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The best passer we've ever had?

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Have to agree with Mølby but Whelan wasn’t bad either. You don’t spend as long as he did in that midfield without being fucking awesome.
 
"all he does is pass"

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Hansen could pick a pass too.

Generally to Rush, on its way to the back of the net.
 
Surprised that Souness has not featured much in this thread. He possessed the full range of passing and such an intelligent footballing brain. Knew exactly when to slow the play down but his first instinct was always the forward pass and his technique has only been equalled by one player in my time watching the mighty reds. Stevie G.

Before then, Ian Callaghan converted from a classical jinking winger into a modern style central midfielder linking the play and an understated part of our great 60s and 70s sides. Composed, clever passer who would fit in to any of the top teams now.

My favourite though was Peter Cormack for anyone who can remember him. Stylish, classy attacking midfielder who could thread passes through the tightest defence, a true artist on the ball with the touch of genius although he didn't have the longevity of some of our all time greats.
 
I'm sure everyone will agree that the best passer of the ball in the current team is Trent – which is why an idea of him eventually moving into midfield cannot be dismissed. There is a reason best passers in history all play in center of the pitch where they have the whole pitch to find their angles
 
Gerrard for me - just over Xabi.

The reason for this is Gerrard could hit a long range pass inch perfect from deep positions - and he could also play in a delightful ball in an advance role in tight spaces.

His passing game was proven all over the pitch in any circumstance.

Having said that Xabi was not someone we had playing in advanced positions so we didn't get to see that side of his game.

Looking back at those times Xabi/Gerrard/Mascherano & Kaka/Pirlo/Gattuso were the 2 best central midfield partnerships.

Each midfield had 2 highly gifted technical players supported by a nutcase ball winner.
 
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Gerrard for me - just over Xabi.

The reason for this is Gerrard could hit a long range pass inch perfect from deep positions - and he could also play in a delightful ball in an advance role in tight spaces.

His passing game was proven all over the pitch in any circumstance.

Having said that Xabi was not someone we had playing in advanced positions so we didn't get to see that side of his game.

Looking back at those times Xabi/Gerrard/Mascherano & Kaka/Pirlo/Gattuso were the 2 best central midfield partnerships.

Each midfield had 2 highly gifted technical players supported by a nutcase ball winner.

Milan's midfield was Pirlo-Gattuso-Ambrosini/Seedorf – 2 nutcase ball-winners (1.5 in case of Seedorf) supporting 1 genius playmaker.
 
Surprised that Souness has not featured much in this thread. He possessed the full range of passing and such an intelligent footballing brain. Knew exactly when to slow the play down but his first instinct was always the forward pass and his technique has only been equalled by one player in my time watching the mighty reds. Stevie G.

Before then, Ian Callaghan converted from a classical jinking winger into a modern style central midfielder linking the play and an understated part of our great 60s and 70s sides. Composed, clever passer who would fit in to any of the top teams now.

My favourite though was Peter Cormack for anyone who can remember him. Stylish, classy attacking midfielder who could thread passes through the tightest defence, a true artist on the ball with the touch of genius although he didn't have the longevity of some of our all time greats.
Everyone loves an old timer :)
 
Jari spent far too short a time here. We looked better for his presence almost every game he played (the one exception being a match at Chelsea when the whole side played like a bunch of puppets with their strings cut) and he went on to play CL football for Ajax after he left LFC. GH treated the guy abominably.

He was super unfit and his knee was fucked no?
 
He was super unfit and his knee was fucked no?

Super unfit, I very much doubt. He bossed the midfield in almost every game he played for us and would never have got back into Ajax' CL side if he hadn't been fit. It's true his knee was injured before he arrived, but again - if it had been completely jiggered he couldn't have played up to the level he reached for us and afterwards.

There was a story around at the time which I never heard seriously questioned, let alone denied. One day Jari was giving Heskey some pointers in training when GH, who was in charge of coaching the strikers himself, blew his stack and told Jari to quit doing it. Jari responded that someone better start doing it instead then, because nobody was at the moment, and GH was notoriously unforgiving to anyone who crossed him in whatever way. In an interview after Jari left, he said he'd never been told why he was bombed out. From a classy guy like him that's tantamount to "There was bugger all reason to push me out, so you do the maths."
 
Surprised that Souness has not featured much in this thread. He possessed the full range of passing and such an intelligent footballing brain. Knew exactly when to slow the play down but his first instinct was always the forward pass and his technique has only been equalled by one player in my time watching the mighty reds. Stevie G.

Before then, Ian Callaghan converted from a classical jinking winger into a modern style central midfielder linking the play and an understated part of our great 60s and 70s sides. Composed, clever passer who would fit in to any of the top teams now.

My favourite though was Peter Cormack for anyone who can remember him. Stylish, classy attacking midfielder who could thread passes through the tightest defence, a true artist on the ball with the touch of genius although he didn't have the longevity of some of our all time greats.
Cally was indeed great. Cormack was excellent too, though, as you say, without the longevity.
 
Super unfit, I very much doubt. He bossed the midfield in almost every game he played for us and would never have got back into Ajax' CL side if he hadn't been fit. It's true his knee was injured before he arrived, but again - if it had been completely jiggered he couldn't have played up to the level he reached for us and afterwards.

There was a story around at the time which I never heard seriously questioned, let alone denied. One day Jari was giving Heskey some pointers in training when GH, who was in charge of coaching the strikers himself, blew his stack and told Jari to quit doing it. Jari responded that someone better start doing it instead then, because nobody was at the moment, and GH was notoriously unforgiving to anyone who crossed him in whatever way. In an interview after Jari left, he said he'd never been told why he was bombed out. From a classy guy like him that's tantamount to "There was bugger all reason to push me out, so you do the maths."

Maybe it’s Fowlers book but I thought I read somewhere that he couldn’t train and his knees were fucked
 
Maybe it’s Fowlers book but I thought I read somewhere that he couldn’t train and his knees were fucked
I heard that somewhere too, but then it can’t be true seeing as he spent the next, what, 7 years or so playing for club and country. He was really getting on by the time he quit. He certainly didn’t quit because of any injury.
 
Hopefully this will turn into a tortuous, tautological debate involving the difference between short passes in the opposition half, long passes, crosses and set-piece deliveries
 
In my day, it's Xabi Alonso and it's not even close.

Gerrard could do long, short, spectacular. The lot. But Alonso could play ever pass with the correct pace and accuracy to not only reach his target, but also enable them to hit their strongest foot and take it in their stride. It was a freakish, unique talent seldom.He spent his childhood for hours on end pinging passes at cones / at his dead, etc, until he could hit it every time. It was that dedication to this unique discipline that made him comfortably among the best passers of the modern game.

I remember watching one his early games against Spurs just amazed at what he could do. Within 10 minutes of his debut all of our play was dictated through him, freeing up Gerrard to have a free attacking role and wreck havock.
 
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In my day, it's Xabi Alonso and it's not even close.

Gerrard could do long, short, spectacular. The lot. But Alonso could play ever pass with the correct pace and accuracy to not only reach his target, but also enable them to hit their strongest foot and take it in their stride. It was a freakish, unique talent seldom.He spent his childhood for hours on end pinging passes at cones / at his dead, etc, until he could hit it every time. It was that dedication to this unique discipline that made him comfortably among the best passers of the modern game.

I remember watching one his early games against Spurs just amazed at what he could do. Within 10 minutes of his debut all of our play was dictated through him, freeing up Gerrard to have a free attacking role and wreck havock.

Amen to all that, however, I should add that as much as I admired Xabi's passing, at times I thought he was playing it too safe. I remember some of these frustrating 0:0 draws under Rafa when I would groan when Xabi went sideways almost every time. This is why I think the likes of Pirlo or Xavi were better playmakers – because at any moment they were as likely to hit a defense-splitting pass as the one that just moves the attack along. Xabi's playing style was a perfect fit for Rafa's idea of "control," but sometimes it also amplified its flaws.
 
Amen to all that, however, I should add that as much as I admired Xabi's passing, at times I thought he was playing it too safe. I remember some of these frustrating 0:0 draws under Rafa when I would groan when Xabi went sideways almost every time. This is why I think the likes of Pirlo or Xavi were better playmakers – because at any moment they were as likely to hit a defense-splitting pass as the one that just moves the attack along. Xabi's playing style was a perfect fit for Rafa's idea of "control," but sometimes it also amplified its flaws.
I remember Benitiez saying Aquilani had a better "final ball" as a final dig at a departing Alonso, and I do think there is some truth in that Alonso didn't directly hurt teams. But I think it's also worth noting that his wide options were Kuyt, Pennant and Reira, who weren't exactly blessed with the pace or technique to really disrupt and open up teams as we do now.
 
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