This is one where we have an abundance of talent to talk about
I grew up with my earliest memories of Hansen and Lawro and I think you would struggle to find a finer pair in the game at the time, Hansen was the reader of the game, a modern day ball player who would bring the ball out and stride into midfield. Lawro the last ditch tackler, always there with the block or the tackle behind
Then into the likes of Gillespie and Ablett who had big shoes to fill but were good defenders
A slight dirge came after with the likes of Torben Piecknik and Glenn Hysen who struggled with the English game and expectation
Ruddock, Babb and Scales played in Evo's team in a 3 at the back but all struggled to keep up with the hype, Ruddock had a wand of a left foot to be fair but let himself down off the field and with his fitness levels on it. Phil Babb was signed as a star of the '94 World Cup but never got to those levels and is best remembered for him and a goal post getting tender against Chelsea. John Scales I actually liked but just couldn't find consistency, held the lovely nicknames of James Bond or posh c**t due to his accent
Then came what became a very good partnership between Stephen Henchoz and Sami Hyppia, probably our best partnership at that point since Jockey and Lawro and in a similar mould.. Sami wasn't a ball carrier but was front foot, won the lot whilst Henchoz was the last ditch tackler ala Lawro... However did look fu**ed and red faced after 4 minutes on a regular basis and had both hands on his knees blowing by about 18mins ever game
Carra then came into the reckoning but was mainly used at RB then LB in the 2001 treble season before moving to CB to ultimately replace Henchoz eventually becoming the second highest apparence maker for the Reds.. A true legend imo
Recently retired Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel were the next established cbs, I was a big fan of Agger but he just couldn't stay fit enough to be classed as one of the best.. Martin I have never been his biggest fan, a good defender but not too level, too many flaws, dropped too deep, rash in the tackle at times, got too close in the box to the attacker which left him vulnerable and led to him grabbing hold too often. But that said over 300 games for the club.
The latest around are Lovren and Sakho, but too early to judge but neither would get into my consideration
For me though, my two I've watched?
Hansen. Probably the best defender I've seen, an utter rolls Royce
Carragher. You don't make 737 apparence a for this club if you aren't great, I loved everything about the lad and if I had to pick an all time two the Carra of 2005 would get in it