Best Sides To Have Played in the Premier League

[Scouse_Mouse]

5 minutes ago, Mpache said:

I remember the big game there was Everton vs City, that was my last hope in City losing given it was to be played at Goodison.

I was over in Liverpool and watched that one in a pub (Evertonians cheering for City but not in a bitter way of course), I didn't expect any help from Everton, just as well as we didn't get any.

The only memorable moments from that match afaic was the comedy value of Howard.

[Dr. Gonzo]

23 hours ago, Burning Gold said:

Good god Luis Suarez still doesn't get enough credit for getting a tune out of that lot.

Now that, I agree with. Original sentence not so much.

[Burning Gold]

2 hours ago, Mpache said:

I remember the big game there was Everton vs City, that was my last hope in City losing given it was to be played at Goodison.

Everton seemed really up for that game, even the Goodison crowd was absolutely bouncing (in stark constrast to their recent games against Man City), but then with about 20 minutes to go down one they seemed to throw in the towel and let City close it out. Probably reading into it a bit too much because of how salty I was, but that's how it felt at the time. That Everton side with Lukaku at the peak of his powers is a shout for @Danny's other thread about middling sides actually. A joy to watch at times

12 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Now that, I agree with. Original sentence not so much.

Brendan Rodgers put the team in a position to get the best out of Luis Suarez and made him the player he went on to be at Barcelona 

[Dr. Gonzo]

15 minutes ago, Burning Gold said:

Everton seemed really up for that game, even the Goodison crowd was absolutely bouncing (in stark constrast to their recent games against Man City), but then with about 20 minutes to go down one they seemed to throw in the towel and let City close it out. Probably reading into it a bit too much because of how salty I was, but that's how it felt at the time. That Everton side with Lukaku at the peak of his powers is a shout for @Danny's other thread about middling sides actually. A joy to watch at times

Brendan Rodgers put the team in a position to get the best out of Luis Suarez and made him the player he went on to be at Barcelona 

Suarez was world class at Ajax and Uruguay tbh. He was so good, he forced Rodgers to abandon his preferred tactic to have Suarez and Sturridge up top. Too bad he didn’t think defending was important, otherwise we might have won a title.

In hindsight though it’s good he wasn’t a good manager because we got Klopp and the best Liverpool sides of my life

[Mpache]

Just now, Dr. Gonzo said:

Suarez was world class at Ajax and Uruguay tbh. He was so good, he forced Rodgers to abandon his preferred tactic to have Suarez and Sturridge up top. Too bad he didn’t think defending was important, otherwise we might have won a title

In my opinion, he became the best 9 in the world that 2013-14 season.

[Burning Gold]

17 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Suarez was world class at Ajax and Uruguay tbh. He was so good, he forced Rodgers to abandon his preferred tactic to have Suarez and Sturridge up top. Too bad he didn’t think defending was important, otherwise we might have won a title.

In hindsight though it’s good he wasn’t a good manager because we got Klopp and the best Liverpool sides of my life

I was mostly trying to wind you up, but I do think Rodgers deserves enormous credit for adapting to that tactic. It's easy to take it for granted in hindsight, but no one would've batted an eyelid if he'd stuck with 4-3-3 and left one of them wide. Gerrard was a limited player at that point because of his mobility, Henderson was very young, as was Coutinho. Sterling was a teenager. Joe Allen was Joe Allen. And Rodgers puts something pretty unorthodox together that scored more than 100 goals and got us closer to the title than we'd been in 25 years (and gets far and away the best season out of Gerrard that decade). Suarez was obviously a sensational player and we wouldn't have gone anywhere without him, but plenty of teams have got nowhere even with sensational players.

I maintain defending simply wasn't an option with that team. One of that back 5 is always liable to let you down no matter what, particularly the fullbacks and goalkeeper

16 minutes ago, Mpache said:

In my opinion, he became the best 9 in the world that 2013-14 season.

Was it not Rodgers who turned Suarez into a genuine 9? When he signed I remember him being spoken about as a sort of wide forward.

[Happy Blue]

This City team has just broke another 130yr record by winning 16 games in a row along with record points, first team to win all 4 domestic titles in a single season, Liverpool can't even give this team a game, last 2 meetings they got hammered 

[Cicero]

On 07/02/2021 at 10:38, Mpache said:

In my opinion, he became the best 9 in the world that 2013-14 season.

Diego Costa was pretty ridiculous that year too. 

[MUFC]

The City era is still ongoing, they may still win a CL or 2.

Bit off topic, but the Rafa side that came second in 2008-2009, in my opinion could be any team in a one off game. 

[Inverted]

15 hours ago, MUFC said:

The City era is still ongoing, they may still win a CL or 2.

Bit off topic, but the Rafa side that came second in 2008-2009, in my opinion could be any team in a one off game. 

I look at Benitez’s Liverpool as kind of the mirror image to Guardiola’s City. 

City for the past few years have been freakish in the league because no matter what, their system means they will almost always create clear chances against technically inferior teams, which means basically every team except a full strength Liverpool.

Hence they go on ridiculous winning runs, and run away with it the moment their competitors hit a run of matches where they drop points - which has always been normal, even for top teams. 

But, they’re kind of flakey in big knockout games. For some reason their weird calmness and consistency goes out the window.

Benitez’s team on the other hand, had an almost freakish ability to raise their game for big occasions, even against teams which were miles ahead overall.

The trade off was that they struggled to consistently put away inferior teams, and an inability to reliably make chances and convert chances, in games when they were expected to win, cost them the title. 

[LFCMadLad]

40 minutes ago, Inverted said:

I look at Benitez’s Liverpool as kind of the mirror image to Guardiola’s City. 

City for the past few years have been freakish in the league because no matter what, their system means they will almost always create clear chances against technically inferior teams, which means basically every team except a full strength Liverpool.

Hence they go on ridiculous winning runs, and run away with it the moment their competitors hit a run of matches where they drop points - which has always been normal, even for top teams. 

But, they’re kind of flakey in big knockout games. For some reason their weird calmness and consistency goes out the window.

Benitez’s team on the other hand, had an almost freakish ability to raise their game for big occasions, even against teams which were miles ahead overall.

The trade off was that they struggled to consistently put away inferior teams, and an inability to reliably make chances and convert chances, in games when they were expected to win, cost them the title. 

100% agree.

[LFCMike]

49 minutes ago, Inverted said:

I look at Benitez’s Liverpool as kind of the mirror image to Guardiola’s City. 

City for the past few years have been freakish in the league because no matter what, their system means they will almost always create clear chances against technically inferior teams, which means basically every team except a full strength Liverpool.

Hence they go on ridiculous winning runs, and run away with it the moment their competitors hit a run of matches where they drop points - which has always been normal, even for top teams. 

But, they’re kind of flakey in big knockout games. For some reason their weird calmness and consistency goes out the window.

Benitez’s team on the other hand, had an almost freakish ability to raise their game for big occasions, even against teams which were miles ahead overall.

The trade off was that they struggled to consistently put away inferior teams, and an inability to reliably make chances and convert chances, in games when they were expected to win, cost them the title. 

Yep that 08/09 season we drew at home with Stoke, Fulham, West Ham, Hull, Everton and Man City (before they were good)

[Happy Blue]

On 12/02/2021 at 12:58, LFCMike said:

Yep that 08/09 season we drew at home with Stoke, Fulham, West Ham, Hull, Everton and Man City (before they were good)

We did have a good team that year and battered Portsmouth 6-0 with players like Kompany (in midfield) Zabaleta, Robinho, Elano, Wright-Phillips, Petrov,  Superman! ..it was the base of a great team

[LFCMike]

3 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

We did have a good team that year and battered Portsmouth 6-0 with players like Kompany (in midfield) Zabaleta, Robinho, Elano, Wright-Phillips, Petrov,  Superman! ..it was the base of a great team

Finished about mid table though. We had a number of results against sides like that that cost us

[Happy Blue]

3 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Finished about mid table though. We had a number of results against sides like that that cost us

Yeah, it took a while to gel and get the right manager ..think we had a close game at the Etihad that year too which you ended up winning 3-2?  ...yep, just googled it Dirk Kuyt scored an injury-time winner as Liverpool came back from two goals down to beat 10-man Manchester City. Stephen Ireland lashed in a shot to put City ahead and Javier Garrido curled a 22-yard free-kick into the top corner to extend the home side's lead.5 Oct 2008

[Cicero]

There was something about that 2007-09 Liverpool team that I genuinely feared. Much more than the current Liverpool side. Don’t know why. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Cicero said:

There was something about that 2007-09 Liverpool team that I genuinely feared. Much more than the current Liverpool side. Don’t know why. 

Stevie G + Torres was a top tier combo. The two players brought out the best in each other.

Gerrard, at his peak, generally gave us a chance against almost anyone tbh. Even when he was surrounded with players that weren’t as good as him.

[Danny]

31 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Stevie G + Torres was a top tier combo. The two players brought out the best in each other.

Gerrard, at his peak, generally gave us a chance against almost anyone tbh. Even when he was surrounded with players that weren’t as good as him.

I think as well this Liverpool team are so system based, it’s why you’ve struggled this season, no player to individually pull you through the muck as it’s going wrong. Whereas back then Gerrard used to wear the 10 players around him on his back as well as his number at times. Him and Torres were brutal.

Plus they were backed up by Alonso and Mascherano who both went on and had big roles playing for Barce and Real. Masch turning into a centre back and Alonso hoovering you silverware with Real Madrid, Bayern and Spain.

[Scouse_Mouse]

When you look back at 2005 Istanbul it's really quite incredible what Rafa's side accomplished.

Probably Gerrard and Alonso the only two world class players.

Amazing what Rafa was able to get out of that team on the big occasion.

[Dr. Gonzo]

52 minutes ago, Scouse_Mouse said:

When you look back at 2005 Istanbul it's really quite incredible what Rafa's side accomplished.

Probably Gerrard and Alonso the only two world class players.

Amazing what Rafa was able to get out of that team on the big occasion.

Neil Mellor and Florent Sinama-Pongolle (hope I didn’t butcher his name ) ended up playing big roles for us. Even Igor Biscan had a big match for us in the CL that season.

Rafa was brilliant tbh, shame he had to deal with Rick Parry being an idiot and then two terrible owners in Gillet and Hicks

[CaaC (John)+]

99 side for me, and I will always remember a certain Alan Hansen saying before the treble 'You can't win anything with kids' egg in his face mega style, he made that remark after Fergies young side lost 3-1 to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995-96 season and they went on from there winning the league twice and the FA Cup and if you would like to add the Charity Shield as a trophy.

[Happy Blue]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

6 hours ago, Happy Blue said:

 

                                      

And...as yet...no European or Championship's Cup...

[Devil]

11 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

                                      

And...as yet...no European or Championship's Cup...

 

They don't care about that apparently because they know Uefa and the other big clubs don't like them. I've even heard certain City fans claim it's fixed so they don't win it. 

Truth is we all know very well they'd love to win it, I'd imagine all the corruption and not caring talk would vanish into the air over night if they did.

[Inverted]

I think City have done something basically no other team, apart from Liverpool for a couple of seasons, has done. They’ve cracked the code to consistently beating, with absolute reliability, weaker teams in the league. And it’s basically impossible for anyone to match. No matter how much better than the rest you were, it was always admitted in England that you couldn’t just win almost every game, and there would maybe be some scope for a challenger to elbow in.

But there’s no real romance to it for a neutral or for an external observer. It’s like when Lyon won the league 9 times or whatever. It’s obviously very impressive, but hardly anyone talks about those Lyon teams outwith France because they made very little impression on the wider world.