Liverpool FC Forum

RED BEERGOGGLES wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb wrote:

7_Kewell wrote:Jan was a great passer of the ball, but you're right in regards to his approach to the game and his fitness. He had let himself go and his excuse of 'i don't need to run around to be involved' was a poor one.

Gerrard is still mustard, as he proved against the blues, and i believe he's got another 3 years at the top

i could half understand if molby let himself go in his 30`s but molbys mid to late 20`s footballing prime coincided with us having that great side at the end of the 80`s and quite frankly he couldnt get in the side, for all the plaudits molby gets the truth is that steve mcmahon was the main man in centre mid back then not molby.
molby was superb the year we won the double though and was great in the f.a cup final against everton.
molby was a classy player but he`s nowhere near the likes of souness and gerrard, as i said the one who never gets his `props` from back then is mcmahon, mcmahon was the second best player behind john barnes in that late 80`s side imo, a very under rated player. he was just unlucky that he was trying to impress a crowd who had watched graeme souness play a few years earlier. souness was an unbelievable player, just as good as dalglish if not even better.
i know quite a few of the players who played in that era rate souness a better player than dalglish, sammy lee for one.

I have often extolled the virtues of McMahon on this forum ,it would be no exaggeration to say McMahon was the driving force that most contributed to
the success of that side .

Jan Molby however was the finest and most succinct passer of a ball I have ever had the pleasure to see ,such players are rare ,and I guess the reason
I have such admiration for Molby is no matter how few and far between his appearances became for the reds ,his unabashed love for the club never
wavered ,big Jan was the Kops  adopted son and to watch at times what we all believed was such an exquisite talent made me feel privileged to witness .
We all have our own personal favourites  for differing reasons mate ,Molby was mine .

your not alone mate, many reds fans have the same view as you but to me he wasnt even the best midfielder in the side he played in never mind the best in our history.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb wrote:
your not alone mate, many reds fans have the same view as you but to me he wasnt even the best midfielder in the side he played in never mind the best in our history.

Its strange mate, I guess its all about whether in his pomp any other midfielder could touch him talent wise .I was reading the other day that Barcelona's
Xavi was stating his favourite player growing up was Matthew Le Tissier because he was beyond the norm and such an extraordinary talent .
This is precisely how I feel about Molby ,such players come along so rarely that the class they exude has a profound effect on your opinions .

RED BEERGOGGLES wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb wrote:steven gerrard is the best player i`ve ever seen in a red shirt and i go back donkeys but it`s disrespectful to say that he`s been a one man team, he`s played alongside the likes of jamie carragher, michael owen, robbie fowler, sami hyypia, xabi alonso, javier mascherano, luis suarez, didi hamaan, fernando torres, pepe reina and steve mcmanaman during his career here and plenty of other decent players like glen johnson, john arne riise, patrick berger, fernando morientes etc etc as well.
he may not have had the quality in depth around him that the likes of kenny enjoyed when he was playing but we`ve still had some good players over the last decade or so. certainly too many to start saying we were a one man side.

In terms of the best midfielder to ever wear the red of Liverpool for me personally it would have to be the irrepressible Big Jan Molby .
Big Jan had everything ,that is essential to a midfielder's game and  his intelligent play and incomparable distribution when a ball was
at his feet was sprinkled with true genius .

To possess a midfielder with these magical attributes would make  Molby virtually priceless in today's market .
Steven Gerrard is a legend and a superb player ,but Molby's game had no weaknesses that I am aware of .

I'm afraid you've been watching too many re-runs of the 1986 Cup final. Jan Molby was a wonderful passer, but thats where it ends. His movement was non existant, work rate non existant, tackling non existant, there was no drive in his game, hence McMahon routinely got the nod over him, and in terms of his contribution to Liverpool he had no more than 15 excellent performances. He was regularly the sole sub. He was a wasted talent. I can remember watching a vid of the 1988 dismantling of Nottingham Forest 5-0 and seeing Jan sitting on the bench, where he often was.

Steven Gerrard has been one of the best attacking midfielders in the world over the past 10 years.

If i were to list Liverpool players over the past 25 years in terms of what they did for Liverpool, Molby would just about scrape into the top 50. Xabi Alonso's range of passing is the best we've ever had. Furthermore when Alonso passed the ball, he would then immediately move into space to make himself open to receive it back, dictating possession. Molby never had this in his game.

D___C wrote:

RED BEERGOGGLES wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb wrote:steven gerrard is the best player i`ve ever seen in a red shirt and i go back donkeys but it`s disrespectful to say that he`s been a one man team, he`s played alongside the likes of jamie carragher, michael owen, robbie fowler, sami hyypia, xabi alonso, javier mascherano, luis suarez, didi hamaan, fernando torres, pepe reina and steve mcmanaman during his career here and plenty of other decent players like glen johnson, john arne riise, patrick berger, fernando morientes etc etc as well.
he may not have had the quality in depth around him that the likes of kenny enjoyed when he was playing but we`ve still had some good players over the last decade or so. certainly too many to start saying we were a one man side.

In terms of the best midfielder to ever wear the red of Liverpool for me personally it would have to be the irrepressible Big Jan Molby .
Big Jan had everything ,that is essential to a midfielder's game and  his intelligent play and incomparable distribution when a ball was
at his feet was sprinkled with true genius .

To possess a midfielder with these magical attributes would make  Molby virtually priceless in today's market .
Steven Gerrard is a legend and a superb player ,but Molby's game had no weaknesses that I am aware of .

I'm afraid you've been watching too many re-runs of the 1986 Cup final. Jan Molby was a wonderful passer, but thats where it ends. His movement was non existant, work rate non existant, tackling non existant, there was no drive in his game, hence McMahon routinely got the nod over him, and in terms of his contribution to Liverpool he had no more than 15 excellent performances. He was regularly the sole sub. He was a wasted talent. I can remember watching a vid of the 1988 dismantling of Nottingham Forest 5-0 and seeing Jan sitting on the bench, where he often was.

Steven Gerrard has been one of the best attacking midfielders in the world over the past 10 years.

If i were to list Liverpool players over the past 25 years in terms of what they did for Liverpool, Molby would just about scrape into the top 50. Xabi Alonso's range of passing is the best we've ever had. Furthermore when Alonso passed the ball, he would then immediately move into space to make himself open to receive it back, dictating possession. Molby never had this in his game.

This is also why Adam hasn't been very impressive this season because he's usually too deep and doesn't make himself available to dictate things for the next pass. Gerrard has been a legend for this club and is still one of the best midfielders in Europe if not the world.

would be interesting to see how big Jan would fair in today's game. For starters, i don't think he'd be allowed to get away with his lazy approach, which might have transformed him into a complete player. I guess we'll never know

If an immobile central midfielder in England struggled to keep up 20 years ago, considering the game is much faster today it doesnt take much to work out he would get even further left for dead.

D___C wrote:If an immobile central midfielder in England struggled to keep up 20 years ago, considering the game is much faster today it doesnt take much to work out he would get even further left for dead.

Do you think Alonso is fast? Or Lucas?

7_Kewell wrote:would be interesting to see how big Jan would fair in today's game. For starters, i don't think he'd be allowed to get away with his lazy approach, which might have transformed him into a complete player. I guess we'll never know

You could say that about most players back in their day re 'not getting away with it today'. For instance Paul McGrath marked Shearer out of the games pi$$ed up on pints of Guinness before he took to the field on Sat'day afternoon.

Same with Best.

Different time, different culture.

stanley matthews played til 40 odd wearing big old boots, on pitches like old potato fields and kicking around a casey that weighed 30 kilos when it got damp. put him in the new gear on a modern pitch and he'd still be playing. despite the fact he's not even alive.

this has nothing to do with the thread though, obviously

andy_g wrote:stanley matthews played til 40 odd wearing big old boots, on pitches like old potato fields and kicking around a casey that weighed 30 kilos when it got damp. put him in the new gear on a modern pitch and he'd still be playing. despite the fact he's not even alive.

this has nothing to do with the thread though, obviously

 

Interesting article in The Guardian..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... -liverpool

Aussie Style » Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:23 am wrote:Interesting article in The Guardian..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... -liverpool

Food for thought .

I have been saying that for years and this is definitely the case during times of trouble. An awful lot of ball goes via him and if the opposition can cancel him out, you cancel the team out. It's made worse by Stevie wanting to try too hard to get the win, he's a victim of his own commitment there.

I think we have to be fair to him and give him a break. He's been a great servant and he has a lot more to give. This season at best has been patchy for him coming back from the injuries and we have hardly had the most stable of teams since his return either, so the partnerships and balance that are discussed in the article hasn't been able to be found.

For me, the answer is still more quality in the team in general. more people need to look and feel comfortable on the ball and keep possession more themselves. It's the disease of the premiership, give and go, give and go and never get anywhere. We need some others who can put their foot on the ball, run with it and challenge opposition, create spaces for other talent to move into and capitalise. Imho, our whole midfield should be able to do that and we can't at the moment.

couldnt find it anywhere so I'll stick it here, Stevie was on a league of their own the other day, here's a link to the full episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZRgIxBZoQw

Greavesie » Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:02 pm wrote:couldnt find it anywhere so I'll stick it here, Stevie was on a league of their own the other day, here's a link to the full episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZRgIxBZoQw

That's pretty funny.

Did chuckle at the "hotel Jordan Henderson" bit - see Gerrard tried to keep a straight face.