Liverpool FC Forum

[jonnymac1979]

WORST PLAYER - PHIL BABB

The man who made Alan Hansen realise there was a career in sadly shaking his head.  The warning signs were there from the off, when the £3.6m signing made his debut against Manchester United and played his part in a 2-0 defeat.  An original Spice Boy and the star clown in the circus troupe that was Roy Evans' three-man defence, Babb is best remembered for whacking his sack on a post in an attempt to intercept a goalbound ball.  Needless to say he failed.  And that the ball was goalbound in the first place because of his mistake.

BEST PLAYER - JOHN BARNES

Many Kop fans would argue for Dalglish, but Barnes wins the vote as the most exciting, graceful, silky genius ever to grace Anfield.  It's hard to understand for those who only saw him struggle for England, but at his peak he was a deadly cocktail of Giggs, Henry and Beckham.  He'd glide past players, deliver devilish crosses and plunder goals aplenty, aided by free-kicks of unerring accuracy.  Few outside of Anfield can appreciate the raw excitement generated whenever he got the ball and ran at a helpless right-back.

© FourFourTwo

Hmmmm, worst player.  In my time there have been a couple of stinkers for different reasons.  What about Paul Stewart, a 20 goal a season striker at Manchester City, two years later, couldn't stay on his feet for more than ten paces.  Sheer uselessness.  Countless Souness signings, and Christian Ziege for different reasons, he didn't know a good thing when he saw one, a quality player who just couldn't be arsed playing in a team (at the time) on the up.  A total waste.

Best player, King Kenny, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Barnesy, Billy Liddell (although long before my time),

The survey in FourFourTwo was collated by visiting forums such as this and taking the opinions of the fans. 

My personal favourite was Rushie, closely followed by Dalglish although there isn't much in it (because when I was a child, I ran onto the pitch to collect a flyaway ball from Kenny himself in the warm-up and he ruffled my hair....I was 7 years old).

I can remember the player Rushie was before he moved to Juventus, simply how he would score in every game he seemed to play in and that you knew he would always come up with the goods, no matter what.

You would struggle to find a better six-yard box player anywhere than Rushie and that's a commodity which any great side needs.

Your opinions?

[Chrissy]

Rushie Great player
worst player: nielsen, anyone bought by gerrard houllier (excluding baros and kirkland)

[jonnymac1979]

Jurgen Nielsen was third choice goalkeeper, Chrissy.  If I remember, he dropped an iron on his foot (Alan Hansen had a similar incident in his playing career with a broken glass) and that was a major blow for him.  I got his autograph at the time he was playing for us amongst others.  Can't call him sh!t for that, though, he had David James and Tony Warner ahead of him (no jokes please) and he was never given a chance.  Do you remember Michael Stensgaard?  Similar story.

You can't say Houllier signed all sh!t players neither, considering he signed a lot of decent (albeit at the time mostly unknown) players in 1999/early 2000's which was five/six years ago.  Just because they might be a little bit slow now, what do you expect?  Thierry Henry pace?

I posted this in the serious discussion forum deliberately, it's ironic that you were the first to reply.

Stick to the polls lad.

Next please....

[Dalglish]

Kenny Dalglish would be my personal choice. At a time when LFC were reeling from the departure of Kevin Keegan few fans could have foreseen how quickly King Kenny would eclipse Keegan as the fan's favourite and set a standard in ability that IMO has never been matched.

Kenny had it all and in abundance. he could score, create , pass, control, captain, inspire, astound and moan like only a dour Scottish Man can !!!!

He was helped into managership by inheriting some truly great players (Barnes, Rush, Bearsdsley, Aldridge etc and although the wheels nearly came off after some suspect signings  it was the aftermath of Hillsborough that completely overwhelmed and shattered the great man and proved to us all he was, after all mortal

At International level he shone on the world stage and is still joint top scorer for his country I believe (something coincidentally that Barnes often failed to do but thats just nit picking !.)

A wise man once said "Some men are born for greatness and some have greatness thrust upoin them" . Dalglish although a quiet and quite shy man shone like a beacon on a stormy night on the pitch, ushering the fans who had the privalege to see him play into football heaven

[JBG]

Kenny's time as a player was drawing to a close when I first started taking an interest, although I say his last couple of seasons as player manager.

Barnes' is my favourite, although I cannot argue with anyone who says Daglish or the old timers that remember Liddel. Barnes' is just my favourite as he was one of the players that really captured my imagination as a lad.

That said, we are talking Barnes circa 1987 to 1990 here. Sadly, when he lost his pace and put on the weight he wasn't the same player.

[hawkmoon269]

Best - either Emlyn Hughes or Souness.
Worst - too many recently to single 1 out!  But the one which sticks in my mind is Alou Diarra, who has yet to play a competitive match since signing in 2002!

[the return of HAS]

But the one which sticks in my mind is Alou Diarra, who has yet to play a competitive match since signing in 2002!

Too be fair we signed him on a free transfer and can't have paid him much in wages during his 3 years at the club, because the clubs that he had been on loan at probably paid all or most of his wages.

And if we were to sell him in the summer we would get some where around 2MIl for him.

[Scottbot]

Like JBG my memories of King Kenny are a little hazy and it's hard to really appreciate the greatness of a player when your still a whipper snapping ankle-biter. I'll always remember Kenny had the biggest smile you could ever see ever time he wheeled away in delight, arms aloft after each goal.

For me Digger Barnes takes top spot but Rush runs him really close + i loved to watch Beardsley play in that great team. How many more European Cups could these guys have won? Maybe the lack of European footy was one of the reasons for Barnes failure to recreate his club form at International level.

As for the worst player - I don't think you can point to players who cost us little or nothing. Bearing in mind the fee we paid, the poor return, his attitude, the money we are likely to recover for the lad and the fact we bought him over Anelka. Have we ever made a worse signing than Diouff? If your not sure then ask Ged Houllier for his answer.

[Igor Zidane]

best player king kenny or for the much older fans im told billie liddle was unbelievable
worst player phill babb or kvarme or kozma or infact your right there was to mant to mention

[Scottbot]

best player king kenny or for the much older fans im told billie liddle was unbelievable
worst player phill babb or kvarme or kozma or infact your right there was to mant to mention

Good old 'chicken kvarme' - I remeber being really impressed with him after his first few games for the club. In much the same way as Josemi did in his first few games for us this season. I hope that's not an omen!!

[7_Kewell]

Toben Pickic (if thats how it spelt) and Mark Walters....god i hated those players...especially Walters who seemed to ALWAYS lose the ball

[LiverpoolFan00]

I would have to go for barnes as best closely followed by Rush. I never saw Kenny play

Worst in my memory would have to be Phil Babb was absolutley useless

[Nando]

worst player has to be Erik Meijer tho Bernard Diomede runs him close, cant believe Bernard was our solution to our width problems

Im relatively young and didnt start supporting the team and watching football until 1995 so missed out on John Barnes but have heard how naturally gifted he was, but for best player in my era as a supporter would be robbie fowler, his goalscoring feats and predatory instincts were quite like no other, owen was quality but didnt stand out in the way fowler did, fowler is THE most natural striker to grace the premiership

[BOODIDDY]

Remember the fly away balls the players used to kick into the crowd. I read Johnnymacs post and it brought it all back. I got one on boxing day i think (could of been New years day) we played the scum, they beat us aswell i got one of those balls from molby. It burst at school the day after.

******

[BOODIDDY]

John michel ferri, piechnik, stewart, walters, i could go on but this highlights one of the main reasons why we haven't been as successful in recent times.