In 2001 after our second treble (to follow the 1984 treble of Euopean champions, League champions and Leagu Cup winners) we were voted World Soccer's team of the year. Owen was voted world player of the year and Houllier was voted manager of the year.
We then went on to beat Bayern Munich for the Europan Super cup and win the charity shield. We held 5 trophies.
My question is how different is our squad to then ? We have lost McCallister (spelling ?) and some back up talent like Fowler, but player for player I think our current team has the same quality, it certainly has basically the same players.
Is it that everyone else has got much better or just a huge lack of confidence on our behalf ? If it is lack of confidence then the criticism of our players not being good enough does not hold weight, it is the way they perform instead.
If you take it as being the players ARE good enough given they were three years ago, then it is how do you improve the confidence of the players ? Also the players may not be playing for the manager, but SG's reaction to scoring midweek suggests that may be changing ??
This could be the sign of a rebound by the club and the effort they put in, if SG can get all the players playing for Houllier like that then we are not far off for next year. If SG can't get them playing with his passion for the manager then I think Houllier has to go.
Steven O'Neil
Perth