[ad_1]
Roy Keane has challenged Liverpool to win back-to-back Premier League titles to prove they are a truly great team, while Jamie Carragher says the Reds will be itching to have an ‘era of success’.
The Merseysiders continued their unbeaten season with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, extending their lead at the top of the Premier League table to 16 points with a game in hand.
United legend Keane was at Anfield on punditry duty and while he is full of praise for Liverpool’s football, he feels they have some way to go to achieve real greatness.
In a debate with Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports he was asked what they needed to do to be considered great and he explained: ‘Do you know what, Jamie, it’s simple as this: win more trophies.
‘Obviously they’ve done well in the last year or two with the Champions League. But if they win this league, which obviously they will do. We’re on about teams catching them, they’re all running out of games. There’s another game gone, they’ve increased the gap.
‘Winning more league titles, it has to be, that’s how you judge any really big club or big team: how many leagues they win, if they can win it back-to-back.’
Asked if also winning cups can catapult a team to greatness, Keane replied bluntly: ‘I don’t think so, no.’
Somewhat surprisingly, Carragher agreed with Keane that Liverpool have not quite done enough to be put in the ‘great’ category and says they need a prolonged period of sustained success.
He explained: ‘I think what Liverpool could do this season – if you isolate seasons, maybe 1999 treble season [for United] or 2008 won the Champions League – if you actually look at Liverpool on their own in an individual season, they are a great team in that [context].
‘But when you talk about the greats of an era, Liverpool had an era with Graeme [Souness], United had an era, Arsenal – I don’t think they ever won the league consecutively – but they had that era from 1998 to 2002. Even going back to Nottingham Forest.
‘You think of teams that have had that and I think that is what this Liverpool team need. And it may not necessarily be that they have to win the league again next season. They’ve got a European Cup, they’ve won the league, it might be the Champions League next season.
‘But over the next four or five years – Klopp’s just signed a new contract – I don’t think it would be enough to just win the league. I don’t think it would be enough for the players and this manager. I think they’ll certainly want to have an era of success.’
MORE: Fred waits in tunnel after Manchester United’s loss to swap shirts with Liverpool keeper Alisson
MORE: Gary Neville reveals one area Liverpool can improve after Manchester United victory
[ad_2]
READ SOURCE
