Jamie Carragher claimed Liverpool’s Premier League title success has ended any debate about who England’s greatest side is.
The Reds earned a 20th top-flight title on Sunday, beating Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 at Anfield to ensure no-one can catch them at the league’s summit. The first-place finish brings Liverpool level with Manchester United on the most league wins, which Carragher described as “one of the most celebrated equalisers in Anfield history”.
Liverpool once held an 18-7 lead in that particular record at the start of the 1990s, before Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13 wins without response established United as the league’s hegemonic force. That has all changed now, the Reds Devils are currently 35 points off Liverpool, and have struggled to compete with the country’s top teams since Ferguson’s departure in 2013.
“In winning the Premier League at his first attempt, Arne Slot has scored one of the most celebrated equalisers in Anfield history; Liverpool can proudly call themselves record title-winners again,” Carragher wrote in his Telegraph column.
“True, it is an honour they must temporarily share with Manchester United, the giants of English football tied at 20-20. But there is massive symbolic importance in Slot wiping out the advantage, which owed everything to the genius of Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Slot’s instant success ends any debate about England’s most successful club. When you add Anfield’s six European Cups to the league tally, the last counter-argument they were clinging to at Old Trafford has been obliterated.”
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It was during Carragher’s time as a Liverpool player that United won 13 championships without response from the Reds, a pain which makes today’s triumphs taste even sweeter.
“One of my lowest points as a player was in May 2009, when United pipped us to the title to match Liverpool’s 18th,” Carragher reflected. “It was a depressing blow to everyone at Anfield and – quite rightly – Ferguson was unashamed in his joy at catching Liverpool. United’s fans revelled in it, too.
“Shortly before my final game for Liverpool in 2013, United won their 20th,” Carragher added. “We finished the season in seventh under a new manager in Brendan Rodgers, 28 points behind.
“If you had asked me on the day of my retirement how long it would take for Liverpool to catch up to United’s total, my honest answer would have been that it might not happen in my lifetime.We were miles off it on and off the pitch.
“United had the best manager, raked in millions more than us per year in match-day and commercial revenues, and had everything within their grasp to keep going. In an era when Chelsea and Arsenal were consistently ahead of Liverpool, and Manchester City had just become one of the world’s wealthiest clubs, today’s Anfield triumph looked like a distant fantasy.”
Carragher went on to claim Liverpool is no longer living in the past and praised FSG for transforming the club’s fortunes, and Arne Slot for building on the legacy left by Jurgen Klopp.
