On October 3, 2010, Liverpool played their final match under the disastrous ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, losing 2-1 to newly-promoted Blackpool at Anfield.
One of many low points of Roy Hodgson’s dismal spell as manager, goals from future Reds legend Charlie Adam and Luke Varney fired Blackpool to victory, leaving Liverpool in the relegation zone.
We’ve compared that team to Jurgen Klopp’s title-winning side of 2019-20 to see just how far FSG have taken the club, although it’s probably fair to say the most important improvement came in the dugout.
Goalkeeper
Of the XI to take to the field against Blackpool, Pepe Reina was one of the few players with credit in the back with Liverpool supporters.
The goalkeeper remained on Merseyside for another two seasons, but there was a sense that it was a time for a change when he was allowed to depart, initially on loan, in 2013.
Liverpool probably didn’t expect it to take so long to adequately replace the Spaniard, suffering the numerous mistakes of Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius before solving their problem position with a world-record move for Alisson Becker.
Alisson has been worth every penny, with more clean sheets than goals conceded in the Reds’ title-winning campaign.
Happy 30th Birthday to Alisson! 🥳
🔴 193 appearances
⚽️ 1 goal
🎯 2 assists
🧤 86 clean sheets
🏆 Champions League 2019
🏆 Super Cup 2019
🏆 Club World Cup 2019
🏆 Premier League 2019/20
🏆 League Cup 2022
🏆 FA Cup 2022𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 🤯pic.twitter.com/jIT89tqGkD
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) October 2, 2022
Defence
Come 2010, we’re going to say that Jamie Carragher probably shouldn’t have been playing full-back. Carragher lined up at right-back against Blackpool with Glen Johnson switching to the left due to an injury to, erm, Paul Konchesky.
At centre-back, Hodgson opted for Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos, the latter of whom was Liverpool’s biggest attacking threat on the day, scoring with a second-half header, seeing another header cleared off the line and having a late chance superbly saved by Matt Gilks.
Carragher is obviously a Liverpool legend, but as a right-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold he ain’t. Likewise, Glen Johnson was England’s first-choice right-back at the time, but as a left-back he falls well behind Andrew Robertson, arguably Klopp’s best pound-for-pound signing.
Skrtel managed to stick around for a short while under Klopp, and…
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