Liverpool FC Forum

[DAV]

Gerard Houllier says Liverpool's injury problems are doing them no favours as they bid to get their Premiership season back on track.

Houllier watched his side crash to their fourth defeat of the campain on the south coast at Portsmouth yesterday with a patched up side minus several regulars.

The boss is keen not to make excuses but he admits his side are struggling without some of their key performers.

"I don't want to make excuses or hide behind things but we do have a lot of injuries," said Houllier. "We were without practically half a team yesterday.

"Michael Owen, Didi Hamann, Danny Murphy, Jamie Carragher, Milan Baros, Bruno Cheyrou and Salif Diao were all unavailable and many of them would have played at Portsmouth.

"I know we have lost three league games in a row but the fans know we could have won each of them. We just have to keep going."
(found this on our main web site)
thank god Bruno Cheyrou and Salif Diao didnt play we would have lost by far more.

[istvan kozma]

its  not  looking  good  - there are  just  no  positives  at  the  moment  !

[bpm1976]

Think its easy to get carried away with the Europe win, we played well, but they offered very little.  Dont think I can remember us having so many players that are not up to the job.
We seem over the last few seasons to buy in bulk!  Kewell is the first real class signing since Jari.  Im sure Diouf was signed as a striker, cant ever see him getting 20 goals a season.  Heskey does work hard, but is not a genuine class act.
My little moan over with!  Come on lads!

[stevehazel]

Eleven points from 9 games is simply not good enough...We must be(according to GH)very very very very unlucky because we could have won our last three league games????THAT is total rubbish,I can not believe the comments this man comes out with,same thing over and over again.......Our attitude was good but we did not put away our chances,we were not clinical enough. LET ME PUT IT THIS WAY MR H YOUR ATTITUDE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH,YOURS TACTICS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND YOUR MAN MANAGEMENT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH...SAY NO MORE!!!!

[oldredeyes]

GH is in denial and until he faces his problem he will continue to make the same mistakes. It is everyone else's fault at the moment except his own. The fact is that this team is not good enough.
There are many other teams in the premier that also are not good enough to win the title. But if they lack skill they have an abundance of hard graft and work rate.
Being in denial, as he is, he fails to see our overall lack of skill compared to the top three and doesn't see the need for rolling your sleeves up and grinding out results even when things are going badly. Tactically he is unsure and he seems to surround himself with 'yes men' who agree with everything he wants to do, even if it is barmy. We need someone who can give these highly paid footballers a kick where it hurts- and quickly -otherwise it's going to be another sad season, and I'm not getting any younger.

[supersub]

Houllier's excuses for the poor display at Portsmouth are a disgrace.He must be teetering on the edge of insanity if he thinks we are that gullable to believe anything that man says.I hold my hand up and say I was one who decided to give the guy some slack because he wanted to employ an attacking team,but any team he puts out that will include Heskey as your main source for goals has a "cat in hells" chance of doing anything on the field.
   I am resigned to the fact that we could possibly end up in a scrap for points at the wrong end of the table if we don't off-load GH soon.

[Cleman]

The result 3:0 won over Olimpija Ljubljana in the midweek UEFA Cup became meaningless after 3 successive defeat  in EPL, Charlton, Arsenal, & Postsmouth. 

I urge Owen, Gerrard, & Kewell to leave this club as they are world class players, Liverpool is not the platform for them to get the success in their football career if GH still in charge....

[LEEP]

I Agree totally, all the top clubs lose players through injury , that's why a manager creates a squad that can cover all eventualities, it is the measure of good managers to ensure that the squad he has can provide for all events. I still have'nt got over him selling Jari Litmanen, or having him sat in the subs bench 99% of the time, a truely world class player
who frightened every team we played against!!!! Why oh Why?
Bring on Martin O'Neill he could very well be the next Cloughie.

[Red]

Thank god I couldnt watch the portsmouth game here in australia, as both the football stations here were broadcasting chelsea v arsenal all weekend and the rugby has taken over the rest.

Cos if I did watch the game I would be heart broken as well as in tears, rather than just being in tears over losing to Portsmouth....

Why the hell is Heskey still playing 1st team, btw why the hell is he still in the england squad? You guys got turnips in your head or what? Reminds me of schoolyard teams, chosen by name and not by talent.

[robbywood2003]

It looks like no-one likes GH then

[African-red]

Please All red die hard fans, Was that a justifiable comment? "We could just as well have won the games we lost" Then why did we loose GH? Why did we loose them tell these bleeding fans? Like all teams we should be able to have a back-up for players we should have a team where reserves are as deadly and passionate as the first team. GH has lost the passion for such a great team and we can sense it in the way he handles our loses. His comments are poor his retaliation is just worse. We definetely need players with depth and established players it may cost us but it will pay off. We really don't need a new stadium right we need to bring back that glory by buying a few players who will win us the championship and then we will have a reason to move into a grander stadium.

[Cleman]

please, we want the real Liverpool FC.....
see our players, most of them are national 1st team regular players for their respective countries, this means they are good enough to be selected and play for their country, and they can score goals as well....but why Liverpool can't perform much better ?

England : Owen, Heskey, Gerrard
Senegal : Diouf, Diao
Czec Rep : Baros, Smicer
Poland : Dudek
Germany : Hamann
Finland : Hyypia
Australia : Kewell
Norway : Riise
Ireland : Finnan
Switzerland : Henchoz

[RedSi]

Two words spring to mind Cleman.......Gerard and Houllier......

[JBG]

I was once a big fan of Houllier as he made us relevant again in the Premiership and in Europe and for a few years we really looked like we were going places.

However, Geed messed up big time in the summer of 2002. Cheyrou, Diao and Diouff all had big reputations in France and Houllier made a massive gamble in signing them instead of keeping Litmanen and Anelka. All three have backfired, and since then some of the established players like Dudek, Riise, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyppia and Heskey have really struggled. Houllier is grasping at straws and I think he is in the final throes of his regime, although I have a terrible feeling that he will be given one last chance and kept on until next season. I think that the club is living in the past and we have fallen years behind Arsenal, UTD and now Chelsea.

I think that Martin O’ Neill is the man to turn things around. He has a certain Alex Ferguson/Brian Clough/Bill Shankly presence about him and I think that the board should forget about looking for a mid ranking European name like Toshak, Toppmuller or Hiddink and go for a fellow who clearly understands the British game.

Celtic were a joke under John Barnes but O’ Neill turned them into champions within a year with a few cheap signings and good man management of existing under performing players. I could see O’ Neill working wonders with the likes of Diouff, Heskey, Riise and even Cheyrou, getting us back into the Champions League, before bringing in his own players for an assault on the Premiership.

I know that the Liverpool board have been good to Houllier by stiking by him during the hard times, but I get the distinct impression that the board has put too much capital and faith in Houllier and are reluctant to admit their mistake. I think that Houllier has been the biggest but most disastrous experiment in Liverpool’s history and if we don’t get rid of him now we could well find ourselves in Leeds position within a year or two, as surely the club cannot afford to pay fat wages to countless dead weights?

[simic_ie]

I'm absolutley spitting fire at the moment, Houllier says we're missing half a team at the moment, so what, is that not why he bought such a large squad. No offence to Portsmouth but Liverpool regardless of who they send out should be able to win these games. How Houllier can continue to play Heskey is beyond me. Put a cardboard cut out on the edge of the box, it has a better chance of scoring. Liverpool need a new central defence as well if they want to play an attacking style of football, I'm afraid there is no-one there with enough pace to cover runs if Stevie Finnan and J-A Riise go attacking. Three games in a row, i can't believe it, omly six games won in the last twenty four, how the hell is Houllier still in charge. I know Liverpool always give there managers time but tihs is ridiculous. I see Inter Milan have just fiers Hector Cuper, bring him in he'll turn it around