Liverpool are on for an incredible quadruple this season, and inevitably, talk of this unheralded accomplishment has led to a discussion as to whether or not this Liverpool team are the best side in English football history.
Currently, by and large, it’s widely accepted that Manchester United’s treble winners of 1999 are the best English side we’ve ever seen, but there is a case to make that Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have already proven to be better than Fergie’s greatest team.
We’re going to make that case and give five reasons why this Liverpool side can already be considered better than United’s treble winners.
The game has evolved
Simply put, the quality of football on show in 2022 is miles ahead of what Sir Alex Ferguson was coming up against in the late 1990s.
Back in 1999, 4-4-2 was still the dominant formation in world football, pressing was still something of an abstract concept with Arrigo Sacchi’s incarnation of the style looking rather childish by today’s standards, goalkeepers were still adjusting to the backpass rule and playing out from the back was seen as a waste of time.
Football in the 90s may not seem to be too long ago, but the tactical revolution that has happened over the past 20 years mustn’t be understated.
From Jose Mourinho to Pep Guardiola, the 21st century has seen a number of innovators come in and change the game, and, in turn, the sport has evolved to be more physically demanding and tactically precise than ever before.
Klopp’s team have had to be the best of the best in an era of tactical revolution, Meanwhile, Ferguson was coming up against sides that, with all due respect, played long-ball in a 4-4-2 on a weekly basis.
Better competition
The competition in the Premier League and across Europe is better now than it was back in the 1990s.
In the 1990s, spending in European football hadn’t fully exploded and many of the top teams in Europe were still largely made up of domestic players – the Bayern Munich team United faced in the 1999 final contained just one non-German in the starting XI.
However, nowadays, football is a truly global game and every team in the Premier League is chocked full of the most talented players from all four corners of the globe.
Even some of the Premier League’s bottom-half sides – take Leeds United for example, have unbelievably talented players in their ranks. Kalvin Phillips is England’s Player of the Year and Raphinha looks set for a move to Barcelona.
It’s the same story with almost every Premier League team these days, even the worst teams in the League have players who are top quality, whether it’s Ismaila Sarr at Watford, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin at Everton or even Christian Eriksen at Brentford, quality footballers are everywhere in the Premier League these days.
With all due respect to the Premier League teams of old, barring the odd exception with someone such as Juninho at Middlesbrough, you’d very rarely see a truly elite footballer turning out for a side like Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday or Wimbledon.
Even at the top-end, the Premier League has become more all-conquering than ever before. Spending has ballooned to an unbelievable level, and even a Manchester United team that is reportedly the most expensive squad ever assembled can’t get close to a top-four finish, nevermind a title.
Points haul
Despite tactical evolution and despite improved competition, Liverpool have still managed to be more dominant domestically than United were in 1999.
United’s point tally of just 79 won them the title in their treble-winning season, that tally has already been matched by Liverpool this term with five games to go.
Liverpool also bettered that number in 2020 and 2019, and if it weren’t for a pandemic halting their momentum in 2020 or a John Stones clearance off the line in 2019, Liverpool may have set a record points tally or have gone unbeaten in a season, something this incarnation of United never came close to doing.
Liverpool may not have won every title during this period, but in terms of week-by-week dominance, the Reds have certainly outdone Fergie’s team.
More style
Of course, football is a results-based business, but it’d be remiss to dismiss the merits of being an entertaining team as well as an effective one.
For United’s brilliance in 1999, they weren’t filled with what you would call flair players. Meanwhile, Liverpool have countless footballers who can get you off of your seat – even their right-back is one of the most exciting players in Europe.
Meanwhile, United had a number of players who, with all due respect, weren’t the easiest on the eye.
Gary Neville was a very functional footballer, Roy Keane was all about energy and drive rather than skill, Jaap Stam was a very 1990s defender while Andy Cole was a pure poacher.
Liverpool have already scored more goals this season than United managed in 1999, and barring an unimaginable collapse, they will concede fewer as well.
In terms of style, this Liverpool side walk all over Ferguson’s 1999 team.
They can win it all
Perhaps most importantly to this argument is the fact that Liverpool can do what United couldn’t. They can win every single competition they’ve entered.
The Reds have already lifted the League Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League finals are on the horizon, and they trail Manchester City in the Premier League by just one point.
Of course, Liverpool could finish this season up with just one trophy, but even if they do. Playing the way they have and coming so close to this feat in the most competitive era in footballing history is still undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements the English game has ever seen.
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