Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish - Steve Nicol's #One2Eleven on The Fantasy Football Club
Friday 16 September 2016 17:56, UK
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol names his Reds-inspired #One2Eleven on The Fantasy Football Club.
Goalkeeper: Bruce Grobbelaar
People seem to remember Bruce dropping the ball but for every time he dropped it he caught it a 1,000 times. I knew as a full-back when he was coming, when he was catching it and I just got myself on the line. He was a great goalkeeper.
Right-back: Phil Neale
Neale was the guy I was supposed to shift out of the team when Liverpool bought me, but that wasn't happening. He was Mr. Professional. He never gave the ball away and for somebody who didn't have great pace nobody ever got past him.
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Centre-back: Alan Hansen
Hansen was the guy who relentlessly wound me up for fun every day of the week - and I still like him. I don't know how that happened. He was the guy you went to if you had a problem, whether it was on the field or off the field. What a football player with the ball at his feet. He was the only guy I knew or saw whose strip was dry as a bone before and after the game.
Centre-back: Mark Lawrenson
This was a tougher one. They did say he had spiders legs because he was the guy who always put in the last ditch tackle. He always got one of his legs in and around his opponent. It was a great partnership he had with Hansen. Any centre-backs that play together will have to be good to be as successful as these two guys were. They were the partnership to beat the rest.
Left-back: Steve Nicol
If I'm picking a team at Liverpool - I don't care if I'm any good or not - I'm playing in it. I'm playing left-back. You can figure out yourselves why? I'm just telling you, I'm picking it, I'm playing in it.
Right wing: Ray Houghton
It's a tough one. I played behind Sammy Lee and Craig Johnston, but I also played behind Ray. For me, Ray was what you'd term a football player. He would pass the ball around people for fun and he could run past them. But playing for a team that's about possession then you need a guy who can pass it and there weren't many better passers of a ball, especially going forward, than Ray Houghton.
Centre midfield: Graeme Souness
Souness gets in as both a player and a captain. If you are going into a fight he's the first person you'd want beside you. If you are going into a football match he's the first person you'd want beside you. However, as a captain, there's no doubt he was the best leader of men that I ever played under. He was the type of guy you'd follow anywhere and do anything for. If you needed help though he'd be the first person there backing you up. Forget the football side because he was a fantastic footballer, but you are talking about a real captain.
Centre midfield: Jan Molby
The man to go alongside Souness would be Molby. It was tough to leave out Ronnie Whelan, Steve McMahon, Ray Kennedy and Terry McDermott. There were a lot of players I could have chosen but I went for Jan because I don't think I played with anyone with the range of passing Jan had. It wasn't just the range of passing either, it was the accuracy. You see players hitting 50 or 60-yard balls these days but we couldn't do that with the types of balls we played with. Actually you could, well only one guy could and that was Jan Molby. He scored goals and he put his foot in. You might think that duo, Souness and Molby, wasn't the quickest thing on two legs but with them you'd have the ball all the time so they wouldn't need to run.
Left wing: John Barnes
How long have I got? As a footballer I'd describe him with the word mercurial. When he had the ball at his feet he was a joy to watch and I was in the greatest position of all, sitting behind him and just watching every time he stepped foot on the field. I would do anything to help him on the field. He was a guy who helped me out too because you knew when he got it, he wasn't losing it and that allowed everyone else around him to open up and play. As a footballer I can't say enough good things and as a guy: what a temperament, what a team-mate and what a guy. On and off the field they don't come much better than John Barnes.
Strikers: Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush
It was a very easy decision, but also a very difficult one at the same time. Any team would love Peter Beardsley, any team would love John Aldridge, any team would love Robbie Fowler but I have to go with the deadly duo, Dalglish and Rush. Kenny and Rushy's telepathy was incredible. Rushy would run and Kenny would just get him the ball. Then the ball was in the back of the net. Kenny was the first to wind people up and Rushy was the last out of the pub. They were fantastic people and great players. I can't think of a better two to pick up front than Kenny and Rushy. Go and ask all the centre-backs they played against, they will tell you who the best was.
