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Brendan Crossan: Liverpool sauntering to the title - but it's all a bit too easy

Jordan Henderson has been the best player in the Premier League this season
Jordan Henderson has been the best player in the Premier League this season Jordan Henderson has been the best player in the Premier League this season

Jamie Carragher: “That United team in ’99 finished with 79 points. Liverpool have got 76 now.”

Roy Keane: “I know, but let’s not go down that road. That’s ridiculous. You’re talking about points, the bottom line is when you win the trophy you get one medal. You don’t turn your medal over and it tells you how many points you won the league by.”

IF there is one thing the Sky Sports editorial and marketing teams have got right is their football double act of Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane.

A couple of weeks ago the pair were tasked with selecting the best XI from Manchester United’s treble-winning team of ’99 and Liverpool’s runaway train of the current season.

There was a slight problem at the outset: Carragher wanted a 4-3-3 and Keane wanted 4-4-2.

Compromises needed to be made.

It turned out only three Liverpool players made it into the team: Trent Alexander-Arnold nailed the right back slot, not after under heavy protest from Keane who maintained Gary Neville was a better choice; Virgil van Dijk was an undisputed choice alongside Jaap Stam in central defence and Mohamed Salah got the nod (just) ahead of Ryan Giggs.

Carragher, to his credit, couldn’t make a strong enough argument for any of Liverpool’s current midfield to dislodge Paul Scholes, Keane or David Beckham.

The absence of a Liverpool player in the middle of the park says so much about the current Premier League leaders, the modern game as well as Jurgen Klopp’s ability as a manager.

The Liverpool midfield is one of the great illusions of English and European football. Individually, they lack flair but as a collective they are brilliant.

In many ways, Klopp’s midfield is his greatest achievement.

For a large chunk of his career Jordan Henderson has been derided – harshly in my view.

Dating back to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, Henderson started the tournament as Steven Gerrard’s junior midfield partner. By the end of their truncated campaign, the roles were reversed.

Gerrard had more style, more grace, whereas Henderson seemed functional, a box ticker with a zest for hard graft.

It’s weird how some players are viewed.

For starters, Henderson has an ungainly look about him, a jaunting running style, a gait that doesn’t fit snugly with the great midfield stylists of the game.

And yet, he is arguably on track to be the Premier League’s player of the year. He is the beating heart of Klopp’s Liverpool side, whose presence has been sorely missed in recent games due to injury.

Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum are strong, effective midfielders but they all lack the individual ability of Scholes, Keane or Beckham.

Before Keane was re-configured into a defensive pivot, there was no better box-to-box midfielder in European football, while the passing repertoire of Scholes and Beckham was sublime.

But, in today’s modern game nobody needs a box-to-box midfielder. Midfield has changed.

A midfielder’s role is much less dramatic, more specific.

The game generally is more prescriptive than it has ever been.

Comparing and contrasting different eras and different types of footballers is a very subjective business.

Keane admitted as much when he said his loyalty was to the players he played with.

Only van Djik got in Keane’s team without a protest.

But it was slightly naïve of Carragher to make the point that Liverpool had already amassed 76 points (they now have 79 since the Sky debate) while the Manchester United side of ’99 won the Premier League with 79 points.

Citing the amount of league points a team has accrued doesn’t really strengthen Carragher’s argument of Liverpool’s reach for greatness.

If anything, it weakens his argument and shines a light on the desperate averageness that currently pockmarks the Premier League.

United won the title in ’99 with 79 points. Arsenal finished on 78, Chelsea on 75 and Leeds United finished fourth on 67.

Right now, Liverpool have 79 points, Man City are on 57, Leicester City sit on 50 and fourth-placed Chelsea are further back on 45.

In 1999, a mere 12 points stretched between first and fourth. In 2020, it's 34 points.

Of course, the top four could tighten up between now and the end of the season but not by much, and it’ll not disguise the gulf between Liverpool and the rest.

Back in ’99 the Premier League was more competitive. Quality was spread throughout the division.

United drew with West Ham, Derby County, Newcastle, Wimbledon and lost to Sheffield Wednesday during their triumphant campaign.

You can’t imagine Liverpool dropping those kinds of points because the competition in the EPL has waned considerably.

For all of Pep Guardiola’s mysterious and lauded alchemy, Man City’s league challenge this season has been desperately meek.

To be 22 points off Liverpool entering the month of March shines the same amount of light on City’s ineptitude as it does on Liverpool’s incredible consistency.

For Leicester to be sitting third is testament to Brendan Rodgers’ coaching ability while Chelsea and fifth placed Manchester United should be robust enough to handle transitional periods better than they are currently doing.

Beyond seventh or eighth place in the English Premier League, the football is unwatchable.

The quality is turgid and unambitious.

Years ago, teams used to look forward to pitting themselves against the top teams.

Nowadays, managers ‘park the bus’, rest their more creative players for more ‘winnable’ games in their own mini-league, hope for the best and are generally content to escape with a 1-0 loss.

This austere approach isn’t Liverpool’s fault. All they can do is be the best of their era – and they are by some distance.

But perhaps some of the club’s own supporters are feeling distinctly underwhelmed by the ease with which they're sauntering to their first league title in almost 30 years.