Playing in the Premier League today would be a doddle for me – midfielders get away with murder, claims Graeme Souness

LIVERPOOL legend Graeme Souness insists it would be a doddle playing today in the Premier League.

The former Scotland international played in England for Tottenham and Middlesbrough before he was snapped up by the Merseyside giants.

Kenny Ramsay

Graeme Souness believes it would be a doddle to play in the Premier League now[/caption]

Liverpool swooped for him in 1978 and the ex-Anfield captain won the lot with the club before his departure in 1984.

Souness, 70, is now a popular pundit after enjoying a successful managerial career following his retirement from playing.

He has hit the headlines for criticising Paul Pogba and several other modern-day stars over recent years.

But he was told while appearing on talkSPORT today by one caller that it is a lot faster and more competitive in the top-flight these days than when he played.

However, the fiery Scot, who lifted the European Cup three times at Liverpool, believes the current crop of talents “get away with murder”.

Souness said: “When I played and after I played, I accept things have changed, is it quicker?

“All our training was to do one or two touch on far inferior pitches to what they have today.

“Does that mean we have better technique? We were playing on plough fields, whereas the guys today play on carpets.

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“We had smaller squads, and I think we won the league one year with 15 players in the squad.”

He continued: “Listen, to make a direct comparison, I would love to play today. I think it would be an absolute doddle to play, an absolute doddle.

“I think midfield players today get away with murder; you see them, and some are regarded as proper midfield players.

“They get on the ball and pass it sideways – there are lots of them who have been bought for lots of big money.

“If you had come to Melwood, our training ground at Liverpool, and watched a small-sided game under Ronnie Moran, you know what the most common thing you would have heard?

‘Play it forward, play it forward’.

“He would stop the game and say, ‘Look, I am 50, I can pass it sideways. You play it forward, look forward.’”

Souness then said: “Today, this is what happens, and I had a term for it at Liverpool, and I fell foul in my second game at home.

“It would be rude of me to mention the term I had because it relates to a player who played at that time.

“What it meant was, ‘don’t be doing that here, son, you go back into the back four and take a nice easy pass, no pressure, and you pass it square’.

“The modern midfield player does it all the time now. They get the ball and then pass it out to the full-back under no pressure.

“If I had gone and sat in the back four and told Mark Lawrenson or Alan Hansen to give me the ball, they would have told me to f**** off.”

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The Scot won the European Cup three times with Liverpool[/caption]