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Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 00:00
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Premier League clubs were allowed to resume training in groups of five players on Tuesday, after the outbreak of the corona virus put an end to English football. It is quite possible that the competition will resume in June, which would make Liverpool’s first league title beckon again in thirty years. ESPN has assembled a team of top players who have never won the Premier League, with the current selection of the Reds not included. Ruud Gullit, who was with Chelsea from 1995 to 1998, plays a supporting role in this team with a place on the bench.
After collecting 29 games, Liverpool have collected 82 points this season, 25 points more than number two Manchester City, which has finished a game less. With officially nine games ahead, Liverpool can hardly miss the championship. This means that stars like Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah can prepare for their first Premier League title and will be able to be held accountable for their achieved championship forever. However, in the past and present there are also top quality players who strangely did not take a league title in the modern variant of the Premier League, which started in 1992.
ESPN has put together a team of top players who have played in the Premier League for a long time and / or caused a furore on the English fields in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but never ended the season as number one. The team manager is Kevin Keegan. The former coach guided Newcastle United to the Premier League and was at the top in the 1995/96 season with a 12-point lead over Manchester United. However, Sir Alex Ferguson and associates knew the Magpies still to catch up, so Keegan as a trainer could never add a league title.
Kevin Keegan lined up to make sensational Newcastle return as new Saudi owners look to win over fans by handing him ambassadorial role https://t.co/zYskht3TMg
– MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) April 26, 2020
Goal: Brad Friedel, years active in the Premier League: 1997-2015
ESPN does not choose for example José Manuel Reina, Tim Howard or Hugo Lloris, but for Friedel. The former closing post grew over the years into a familiar face of the Premier League. The 82-time American international was active in the league for Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. In total, Friedel played 567 games in the Premier League and managed to keep it zero 132 times.
Defense: Rob Jones: 1992-1998
Rob Jones doesn’t ring a bell with every football fan, but the Englishman is still considered by many fans to be one of Liverpool’s best backs of all time. As of 1992, Jones played 155 Premier League games for Liverpool, but a league title was missed. Jones did know with the Reds seize the FA Cup in 1992 by beating Sunderland 2-0 in the final.
Jamie Carragher: 1996-2013
508 Premier League games and 11 prizes, but never the league title. Carragher became a legend of Liverpool, but was never allowed to celebrate the championship with his club. The highlight of the former center-back’s career is the Champions League win in 2005, when Liverpool cleared a 0-3 deficit against AC Milan in the second half of the final and turned out to be the better in the penalty shootout.
Marcel Desailly: 1998-2004
The 1998 World Champion and 2000 European Champion managed to win the Champions League with both Olympique Marseille (1993) and AC Milan (1994), but with Chelsea he was significantly less successful. The Frenchman spent six seasons at Stamford Bridge, resulting in two English Supercups (2000 and 2001), a European Supercup (1998) and the FA Cup (2000).
Stuart Pearce: 1992/93 + 1994-2001
The former left-back was first in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest, but after relegation in 1997, he moved to Newcastle United. After two years the Magpies and two years of West Ham United played Pearce in his last professional season 2001/02 in the First Division at Manchester City to become champion. The Englishman played 78 international matches. After his career, Pearce entered the coaching profession and became manager of his old clubs Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, among others.
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Stuart Pearce in 2018 as an assistant to David Moyes at West Ham United.
Midfield: Xabi Alonso: 2004-2009
Players like Luka Modric, Paul Pogba, Javier Mascherano, Gustavo Poyet and Ruud Gullit wouldn’t have been out of place in this team either, but ESPN concludes that Xabi Alonso of this list had the most impact in the Premier League. As with Carragher, the 2005 Champions League win is the highlight of the Spaniard at Liverpool. The former midfielder managed to produce 3-3 against AC Milan, which required extra time and penalties.
Steven Gerrard: 1998-2015
A living legend in Liverpool, but the current manager of Rangers FC has never become England’s champion. In the 2013/14 season, Liverpool seemed to be heading for the title, but partly due to ‘the slip of Gerrard’, Manchester City eventually became first. Liverpool had three more games before the end in the rankings, but during the home game against Chelsea (0-2) things went wrong. Gerrard let the ball slip under his feet just before half-time and then slipped, after which Demba Ba was able to take the opening goal.
Attack: Gareth Bale: 2006-2013
Bale has won four Champions League cups and a league title at Real Madrid, but the attacker never came close to first place at either Southampton or Tottenham Hotspur. He may have had some Premier League titles if he chose Manchester United in 2007. “Man United was interested, but I wanted to play in the first team somewhere. And I thought the chances of that would be greater if I went to Tottenham. The trainer at the time, Martin Jol, told me that he wanted me directly in the first selection to have.”
Tottenham’s Gareth Bale >> pic.twitter.com/0ewjfMbET7
-? (@VazquezSZN) November 8, 2019
Gianfranco Zola: 1996-2003
The former shadow striker signed with Chelsea at the age of thirty, but that did not mean that his best years were already over. Zola won several prizes with Chelsea, including the European Cup II in 1998. The current assistant coach of the Blues left England in 2003 for employment with Cagliari, forcing promotion to Serie A.
Luis Suárez: 2011-2014
In his first year and a half, Suárez already scored regularly for Liverpool, but in his last two full seasons the Reds the rush hour was unstoppable. In the 2012/13 season, Suárez (23 goals) still had to recognize his superior in Robin van Persie (26 goals), but the following year the ex-attacker of Ajax and FC Groningen did become the top scorer of the Premier League with 31 goals, 10 hits more than teammate Daniel Sturridge, the number two on the list.
Harry Kane: 2012-present
After a long run-up, Kane has become one of the best strikers in the world. The 26-year-old attacker has already crowned himself twice as the top scorer in the Premier League, but a price with Tottenham Hotspur has not (yet) been realized. Kane previously hinted that he is pursuing medals of honor and may therefore be leaving the club. “I love Tottenham, I’ve always done that. But I’ve always said that if I feel like we’re not moving forward or going the right way as a team, I’m not someone who will settle for it and stay here.”
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Target: Brad Friedel
Defense: Rob Jones, Jamie Carragher, Marcel Desailly, Stuart Pearce
Midfield: Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard
Attack: Gareth Bale, Gianfranco Zola, Luis Suárez and Harry Kane.
The couch: José Manuel Reina, Stephen Carr, Philippe Albert, Paul Pogba, Steve McManaman, Ruud Gullit and Robbie Fowler.
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