Liverpool 1987-90

[Galactico]

Just looking at some old clips...and I'm not sure that the great LFC side of Barnes, Beardsley, Aldridge and co - built by Dalglish - gets the credit it deserves. There has not been a better footballing side to watch in this country before or since. The team did blow the Double tat the last gasp twice   by losing big games they should have won - Wimbledon and Arsenal - and of course didn't compete in Europe - but looking at their quality, it's hard to imagine they wouldn't have waltzed off with another European Cup. They were pretty unstoppable in the league and really shouldn't have lost the title to Michael Thomas and Arsenal in 89, which would have given them 3 in a row.

 

We hear a lot about the great teams of the late 70s and early 80s, yet less about this great side, which stands comparison with any.

 

As an aside, there's a almost a collective amnesia among Manc fans about that team. I've had MUFC fans (no doubt based on Red Cafe comments) tell me that there were only 3 players in the Double winning side of 86 that weren't there under Fagan (actually, that discounts Nicol, Gillespie and Beglin coming through from the Reserves) - while ignoring the fact that after eking out that last triumph, Dalglish had a trophy less season and rebuilt from scratch. Aldridge, Beardlsey, Houghton and McMahon were all his signings and Barnes was one of the best players ever to wear the shirt, as well as heralding a major tactical shift with a return to traditional wingers. Another Manc said to me once that Barnes looked good at Watford but then lost his way...a remarkable statement given he was twice Footballer of the Year with us. I think they spent the late 80s doing acid and listening to the Happy Mondays, having grown incredulous at the emergence of yet another great Liverpool side.

 

 

But it's not just the Mancs or the 'football history only includes the Premier League' crew. One of the greatest sides ever to grace the game is generally dismissed in favour of earlier Liverpool sides and people are more likely to talk about George Graham's boring Arsenal when discussing the pre-Premier League era. Maybe it's all part of telling the Premier League story - the Mancs' first title winners were a big contrast to Graham's percentage men - or maybe people have forgotten just how good they actually were.

[Total Longo]

Why do you listen to these Mancs??

 

Digger was the most exciting player i have ever seen in a red shirt. Simple as that. Only Suarez has come close since. Between 87-90 he was absolutely untouchable.   

[Galactico]

Why do you listen to these Mancs??

 

Digger was the most exciting player i have ever seen in a red shirt. Simple as that. Only Suarez has come close since. Between 87-90 he was absolutely untouchable.   

Ach, I don't listen really...but I'm talking about Mancs who are into their football and will recognise the greatness of Liverpool players before Barnes, but not him. Agree with your assessment - in terms of ability, he was the Ronaldo/Henry/Suarez of that era, but the era didn't have the hype of the Premier League.

[Total Longo]

Also, Everton won the league in 1987 so it wouldn't have been three in a row, but it should have been three doubles in a row if the fates hadn't been against us. Wimbledon was a freak result, Arsenal in the league in 89 was one match too far after Hillsborough and Crystal Palace in the following years FA cup semi was kamikaze defending.

[Total Longo]

Ach, I don't listen really...but I'm talking about Mancs who are into their football and will recognise the greatness of Liverpool players before Barnes, but not him. Agree with your assessment - in terms of ability, he was the Ronaldo/Henry/Suarez of that era, but the era didn't have the hype of the Premier League.

 

I'm astounded that anyone could ignore Digger's brilliance as a player. Even Mancs.

[Galactico]

Also, Everton won the league in 1987 so it wouldn't have been three in a row, but it should have been three doubles in a row if the fates hadn't been against us. Wimbledon was a freak result, Arsenal in the league in 89 was one match too far after Hillsborough and Crystal Palace in the following years FA cup semi was kamikaze defending.

Meant 88-90 mate. Tis true we lost the ability to defend in big games in that era - that Palace game was fucking insane.

[Galactico]

Sorry, meant league titles not doubles - can see that's not clear in original post  :)

[Total Longo]

That 87-88 team had everything, it really did. Breathtaking skill from Digger and Beardsley, Mcmahon was on top of his game as the "enforcer" in midfield, Houghton weighing in with plenty of goals, Jocky as majestic as ever, and Steve Nicol, one of LFC's most under rated players ever, having one of his best seasons at full back.  

[Galactico]

I don't think I'v ever enjoyed watching us as much as in that era. We were brilliant, devastating and unstoppable. 

 

Nicol would probably make my all-time LFC team - as good as Neal was, Nicol offered so  much going forward as well as defensively. Criminally underrated as you say. And that midfield combo of McMahon and Whelan, in what was really an early version of 4-2-3-1 - great engine room doing the hard work and providing the foundation.

[Total Longo]

Would have loved to see that side tear the rest of Europe a new one.

[Trumo]

We'll never know how well they'd have done against the strongest teams in Europe at that time.

[Total Longo]

I reckon only Milan could have possibly done us any damage.

[Frank Dacey]

I was on the Kop to see the legendary 5-0 demolition of Forest, perhaps the best display by a Liverpool team I've personally witnessed.

I think some of the ambivalence to Barnes came from the perception that he rarely played for England as he did for Liverpool, but then if he'd had to play with Carlton Palmer for Liverpool, he'd have been a lot less effective for us.

[Strontium]

Barnes, Beardsley, Houghton. Now that's what I call a transfer window.

[Aldonose]

Barnes, Beardsley, Houghton. Now that's what I call a transfer window.

Absolutely. That's how you move on when you've just lost your best player. A privilege to watch every week.

[Lario]

Imagine the fanny hysteria if we signed 3 players from Watford/Oxford these days!

[Kevin D]

I was hoping we'd get beat.

[William Morris]

Although past Liverpool teams in general don't get enough credit from the media post premiership and Sky era, I actually DO think the 88 team in particular, gets plenty of credit from Liverpool fans. I'd say most regard it as being our best ever side, even though, as if to defeat my own argument, I personally would still regard the 79 team as our best ever.

It's a shame though, that the whole of Europe were denied the chance to see our late 80s team take on that fantastic Milan side.

[boomer39]

cant people here spell???????????????? mancs??????????????  begins with a W....thats not city mancs tho.....

[Tony Moanero]

Willy knows.

[PestiRed]

The 86 team was already built but Kenny added an extra ounce of motivation that drove it to the first double. The 88 and 89 team was the best I've ever seen and is up there with Peps Barca. Unfortunately there was no Europe, there was a daft mistake in the 88 final and Hillsborough proved too much for the league title run on 89

[KMD7]

The 86 team was already built but Kenny added an extra ounce of motivation that drove it to the first double. The 88 and 89 team was the best I've ever seen and is up there with Peps Barca. Unfortunately there was no Europe, there was a daft mistake in the 88 final and Hillsborough proved too much for the league title run on 89

Yep. I think during the 88-89 period Liverpool were playing with a level of style and excellence that hadn't been witnessed in Britain before up to that point. I remember even Platini marvelling at them in an interview at the time.

[xerxes]

For me , there is no comparison between the post Heysel team and Fagan's 83/84 team. Fagan's team did it, the 87-90 team is about what might have been, laden with domestic success but unproven beyond that.

[KMD7]

For me , there is no comparison between the post Heysel team and Fagan's 83/84 team. Fagan's team did it, the 87-90 team is about what might have been, laden with domestic success but unproven beyond that.

 

 I guess the point I was making that out of all the great Liverpool teams around during that era in terms of beautiful football the team of 88 stood out, and in my opinion I think it's  plausible that they would have carried on that success through to the European stage as well.  I take your point though, although  I think the 79 team was maginally better than Fagan's team.

[xerxes]

I guess the point I was making that out of all the great Liverpool teams around during that era in terms of beautiful football the team of 88 stood out, and in my opinion I think it's  plausible that they would have carried on that success through to the European stage as well.  I take your point though, although  I think the 79 team was maginally better than Fagan's team.

Bloody hell, how lucky are we that we produced so many great teams!

 

The 79 team was a cracker too.