There is no absolutely no 'tragedy' in name dropping that side and to say so is hyperbole at best.
What about the alternative? Start hankering after the team that won the CL in 2005? Of course not. Because it wasn't as good.
You don't have to win things to be able to qualify a team's certain quality - and Xabi Alonso himself has noted that inconsistency and frustration between having won trophies with a side that wasn't nearly as good as the side in 2008-09. Indeed, who are we to argue when Alonso notes it was the best team he'd ever played in?
And why do we cite this team? Because it's the most recent in living memory, so established in modern football and therefore can still be used in comparative terms. That team made us feel capable of being the best in England and Europe even if we came up short. It wasn't so long ago to be considered a different era altogether therefore rendering it incomparable.
Everyone wants to win the league and the Champions League. Who doesn't? But what we are saying is that the very least we want is to have a team that we can believe in again. Football may be about winning trophies but the rest of it is having a good time with a side you can believe in to be the very best. A side that you can cherish and put your whole faith in.
They might not have won the league that year but they never let me or thousands of other supporters down.
Youâre a lot younger than me mate - hence that team are more totemic to you than me. I know what a winning - no, all conquering - Liverpool team looks like and that wasnât it.
I think the original, underlying point you were making was that the 08/09 squad was so much stronger than now and how good we had it then. I agree. Wholeheartedly. But - like most things in life - it is relative.
Where I canât agree is on your further throwaway remark that it they were so much better as a team / squad than 05/06.
On paper right? Ok I agree. By a distance.
BUT
This is where the magic (human) bit about sport or indeed music comes in.
Your assertion (to me) is a bit like saying Genesis are better than the Beatles because theyâre better musicians technically (I think theyâre pish myself but hey ho) They may well be better musicians but it matters not a fuckdoodle because they didnât produce the same magic or deliver the same life altering moments.......
Their back catalogues prove it.
Just like the trophies are there to prove that (ultimately) the 05/06 team as a team / squad had something magical.
Factually 08/09 team was as good as 13/14.
For the record - neither squad near my top half dozen LFC.
Each to their own mate. I just fiercely believe weâre here to win stuff not just compete.
Good luck to ya.
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