LIVERPOOL'S DOMINANCE IN THE 70S & 80S AND DECLINE IN 90S
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Liverpool's Dominance in the 1970s and 1980s & Subsequent Decline in the 1990s.
Fellow Liverpool Fans,
the 1970s and 1980s were indeed glorious years for our beloved team
and they really establish themselves as a force in England and in Europe.
Firstly, even as school boy in primary school (when I started following football), I already asked myself what the reason was for Liverpool's glory in the 70s and 80s. Fans and followers of English football were astounded by Liverpool's long stretching dominance which seemed to last forever and many wondered what was their secret success formula and the reason for their success. Many reasons abound and after doing extensive research on the topic and judging by the evidence available here are some reasons and factors I came up with.
First and foremost, a good/great football team must have players who are
class and have quality. A football team and club are after all represented
by those 11 humans on the field and it is those 11 people on the field who
win the games and matches and bring glory to the club. Of course they are led by their manager also who has to be a good leader of his players. No way one will be a great team and have outstanding results if the players are sub standard and 3rd rate no matter how good the coach is. Even if the coach is great but players not good the team can still perform to a certain level but never become a powerhouse or the dominant team in their playing spectrum.
In the 1970s and 80s Liverpool were the dominant team.
It all started when Bill Shankly took over as manager of the club in December 1959 and steered them to some trophies and victories in the 1960s. He built another very good team in the 1970s with the like of superb players like Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence and Steve Heighway. When he left and handed the reins over to Bob Paisley, the core of the team was still there and he had left Paisley with a very good team.
As you all might know, Paisley went on to achieve much
success with Liverpool and though he did inherit a good team from Shanks,
he himself did bring in many players himself to replace the
retired/transferred out players and at the turn of the 70s to 80s decade he
brought in many young players who were to form the core of the 1980s Super
Liverpool team.
Among them are Alan Hansen, Grobbelar, Ronnie Whelan, Ian
Rush among others. This was to replace the ageing players who were going to
retire from the team and also those who were leaving the club at the end of
the 70s and beginning of the 80s.
Needless to say he was very successful in this aspect and therefore laid the foundations of the 80s team. The next manager was Joe Fagan and he only coached for 2 seasons before Dalglish took over. Dalglish was also quite successful and though I do credit him for bringing in John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge, I also feel that he was in a way responsible for Liverpool's decline. Firstly, he did not really bring in the younger players to replace those who were retiring and ageing at the turn of the decade into the
1990s.
And when he resigned, some people think and I also had the opinion
that in a way, he was deserting a sinking ship. If you notice something
about Dalglish, he seems to be good at managing a team and winning things
when he inherits a good team (as he did with Liverpool) or when he has lots
of money to spend (as at Blackburn Anyway Blackburn very luckily won the
title in the 94/95 season and later went on downhill). As proven at his
time with Newcastle, he does not seem to be able to do the job well when
the chips are down and transform a team that is undergoing a downturn and
steer them to success.
Liverpool's decline in the 1990s
Around the early 1990s, Liverpool went into a serious decline and certain events had a negative impact on the club, not least Kenny Dalglish's resignation.
It is still asked what the reason was behind Liverpool's demise in the
1990s. The thing is, I feel that this is not really too difficult a
question to answer and with just some common sense and knowledge of the
English game, most of the answers can be come up with.
Firstly the seeds of Liverpool's demise were already sown when as previously said above, Dalglish did not really bring in the younger players to replace those who were retiring and ageing at the turn of the decade into the
1990s.
What made things worse was that Souness took over after that and virtually
destroyed the team, bringing in players like Julian Dicks!
Roy Evans, try as he might did not manage to restore Liverpool to the pinnacle of the the game and as I expected and expertly predicted, he did not manage to turn the team around suffficiently and left also. Under Evans, Liverpool improved, played some great football at times and had some good players in their ranks, mainly Fowler and Stevie Macca. (I seriously did not think too highly of Jamie Redknapp, who I felt was overrated.) However, they just seemed to lack the 'solid' kind of look that would be champions have.
Here are some very important lessons that must be learnt from the Rise and Fall of Liverpool from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Lesson 1 : No matter how invulnerable and great someone's success might seem over a period of time, if one does not keep up the momentum and make the effort to stay ahead and pursue continous improvement and self renewal, one will eventually be overtaken by others.
Lesson 2: Sometimes success cannot be expected too quickly and it takes time to build success. As the saying goes Rome was not built in a day.
Lesson 3: Those who are complacent and take their success for granted will have a downfall one day, sooner or later.
Lesson 4: Do not underestimate other people or your opponents, especially those you do not know much about.
Lesson 5: Especially in sports and physically demanding sports, players are human beings after all, they will grow old, wane and retire one day. There has to be a constant lookout for younger ones and bringing in of replacements to
take over those who are ageing.
If you think about it and look back in history, there are so many instances
of seemingly invincible and invulnerable great empires and sport teams
falling over in the end. Think about hockey, previously India was the
greatest team in the world, they were the undisputed champions and won so
many Olympics and World tournaments. In the 1990s and present, the European teams have already taken over in the world hockey hierarchy and India is in fact now second tier. The once mighty Egyptian and Roman empires.
Though as a Liverpool supporter I do not fancy Man U too much I must admit that they were the team of the 1990s and Ferguson sure knew how to plan well for his team's future. He knows when to keep and release a player and with a combination of home grown players, astute and shrewd cheap signings and some big buys, he managed to keep Man U on top for more than 10 years. The emergence of Chelski with Roman's millions has of course challenged and threatened the Man U empire.
After the trio of Ince, Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes left Man U in 1995, he brought in his fledgings of Neville, Beckham, Scholes Butt among others and his successful youth policy is still being reinforced today with the likes of O'Shea, Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher etc.
Unlike Chelsea who make mostly big money purchases, Fergie can also spot
the unknown with huge potential like Solksjaer. Because he has been in
charge for all this time Man U has been doing so well. I really wonder if
they can find a good successor to Fergie when he retires.
Just my 2 cents worth. -
There are another few points I would like to add.
Point 1. A team that wants to be successful/good/great has to have that fine balance between attack, midfield and defence. If you have great strikers and score loads of goals but leak too many at the back, chances are the team will not win too many games. No point scoring 2 or 3 and conceding 4 or 5. A loss is still a loss and means 0 points in a league situation or elimination from a knockout style competition.
A team with a very good defence but no teeth at all in attack might fare a bit better but not really achieve much too. Drawing 0-0 gives you 1 point but means no progress in a knockout competition, and playing for penalties will not always work out. It is highly improbable that any team will always win from spot kicks. Lady Luck will not likely to be with one all the time. 1 point is better than 0 points but still less than a 3 point win.
Thats why the ideal situation would be to have a team with a good balance between defence, midfield and attack. The Liverpool teams of the 1970s and 1980s and Man U teams of the 1990s and present Chelski team have that fine balance, therefore their respective successes are self explanatory.
The main weakness and the Achilles Heel of the 1990s Liverpool team was
1. Not having adequate defensive cover.
After Alan Hansen retired from playing in 1991 Liverpool lacked that solid and commanding central defender and the secure and dependable central defensive partnership which had been the foundation of the successful Liverpool teams of the 1960s to the 1990s.
From the giant Ron Yeats of the 1960s to the magnificent partnership of Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson in the 1980s (still considered by many to be the best central defensive partnership in Liverpool's history and even the modern history of English football), Liverpool had a good defence at the back which gave the team confidence and protected the goalkeeper.
The saying "The foundation of a good team starts from its defence" is almost definitely a correct and true statement and there is almost no doubt a very appropriate one. There are so many examples of good/great teams having that solid central defensive partnership. Some I can think of are
Desailly/Blanc France in the late 1990s till 2000.
Ayala/Samuel Current Argentina team
Bruce/Pallister (early to mid 1990s Man U team)
Thats where Liverpools failings were in the 1990s. One of the major weaknesses and inadequacies of Liverpool under Roy Evans was conceding soft goals and goals from the air and from set pieces like corners and free kicks near the penalty box and goal.
It was only after the arrival of Sami Hyppia and Stephane Henchoz that the cracks were sealed and holes were plugged. There was again that dependable central defensive partnership and at present Hyppia/Carragher are doing a good job. (Thank Goodnesss!)
2. Not having that hard tackling midfielder General/ball winner and leader in the centre of the park.
The great Liverpool teams from the 1960s till the 1980s always had that 'tough guy' hard tackling/ball winning midfield general and commander in the centre of the park from the indomitable Tommy Smith in the 1960s to 1970s to Graeme Souness in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Souness left for Sampdoria in 1984 there was a gap which was plugged upon Steve McMahon 's arrival in 1985. Steve McMahon was the last of the great midfield generals until Steven Gerrard came around in the present.
The absence of this midfield general was another weakness/failing of the Liverpool teams of the 1990s. Players like Jamie Redknapp and Paul Stewart were just not up to standard. They are not the Roy Keane type who can boss the midfield. This was another area that Liverpool were weak in until Stevie G came along and this is another reason why Liverpool are performing better at present.
3. Not having a steady and dependable goalkeeper.
Lets not kid ourselves, of either David James or Peter Schmeichel, who would one rather have? (Assuming Peter Schmeichel is still at his peak). A steady keeper is vital to the team too and a great one can organise and keep his back four on their toes and inspire confidence in his team.
After the brilliant Ray Clemence in the 1970s and the good Grobbelar in the 1980s and early part of the 1990s, Liverpool did not have a reliable keeper after that during the Souness and Roy Evans years. David James was so error prone and the weak defence hardly helped his confidence either.
It was only after Sander Westerveld came along that stability in the gaolkeeping department was restored and at present Jose Reina seems good between the sticks and explains Liverpool's good defensive performances. Thank Goodness again that this issue has been sorted out! Scott Carson can get better with age and experience and more practice and seems to be a bright one for the future with loads of potential. Chris Kirkland is undeniably a great one for the future too but there has been some indications he wants a permanent move out of Anfield.
These were the 3 main weaknesses of Liverpool that explained their inability to do well in the 1990s. Of course there were other weaknesses as well but those 3 I mentioned were the main ones. Feel free to add on to my comments/ statements.
Rafael Benitez has thankfully plugged those gaps and rectified (to a certain extent) those main weaknesses but there is still work to be done and areas of the team to be strengthened. Hopefully Rafa will manage to do that. After all there is always room for improvement and it is only through constant improvement that can lead to success and lead on to further heights.
The Best Is Yet To Be!!! -
woah very long and detailed
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liverpool was best when ian rush played.
i think they have never lost a match in which ian rush had scored. -
how come last time ian rush play and he has a moustache? due to his country tread?
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Dragg,
indeed for a long time and for many matches since Ian Rush made his debut for Liverpool in the early 1980s, Liverpool did not lose any competitive match in which Ian Rush had scored. (I am not certain about friendly matches.)
Unfortunately that run came to an end in the 1987 Littlewoods League Cup (the title of that era's version of the present day Carling League Cup) final against Arsenal, when Ian Rush scored to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead, only for Charlie Nicholas of Arsenal to reply twice to hand the Littlewoods League Cup to the Gunners with a 2-1 win.
Another match I can think of that Liverpool lost when Ian Rush scored was in a Premier League match against Man U at Anfield on the 6th March 1993, during the 1992-1993 season. Ian Rush equalised after Mark Hughes had given Man U the lead but Brian McClair scored after that to give Man U a 2-1 win.
There might be other matches too that Liverpool lost when Ian Rush scored, the above mentioned 2 are the ones I can recall offhand. -
i love the FA cup in the 80s.
now, so boring. -
Hey, I have found out that there were so many more matches that Liverpool had lost when Ian Rush had scored.
To get the information, access the website http://www.liverweb.org.uk/archive.htm.