Are Merseyside Derbies as Passionate as Ever? John Barnes & Alan Hansen Give their Verdicts on the Everton v Liverpool Clashes

This weekend sees local pride and bragging rights on the line as Everton fave rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park. The Merseyside derby remains one of the biggest games in the Premier League calendar but after years of controversy and excitement is the clash between Liverpool’s finest in danger of losing it’s passion with the foreign influx.

Football Pools Pundit and former Liverpool star John Barnes suggestes that the derbies perhaps don’t necessarily mean as much to the players but the fans maintain all the passion. He said, “Merseyside derbies are not the same as they were in my day when we actually had local boys playing in both sides like Steve McMahon and Peter Reid who knew exactly what the game meant to everyone.”

However, he went on to add, “These days the sides are generally full of foreigners with the exception of scouse lads Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in Liverpool’s ranks”.

The newly appointed Jamaican national coach praises the two sets of fans, when he claims, “It’s the fans who build up the passion, atmosphere and importance surrounding the game, more so than the players. It’s the crowd that make the players aware of just how important this match is to everyone on Merseyside.”

Fellow Pools Pundit Alan Hansen explained the difficulty of playing in these games, “Personally I didn’t like playing in these games that much. I think I played in about 32 of them in my time at Liverpool but these were not games I enjoyed at all. The pressure was always so intense, there was not a lot of football played and if you were unfortunate enough to lose then you have to wait a long time till the next derby which makes you suffer all the more”.

However, the former stylish centre-half dispels the myth that the influx of foreign stars takes something out of these derby games when he added, “Most of the clichés you hear concerning derby day are true. This game will always be fast and furious and definitely not for the faint hearted. I don’t go along with the view that the passion won’t be there due to the number of foreigners now in the sides. Don’t you worry both sets of dressing rooms will be extremely fired up”.

As fans do you feel the matches lack the passion on the pitch that they’ve had in the past or do you feel the foreign players are just as passionate to win these local encounters? Do you agree with John Barnes that it’s the two sets of fans that make this game so special rather than the two sets of players? Let’s hear your views.

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Tags: Everton, footy 15, Liverpool, Premier 10, Premier League

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