Footage resurfaces of Graeme Souness defending Alan Hansen’s legacy – as Liverpool icon hilariously claims he ‘nearly crashed my car’ after hearing Martin Keown’s take on the radio!

Comments from Graeme Souness in defense of his former Liverpool teammate Alan Hansen have resurfaced in the wake of his serious illness.

In his fourteen years at Anfield, Hansen won every major honor available to him, making over 600 appearances in one of the most decorated teams in the history of English football.

During that time, the Scottish centre-back formed a formidable partnership with Mark Lawrenson at the heart of the defence, which spanned six and a half seasons and is considered by many to be the best in the club’s history.

However, in an appearance on talkSPORT in 2021, former Arsenal defender Martin Keown cited the pair as an example of players taking advantage of the lack of a law banning backpasses to return the ball to their goalkeeper and suppress potential attacks.

“The backpass rule has changed the game a lot,” he said. ‘Think of Liverpool and Hansen and Lawrenson just rolling the ball back to the keeper.

Former Arsenal star Martin Keown claimed Hansen and his defensive partner Mark Lawrenson exploited the lack of a back-pass rule in the 1980s

‘He just kept picking it up, [Bruce] Grobbelaar, the goalkeeper picked him up every time you came close.’

With the comments live on air, Souness, who listened to the broadcast while driving, immediately shouted in defense of his former teammates.

“I almost crashed my car, Martin, after what you said.” Souness told Keown.

‘I understand that improvements have undoubtedly been made to the game, but I completely disagree with you when it comes to Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson.

“You could have picked any other team that was playing at the time and told them what they would do by going back to the goalkeeper at every opportunity when they came under pressure.

‘But you named the two best footballing centre-backs this country has ever seen!

‘Alan Hansen, there has never been a better footballing central defender. I played with him, Martin, and I can tell you that Lawro wasn’t far behind him.’

Keown agreed with Souness’ assessment but refused to retract his comment on the Liverpool defense’s tendency to look for a pass back to the goalkeeper rather than gradually moving the ball forward.

However, Souness insisted the pair were the worst possible example Keown could have chosen

Souness (left) went on to say that there has ‘never been a better footballing centre-half’ than Hansen (right)

Souness continued: ‘Martin, I’ve played about 300 games with them! I know how good they were. You couldn’t get the ball away from them, they were midfielders in disguise, they were that technical.

‘The last thing they would do is go back, because every part of their training was about moving forward.

“You made it sound, to someone who hasn’t seen them play, like they couldn’t play. That’s what it sounded like. You couldn’t have picked a worse two to make an example of.”

On Sunday, Liverpool provided an update on the health of their former captain, noting that Hansen is currently ‘critically ill’ in hospital.

“The thoughts and support of everyone at Liverpool FC are with our legendary former captain Alan Hansen, who is currently seriously ill in hospital,” the club wrote on their official website.

‘He is a defender of the utmost elegance. Hansen’s stellar run of honors during a fourteen-year spell with the Reds – he joined from Partick Thistle in 1977 – included eight league titles, three European Cups, two FA Cups and three League Cups.

‘Jockey’, as he was known by teammates, is in the top 10 of all-time appearances for the club, having made 620 appearances, and the Scottish centre-back also captained Liverpool for four seasons.

During their time together at Anfield, Souness and Hansen won three European Cups

‘The club is currently in contact with Alan’s family to offer our support at this difficult time, and our thoughts, wishes and hopes are with Alan and all the Hansen family.

“We will provide further updates in due course as we receive them, and we ask that the Hansen family’s privacy is respected at this time.”