Vladimir Smicer names the best player he played with across six years at Liverpool

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Liverpool have rarely had a better group of players than they currently boast now.

The Reds have an extremely talented squad who cost millions upon millions to assemble together at Anfield.

This has not always been the case for Liverpool, who went through a large number of years in the relative football wilderness.

The late 1990’s and early 2000’s were perhaps the peak of these years, with the Reds employing plenty of obscure names within their first-team squad. Many fans today may never have even heard of a few of them.

One who played for Liverpool during this period was Czech forward Vladimir Smicer. Having turned out at Anfield between 1999 and 2005, Smicer has now named the very best player he came across during his years on Merseyside.

Vladimir Smicer hails Steven Gerrard

In many ways, Smicer is actually an underrated player in Liverpool’s history. The Czech made 184 appearances for the Reds, scoring 19 goals.

Without doubt the most important of those goals game in Istanbul during the 2005 Champions League final.

With Liverpool 3-1 down, Smicer buried the all-important second goal that night, giving Liverpool genuine hope of a miraculous comeback.

Having also been part of teams that won an FA Cup, two League Cups and a UEFA Cup, Smicer played with a lot of good players at Liverpool, as well as plenty of bad ones.

READ MORE: Emile Heskey says Vladimir Smicer was so good in training at Liverpool

But when asked to name the very best of the bunch by The Redmen TV, the 51-year-old had no doubts in his mind. It had to be Steven Gerrard.

“I think Stevie G,” answered Smicer. “He was a complex player, he had everything. When I came he was still young, but his progress was massive.

“When he played I knew we had a better chance to win the game.”

Vladimir Smicer names ‘lazy’ player as Liverpool’s worst trainer

As well as naming the best player at Liverpool, Smicer also gives some entertaining answers to other questions thrown his way.

Having named Jamie Carragher as the best trainer, Rigobert Song as the toughest and Didi Hamann as the funniest he played with, Smicer was asked to name the very worst trainer at Liverpool.

“I think El Hadji-Diouf,” laughed the former No.11. “He didn’t want to train, he was lazy, sometimes tired in the morning.

“He had some hard nights I think, sometimes!”

For anyone who remembers both Gerrard and Diouf’s times at Liverpool, neither of these answers will come as a big surprise!