can you remember that famous photo of crazy horse Emlyn with that big smile of his after winning the cup he was in the dressing room, and what you said about molby he was one of the best passes of the ball at the time, he reminded me of matt latissier sorry for spelling with some of the goals big jan scored, its amazing how we kept buying players that were so good and i'm hoping klopp will bring some good players to liverpool.

{Ed001's Note - it was down to good scouting. They looked for players that fitted the way we played, rather than just good players. Keane was an excellent player, one of the best of the modern era, but Souness was a special player. One of the all time greats. Rubbish manager though.}

7.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 15:01:54
That brings up another question to you Ed01, Since the op is about past players.
Viera? There has always been this comparison drawn between Keane and Viera.

{Ed001's Note - I would take Vieira every time, though only just. Though Keane does have the advantage of having been able to play in the defence as well. It is a very close decision. Both fantastic players on their day. Vinny Jones admitted that Vieira was the man who made him decide to retire. He said that he loved the battles and getting stuck in with people like Keane, but then Vieira joined the league and he went in for a challenge with Vieira and bounced straight off him.}

8.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 15:43:12
Hi Ed

I think you would agree Souness had an aura about him when he was at Liverpool, he terrified other midfielders. He could tackle, head, pick a pass and smash it from 30 yards better than anyone around at the time. He had an air of invincibility, as Shankly would put it. People think that Roy Keane was nasty, well he was a bit of a pussy cat compaired to Souness, Souness even had a nasty streak that would put Vinnie Jones to shame. As the Ed said if Souness was playing in the final against Jones then either Jones would have gone off on a stretcher or he would have been played off the park, in either case we would have never had been bullied like we were.
Molby was a totally different player to Souness, total opposites, Molby was like a magnet to the ball, his passing was sublime. He did not have to move much as every Liverpool player knew to give him the ball as much as possible and he would ping it around the pitch with pin point accuracy.
As Midfielders go Souness was probably the best in his position, probably only Gerrard came close, add to the Midfield, Mcdermott, Ray Kennedy and Case and you have one of the best midfields of all time, with two of the most underated midfielders in Liverpools history in Mcdermott and Kennedy.

Evered.

9.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 16:08:33
Evered

I don't think Terry was underrated mate. He is certainly in the top 10. I agree with rest of what you said. There was this list recently published by a daily of top 50 Liverpool players of all time and guess what they ranked both Souness and Kenny up top.
Souness couldn't stay for a longer period at the Cohn else he would have been all time great. Modern day football has many players whose similar to Kenny.
But how many Souness do we have now? His positioning was top top class.

10.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 18:55:19
Didn't Souness break some blokes jaw on the field once? Unseen by every one in Anfield as well.

Sure it was payback for a bad challenge in the first leg of a European tie.

11.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 19:18:34
I can tell you my memories of liverpool in their heyday if anyone is interested? I remember being at anfield to see the reds destroy Tottenham, who had both Ricky Villa and Ardilles in their team. We won 7 nil, and were still trying to score more up to the very last minute. It was sep 1978 and the weather was beautiful, along with the football. We has Dalglish, souness, stevie heighway, jimmy case, ray kennedy, clemence, terry mcdermott etc. This was the game were Stevie Heighway got immotalised as running down the wing, constantly tormenting spurs. We literally clapped all the way through the game. It was a masterclass of pure football, truly magnificent just to be there. I remember vividly Terry Mac heading a ball off the line, the ball got passed out to Stevie Heighway 'on the wing', and he ran the full length of the pitch side stepping everyone in his wake. A glance up, glorious cross, and who else headed the ball in? Terry mcdermott! He had also run the full length of the pitch to score a fabulous header. The team had skill, balance, endeavour and pgenominal workrate. If Klopp can emulate this type of team, trust me guys. you are in for a memory to last a lifetime. I believe Klopp can do it. have faith!

12.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 19:27:45
I would just say to look for the molby goal v man united. Ran, yes ran, from his own half, went past 3 or 4 players and banged it in the far top corner, kop end 😀

Awesome

Crooky.

13.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 20:17:13
Steve Heighway is from Skem :-)

14.) 19 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 23:13:00
great post Tel 1949 love reading about the great Liverpool sides of the past, but I do hope to see another great team in my lifetime, agree with you about klopp we have the perfect man in charge to help us achieve our aims.

15.) 20 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 19:30:47
Mick, The way I heard the story was that it was a European tie away. One of their players had injured one of ours in the first leg at Anfield. Souness decided to exact revenge.
The player was carried off with a broken leg in the first meaningful challenge of the game. The ref didn't even give a foul against Souness. Not sure where I heard this, someone's autobiography maybe? Anyone know?

16.) 20 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 19:46:22
Hey Ed1, this player isn't in the same league as the names mentioned above but I wonder what your view of Jamie Redknapp is?

He was one of our senior players when I first started following Liverpool and I wonder if he was as good as my immature mind assumed.

{Ed001's Note - he had ability but lacked work ethic. He would coast through games at times, his attitude was about doing just enough, rather than doing everything he could. Sad waste of a career that he could have had. He could have been one of the best, but he was happy to just do enough, never going that little bit extra you need to be a great player. His passing and vision were top class, but his obsession with dropping off and taking the ball off a centre back's toe was moronic. For me I just remember the frustration of watching someone with so much ability truly waste it by not knowing how to use it to its best effect.}

17.) 20 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 22:07:29
Loving the stories guys. Comparing previous players to ours, where would you go with Robson and Gerrard Ed?

{Ed001's Note - I wouldn't be able to compare them, Robson was a top class player that was injury prone, which meant he never achieved anything like as much as he should have. Great player though on his day. What he did have over Gerrard is leadership. Robson was an inspirational captain, rather than an inspirational player, with the armband.}

18.) 20 Mar 2016
19 Mar 2016 22:59:27
Hi ed,

This is a very interesting topic you are debating. My dad has been going to anfield since the days of St. John and roger hunt! Went to Rome in 77 and has obviously seen the best to ever grace anfield! I was asking him the other day who he thought was the best player he had ever seen over the years and obviously I expected him to say kenny, Gerrard or Souness! However, he said he felt that Suarez was the greatest player he had ever seen! He said he's an absolute genius and the most naturally gifted footballer he'd ever seen! Would love to know your feelings on this!

{Ed001's Note - on pure ability he would get the nod, but football is more than that. For starters his attitude stank, constantly fighting with the club to get a move off the pitch, constantly doing stupid things on the pitch. He could be a liability. That has to effect how he is judged.}

19.) 20 Mar 2016
20 Mar 2016 10:48:01
Cheers Ed1, realised you were probably tucked up in bed when I posted that. Thanks for going back to it.

{Ed001's Note - sadly at my age, there is a very good chance of that being the case!}

20.) 20 Mar 2016
20 Mar 2016 11:20:32
With the mention of Jamie Redknapp there Ed. with his style of play. Would that be solely down to him or was it the way he was coached, or had the team set out by the manager?

{Ed001's Note - the way he was. It was all his own choice to keep taking it off the centre back's toe for instance.}

21.) 21 Mar 2016
20 Mar 2016 09:43:14
BigbadBen (and those anon that disagreed) here's an Echo report of the incident I've found to back up my memory http://goo.gl/Uqg8vR.