The midfielder’s masterly display at Elland Road yesterday all but confirms your average Kopites' insistence that it’s time to bestow greatness, Liverpool style, upon a player who’s £8m fee looks to have been a better investment that 15-1 on Howard Wilkinson landing the Mackems post.
He has, as we’ve long since suspected, established himself as one of Liverpool’s finest midfielders of this or any era. Of course I didn’t have the pleasure of watching the Smith’s or Souness’ first hand, I was somewhat selfishly conceived ten years too late for me to make such a comparison, but my video recorder has run into the early hours once or twice over the course of my nineteen years. And besides, my arl fella’s arl fella can’t speak highly enough of him and he’s seen a few gooduns’ down the years. Or so he tells me between ramblings of battles fought.
True, he may not be the most complete midfielder in the world in terms of attacking, yet he’s arguably Liverpool most important player. While the likes of Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen or Sami Hyypia could, at least in part, be amply compensated for we simply cannot do without Hamann. The cornerstone upon which we are based, he's is pivotal to a system that has done us so well over the past few years.
Liverpool’s excellent defensive record owes as much to Hamann as it does to any member of the defensive trio of Dudek, Hyypia and Henchoz he so excellently protects. His discipline allows midfield partner Steven Gerrard to express his full array of talents without restraint. His work ethic and leadership qualities help guide and bring through our young players.
But rather than having exploded onto the scene in a manner befitting of a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s fair to say that Hamann’s progress has been somewhat more conservative. It took a domineering performance in Rome in February 2001 to really jumpstart Hamann’s Anfield career. We saw a more comfortable, purposeful player that night. He’s not looked back since.
It wouldn’t take a genius to correlate a graph showing of Liverpool’s performances both with and without the German. Needless to say a Hamann absence would often result in a number of lines pointing due south. Indeed Liverpool’s poor spell in December of last year coincides perfectly with Hamann’s three-match suspension picked up after a straight red card against Sunderland at Anfield.
Far from being a mere coincidence Liverpool picked up just one point from three matches played without Hamann, drawing with Fulham and losing to both Chelsea and Arsenal in the following matches. Unsurprisingly Liverpool’s next match against Aston Villa, a victory, saw his return in central midfield. It could be argued it was a ban that ultimately cost Liverpool a nineteenth title. I like to grasp straws when the opportunity arises.
And with that, as the title suggests, I’d like to give thanks to a midfielder fast etching his name into the history books of Liverpool FC.
Still, he needs to fine tune his shooting.