Five Former Reds Liverpool Would Love To Have Now
With Liverpool's season in turmoil both on and off the pitch, none of the fans, players, manager, or owners can be very happy right now.
Roy Hodgson, appointed as Reds manager in July, has had limited funds to delve into the transfer market with—and what money he has spent hasn't yet been seen as the greatest investments ever. Early days perhaps to be judging the likes of Raul Meireles and Joe Cole, but Liverpool has several glaring weaknesses on its first team and squad.
We take a look now at five former Liverpool players whose talents Roy would love to be able to call upon—were their legs still as strong now as they were back then!
No. 5: Sami Hyypia
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What a legend. Sami Hyypia played more than 450 games for Liverpool during a trophy-laden spell which lasted from 1999-2009.
An absolute rock in the center of the defense, Sami partnered with the likes of Stephane Henchoz, Djimi Traore, and Jamie Carragher during his tenure.
Supremely confident with the ball at his feet, the Finnish defender displayed an aura of calmness and control as he patrolled the defensive area for the Reds. A wonderful marker, excellent timing in the tackle and near unbeatable in the air, Sami Hyypia was a huge signing by then-manager Gerard Houllier and cost an unbelievable £2.5m—the steal of the decade, surely.
Hyypia captained Liverpool for much of the first half of his Reds career, and filled in on a number of occasions after that. While at Liverpool, Hyypia played every single minute of European matches the club played in between November 2001 to February 2006—57 matches in all.
Playing at Anfield, Sami won the League Cup, the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.
With current central defenders Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger struggling for both form and fitness, it is not hard to imagine that Hyypia in his prime would be a great help in steadying Liverpool's leaky defense, and helping to propel the club back up the table.
No. 4: Steve Nicol
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Liverpool has gone through some amount of left backs in recent seasons.
Andrea Dossena, Christian Ziege, Djimi Traore, John Arne Riise, and Emiliano Insua have all fallen by the wayside in the past decade, while the current duo of Fabio Aurelio and Paul Konchesky have both been injured more often than fit while at L4—admittedly not a very long time in the case of the latter.
But for more than a decade, Steve Nicol was a talented, consistent, and versatile player who won no less than four league titles with the Reds.
Although he started off playing right midfield for Liverpool, he played in many different positions throughout his time at Anfield, including starring on the left side of the defense on many occasions. He was as good in attack as in defense, and is another player who made more than 450 appearances in Liverpool colours.
No. 3: Jan Molby
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Big Jan, the Great Dane.
Until Xabi Alonso reared his head at Liverpool, Molby was the absolute king of the midfield passers to have ever graced the Anfield turf—and in the eyes of some he still is.
It was often said that Jan Molby never moved out of the center circle during the course of a game, a rather unfair assumption given that he netted 42 penalties, whilst playing for Liverpool. He would have had to have had rather long boots to reach the penalty spot from the middle of the park.
From set pieces, Molby was always a danger to opposition defenses, something else which Hodgson would no doubt love to have at his disposal right now.
But best of all about the larger-than-life Danish midfielder was his ability to control the tempo of the game and split open opposition defenses time and time again with his incredible vision and passing ability. Perhaps some of the current crop of midfielders should be shown a DVD of Jan's time at Anfield entitled "How to Pass."
No. 2: Kenny Dalglish
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Fans have already been calling for a return of the King—but in a managerial capacity rather than a playing one.
However, I have no doubt that should some clever person invent some sort of time machine which we could stuff an ex-player into and turn them back to their glorious past, Kenny Dalglish would be the one an awful lot of them would be running after first. For me there is one other—but more on that in a moment.
Dalglish had it all. Strength, vision, passing ability, and a knack for scoring goals, especially important ones.
Frequently voted for and spoken of as the greatest player to have ever pulled on the Red shirt of Liverpool, Kenny Dalglish would no doubt provide a great foil for current No. 9 Fernando Torres, and increase Liverpool's available talent pool of attackers quite considerably.
More than 500 appearances and not far off 200 goals in his Liverpool career, Dalglish is a revered and iconic figure to all who have stood on the Kop since he signed in 1977 and scored seven minutes into his debut. He was later player-manager of the club and is now involved with the club in an ambassadorial role for the Academy.
No. 1: John Barnes
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Rarely, if ever, have I seen a finer player than "Digger."
Liverpool's No. 10 played left wing, as a forward and later in central midfield for the club, but it was as a flying winger that he initially made his impact, scoring great numbers of great goals and being an integral part of Liverpool's magnificent side of the late 80s.
Oh how Liverpool could do with somebody like John Barnes now.
As with the left back role, Liverpool's list of left wingers reads like a who's who of nearly men and broken dreams.
Sebastian Leto, Mark Gonzalez, Albert Riera, Ryan Babel, Mark Kennedy, Mark Walters, Patrik Berger, and Harry Kewell—none have even come close to having the impact that the Jamaican-born, 79 times capped England winger had at Anfield.
With the ball at his feet, Barnes was unstoppable. He could take on three, four, five players at a time and have the poise, control, and ability to deliver a telling pass or shot at the end of it.
In his first season at the club he won the League title and two player of the season awards, before winning the tragedy-tainted FA Cup a year later.
Barnes netted a total of 108 goals for Liverpool in 407 matches—a truly terrific return from a player who saw out his latter years at the club in a holding midfield role.
One can hardly imagine the difference in Liverpool's attack of late had players of the caliber of John Barnes been part of the side.
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