Former Liverpool winger John Barnes doesn’t believed it is realistic to expect the club to go the entire Premier League season unbeaten.
Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ team went the entire 2003/04 season without losing a single Premier League game, finishing with 26 wins and 12 draws in their title success.
With Liverpool steamrolling the Premier League this season, many fans hope to see the Reds emulate Arsene Wenger’s sides’ achievement.
Jurgen Klopp’s men currently have 19 wins to their name this season, having only dropped two points with a single draw against Manchester United, putting them 13 points ahead of second place Leicester with a game in hand.
While the Reds appear to be shoe-ins for their first Premier League title, Barnes has dismissed talk of an unbeaten season, claiming it is unrealistic to not expect the club to slip up during at least one game.
Talking to talkSPORT (via Goal), Barnes reiterated that winning silverware is all that matters, and not replicating Arsenal’s impressive feat. Barnes said:
Until the league is won, going through the season unbeaten is not on anybody’s mind at Liverpool, it’s not on my mind.
I don’t think it will be done. Of course it can be, because Liverpool are playing in a way where they are not losing matches.
But we’ve still got to play Tottenham away, Manchester United at home, Manchester City away and on any given day these teams can beat us.
So to expect us to go through the season unbeaten I think is unrealistic. Not that we can’t, I just don’t think we will.
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Barnes’ comments make plenty of sense. Liverpool certainly have the tools to go the entire season unbeaten, but it is extremely difficult to not let one single game get away from you all season. There is a reason, of course, that less than a handful of clubs have managed an unbeaten season, despite there having being many top teams over the years.
Liverpool also have a handful of injuries to contend with, as well as fixture congestion with the Champions League and the FA Cup still in play, meaning players are being stretched more on more as the weeks go by.
If the Reds were able to go unbeaten, it would be a monumental achievement for Jurgen Klopp that would rightly stamp his name in the history books, however the club should be more focused on winning their first Premier League title, which is in itself a massive accomplishment.
