Bloody hell lads maybe the swedish Nicky Tanner
was a bit over the top but i was a regular match go-er at the time and he was bang average at best in my memory of watching him play. It was only when over the last 12 months with the lockdowns i had a chance to go back and watch the games and highlights from that era and he was a lot worse than i thought.
To be fair our defence was a mess and in that 1988-1991 era we were often bullied and were vulnerable defending set pieces. Even Jocky Hansen coming to the end was vulnerable against physical forwards and Kenny knew this all too well. Steve Nicol was FOTY in 1988 at CB when Jocky was out for about 9 months with an injury in pre-season and i remember Kenny playing 3 at the back a lot more during this period because he wasnt confident in playing 2 CBs. Who can forget some of them games against Arsenal with Kenny playing 5 full backs in his team? Nicol, Venison, Ablett, Staunton and Burrows along with Molby and Glenn Hysen in the back 3. We didnt buy well enough at the back at this time when we had to replace Jocky, Lawrenson and Gillespie we had to play squares in round holes.
The rot had already set in long before Souness took over with a failure to recruit at the back along with Jimmy Carter and David Speedie type signings. The club post Hillsborough was obviously in a state of shock and Kenny probably having some kind of breakdown and probably suffering from PTSD it was unbelievable looking back and speaks to Kenny's greatness that we managed to win the title the year after but Liverpool off the pitch had fallen behind and failed to plan for the seasons ahead.
