Fantasy Kit Friday – Liverpool adidas 2012-19

• This is a follow-on to the 2018 which imagined how Liverpool’s kits would have looked like if they had had adidas from 1996-2006

By Simon Treanor

Following on from my post imagining what 1996-2006 would have looked like for Liverpool, it’s time to look at the current – hopefully soon to end – hiatus, since Liverpool moved to Warrior in 2012. It’s a very different period to the one before: much more kit changes, third kits aplenty, and some ‘quirky’ designs from Warrior and later New Balance. Meanwhile, to add to the anguish, adidas have produced some wonderful designs, from understated classics, to the incredible retro range of 2018.

The same rules apply as before:

1. All kits have to be based on genuine adidas designs of the era
2. Kits should change at the exact same time they did in reality
3. Away kit colours should match the real kits of the season

2012-13

Home: I’ll admit it I’m a sucker for the classic adidas design: a simple colour, with stripes down the sleeve, and no major detail. Some people reading these posts may think by continued choice of this type of kit takes the ‘fantasy’ out of “Fantasy Kit Friday”, but it’s hard to overlook Spain’s shirt: a classy design that has lasted for years, and seems particularly apt given the reintroduction of yellow trim. Away: Black, grey and yellow. Good colours for the loading screens of a futuristic computer game, less so for a Liverpool kit. Liverpool’s only previous sashed shirt was the green 1999-2000 away, so let’s copy Russia’s Euro 2012 designs. Third: Purple is Liverpool’s civic colour, but hadn’t been associated with the club before the Warrior/New Balance era: three of the kits in this article will feature the colour prominently. Marseille’s away kit this season with the French flag details makes a decent fit

2013-14

Home: Only one choice for this: the perfection that is Bayern’s 2013-14 kit. I have to very slightly break the rule, and pretend I didn’t notice that yellow, not white, was Liverpool’s second colour that year. Away: One of the more ‘challenging’ designs, but the colours are as trad as it’s possible to get. As much as I’d like to stick with the classic adidas style, I feel like I should vary it a bit – of their other templates this year, I’m not a fan of the deep V-neck, or the water wings effect that was so common. Instead we’ll use Sunderland’s away kit with the side panels. Third: Another bold design, and given the colours available, we need to meet it at least half-way. Bayern had an unusual three-tone blue kit for the Champions League which could be adapted.

2014-15

Home: Must we change all three kits every year? Apparently so. A few different adidas templates were on show this year, but I like Hearts’ traditional look. Away: Basic to basics I think – an imitation of Leverkusen’s kit, in the yellow and red worn at the time. Third:You may have detected a German influence to this post – I’m a big fan of German football, and the national team. A lot of people don’t realise, as they never wore it in any memorable matches but Germany had a Flamengo-style kit in 2014. While this seems to fit the black and red used on Liverpool’s third kit at the time, no Liverpool change kit should have that much red, so we’ll see what a negative of Germany’s home kit  would look like.

2015-16

Home: Middlesbrough had what seemed like a perfect Liverpool kit to me this season – the classic adidas template, but with pinstripes reminiscent of Liverpool’s mid-80s kits. Away: A stripe across a kit always looks nice, be it horizontal, vertical or a sash. Milan’s away kit went with a nice horizontal banner across the chest this year, which suits Liverpool’s return to traditional away colours. Third: Imitating Marseille again, with their shadow-striped kit being the best fit for Liverpool’s grey.

2016-17

Home: Not a fan of adidas’s side stripes, given the choice, but they were inescapable in 2016. A red version of Chelsea’s shirt of the same year seems like the classiest approach, especially as the crest repeating through the fabric recalls the Liverpool kits of 1985 and 1987 (and the Reebok 1996-98 kit). Away: Wales’s kit may be a template, but it’s a damn nice one, and should fit the black Liverpool wore this season. Third: As Liverpool went for highlighter yellow, it only seems apt to copy Scotland’s highlighter pink kit of the same year.

2017-18

Home: The short shoulder stripes of Marseille’s home kit feel like a nice throwback to Liverpool’s first adidas kit. Away: Both Bayern and Liverpool paid homage to mid-90s kits this year. The white and green would surely suit Bayern’s away set-up. Third: Liverpool had an orange kit, and Germany brought out a tribute to a design worn by the Netherlands when they won Euro 88. It seems to fit.

2018-19

Home: Another Fantasy Kit Friday imagined a Liverpool kit in the retro style worn by Mexico. Great though that was, I won’t imitate it and instead wonder if Germany’s away kit makes a suitable homage to Liverpool’s 1989-90 kit. Away: Of the retro kits that adidas paid tribute to in 2018, all that could be associated with Liverpool have been used elsewhere. Let’s instead copy Russia’s home kit of this tournament. Third: Liverpool’s third kit last season paid homage to the grey kit of 1989-91. They had a tracksuit this season that wore the classic West Germany pattern and in a perfect world might have had a shirt like that too. Adidas brought out a kit in 2018 that paid tribute to this design. It’s just maths.

2019-20

Home: I know everyone likes the pin stripes, and I understand that, I do. But we’ve already had the perfect adidas pinstripe template in 2015-2016, and in the absence of the company producing similar this year, I really like Leicester’s new kit with its chequered shadow pattern. Away: White, blue, and red are unusual colours for Liverpool, and it’s difficult to combine those colours with adidas without it looking a bit Team GB. Again, though, you can’t go wrong with a two/coloured stripe, so Hamburg’s similarly-coloured kit is a good fit. Third: Liverpool are the latest club to jump on the turquoise banner, albeit as a secondary colour. Real Madrid’s new turquoise kit uses a classy template which would look good reversed.