Liverpool star Graeme Souness phoned talkSPORT after taking issue with comments made by ex-Arsenal Martin Keown against a couple of his former team-mates.
Graeme Souness alleges he almost crashed his car after hearing Martin Keown’s comments against his previous Liverpool team.
Souness, 71, has never been one to take prisoners, and he couldn’t resist but call talkSPORT after hearing Keown trash Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson’s defence during a 2021 broadcast. The former Arsenal defender was debating the impact of the back-pass rule, claiming it had dramatically enhanced the game because players like Hansen and Lawrenson would frequently waste time passing back to goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.
Despite being behind the car at the time, an enraged Souness called to confront Keown. The former Scotland midfielder played alongside Hansen and Lawrenson in the Liverpool team that dominated English football in the 1980s, and he said that his former teammates were not as cynical as Keown had indicated.
“I nearly crashed my car, Martin, after what you said,” Souness said over the phone. “I understand that the game has undoubtedly improved, but I completely disagree with you on Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson.
“You could’ve selected any other football partnership at the time and called them out on their tendency to go back to the goalkeeper whenever they were under pressure. But you’ve picked the best two football centre-backs this country has perhaps ever seen!”
Keown, on the other hand, refused to back down, insisting that the pair “could’ve attacked more”. He retorted, “They could’ve picked any pass they wanted, but they went back to the goalkeeper.”
But Souness refused to back down, raging: “Martin, I played with them for almost 300 games! I understand how good they were. They were technically so brilliant that you couldn’t get the ball off them; they were midfielders in disguise.
“The last thing they would do is go back because every aspect of their training was designed to move forward. You made it appear, to those who have not seen them play, that they were unable to play. “That was how it sounded.”
On Sunday afternoon, Liverpool released a statement stating that Hansen, 68, was “seriously ill” in hospital. “The club is currently in contact with Alan’s family to provide our support at this difficult time, and our thoughts, wishes and hopes are with Alan and all of the Hansen family,” said the statement.
Hansen joined Liverpool in 1977 and spent 14 years at Anfield, winning numerous trophies. There, he won eight First Division championships, two FA Cups, four League Cups, and three European Cups.
