Subs: Dudek, Agger, Finnan, Lucas, Benayoun, Garcia, Bellamy (Limited strikers in this era)
This would be my choice for a strongest liverpool side over the past 6 years (since Istanbul 2005).
I honestly believe this team (with the players in their prime, Hyypia, Gerrard, Riise etc) could beat the current Barcelona side.
enrique if he keeps goin cud be as gud as riis and i think enrique will be better than risse
Completely agree with that. despite having a lethal left foot Riise was caught napping alot in defence but there wern't many options (Traore? a crocked Aurelio? Insua?)
im an united fan btw.riise was gud one of best left legs iv seen. traore isnt noway near riise and aurelio was gud until he got an injury and insua wasnt rated by any1 he was one of the worst liverpool had
I think, if you are going to choose a time period, you need to pick players based on the performances in that period rather than before it.
In the 2005-2011 period Riise wasn't as good as he had been - hence at the end of the 2007-08 season he was sold, culminated in his performances in the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea and his own goal. Though injured a lot, Aurelio performed better than him in that time and had his best personal season in our best season (08-09) of your chosen period. I would argue that Arbeloa in his initial spell at left back was better than Riise, who was on the wane by then.
The defence is the main point of contention and i would draw attention to the central pairing. Big Sami is a Liverpool legend, but by the start of the 2005 season he was two months short of being 33 years old, and 2005-06 was to be his last season as a first team regular before losing his place to Agger. Of course, the difficult part is that Agger has seldom been a regular himself due to so many injuries. Actually Sami made 102 league appearances in his 4 seasons compared to Agger's 93 league appearances in his 6 seasons. It's undoubtedly more Agger's era, but his influence has been restricted. It's a difficult choice.
There is an argument for Arbeloa over Johnson, given that Arby contributed to a competitive side. Although on a purely individual basis Glen would be superior, perhaps Arby was the better team player.
The other thing is i'd say we played better when we've had a winger in the side, be it Kewell, Riera or Downing. But neither of the former two's individual contributions compare with Kuyt, even if they would give the lineup better balance.
The team i'd go for:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio
Mascherano Alonso
Kuyt Gerrard Suarez
Torres
Subs: Dudek, Hyypia, Arbeloa, Lucas, Riera, Benayoun, Crouch
Honourble mentions to Skrtel, Meireles, Sissoko and Garcia.
I retract the honourable mention for Meireles. ****!
Actually i don't mind him moving on but his first season is not close to enough to be considered for this team.
This is an easy question to answer... it is this team, because they will be the first Liverpool squad to lift the Premier League!
Even with the Meireles issue, Liverpool did really well this summer!
Ins:
Doni - an ok reserve.
Coátes - great defender with a brilliant future
Enrique - finally a solution for our left back problem
Adam - proving to be an awesome signing
Henderson - I see him more as a bet than an already consistent player, great signing anyway
Downing - one of the best wingers in England!
Bellamy - can provide the much needed experience when in the abscence of Carroll/Kuyt
Outs:
Aquilani and Meireles - both are great players, but Liverpool doesn't need players who don't want to play for them
Degen, Insúa, Pacheco and N'Gog - came with high hopes but weren't able to prove themselves as Liverpool material
Joe Cole - Dalglish doesn't seem to trust him, even though I believe he still had what it needs to be a top player
