Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

MEANWHILE, on the Anfield Comedy Channel, Monsieur Baldrick's hilarious attempt to go fourth takes a side-splitting twist when he reveals his cunning plan to win the title.

And regular viewers won't be surprised to know he has statistics to back up his bold claim. This time it's the stunning fact that his battered troops have won more corners this campaign than any other outfit. Honestly.

It hurts like hell watching your team turn into the biggest joke in football, especially when the men who run it are either too naive to see through the brazen delusion their clueless manager keeps spinning to save his skin, or too gutless to do anything about it. As David Moores hides behind the skirts of "we're not a sacking club" let me use his manager's chosen weapon of statistics to remind him why, fourth or no fourth, most fans think Gerrard Houllier's time is up.

He was given sole charge of the club 65 months ago with a brief to close the gap on Arsenal and old rivals Manchester United. It has become a chasm. After spending £115m on players, he now wants to sell most of the dross that's left, and start again. How many deserve to go? At least a dozen. How much would he recoup? Can anyone change a tenner?

First-teamers safe from the cull? Three. Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. All there before he arrived. Young players brought through the ranks? None.

Class players shown door for challenging his Stalinist rule? Too many.

Points off the top? 29. Points dropped by Easter? 50. Attendance today if season-ticket holders had to pay on the gate? 15,000. Why? Entertainment value: Nil.

Amount of excuses, lies and false promises (sorry plateaus, injuries, League Cups, edge-of-seat players and next Zidanes) used to distract attention away from the fact they have sunk to the level of Charlton and Birmingham? Incalculable.

Amount of times Anfield hierarchy has called that position "unacceptable"? Innumerable. Last time the fans were so depressed about the club's slide to mediocrity? 1956.

What happened then? The manager Don Welsh was sacked for finishing third and failing to gain promotion to the First Division by one place. Reason given? Being outside England's elite was not good enough for Liverpool.

Reason the board didn't sack any of its next seven managers? It didn't need to. Because they were all decent men who loved the club more than themselves, and knew when it was time to go.

Chances of Moores having the guts to do what the board did in 1956? Probably none.

Chances of Houllier doing what his predecessors did? Definitely none.

Time the pair of them have left if they don't act this summer? As long as it takes for Liverpool to fall out of next season's title race.

About a month

anyone agree?

[JBG]

I agree.

Even if Houllier stays on, spends £35million on players in the summer, I can't see the fundamental problem (almost complete inability to beat average teams at Anfield) changing.

If Houllier stays here next season I reckon we'll be 10 points behind the leaders by the end of September.

[LFC #1]

That post was very depressing to read, however very good analysis, spot on.

I think sometimes in life people deserve a second chance, but sadly Houllier IMO doesn't. He has done a great job winning trophies and in the first 3 seasons under Houllier we looked like we were back challenging the likes of Arsenal and ManU.
however something went wrong the day we lost the first game in that shocking run we had last seaon after starting the season so well.Since then nothing has gone right (except for the Worthy Cup win against ManU, however this is a minor consolation) and we are back where we started b4 houllier was appointed and are slipping into further obscurity. I think Houllier has done a good job but his time is up and it's time to move on and take LFC forward ala 1956.

[ckay]

Here's some more stats for you. Liverpool are top of the shots on target league with 200, arsenal are 2nd with 198 and chelsea 3rd with 181. Why aren't they going in? ?

Arsenal scored 67
Chelsea scored 60
Liverpool only scored 48, WHY? ?

[LFC #1]

ckay you'd have to ask the players that 

[stmichael]

because our inability to break teams down, especially at home, means that most of our shots are speculative ones from outside the penalty area. other players, such as heskey, just aren't clean strikers of a football.

[LFC #1]

spot on stmichael, I think a better sta would be shots on target inside the box.

[ckay]

Arsenal V Liverpool

http://www.soccer-stats.com/headtoh....31&y=11

                     Chelsea v Liverpool

http://www.soccer-stats.com/headtoh....25&y=14


Check out where on the field the goals come from.

[redandblue]

Stmichael.......that was a great post. Do me, and us, a big favour. Print it off and send it to Rick Parry.

I have written half a dozen letters to him over the past two years on the same theme.

Also, send a copy to the Echo.

[Scottbot]

Maybe a silly question - did you get a reply from Parry?

I signed up for an E-season ticket on the club web-site this season. Therefore i recieve an email from Houllier after each game. I have often wished i could reply to it but i don't imagine it would ever make it to the man.

[redandblue]

Yep, he responded to all of my earlier letters until I said that he shouldn't bother responding as he had more important things to do.

But his last response to me was curt, rude and inappropriate.

I had written to him asking about accountability at Anfield. I said that if I was the CEO of a business which had invested over £100m which then produced poor returns, a poor product, poor performances and an uncertain future of projected success, I would expect, rightly to get the sack.

I asked how this was different to what we have at Anfield today, with a huge amount of money being spent on inadequate players, and in effect, two guys should be sacked......Houllier who is accoountable and Parry for taking it to the board for approval.

His response was.....''I don't know what line of business you are in but I'm glad I'm not in it''...........so much for any understanding of accountability then.

Good to see that the club is being run by professionals. Peter Kenyon wouldn't put up with this level of mediocrity.

[115-1073096938]

MEANWHILE, on the Anfield Comedy Channel, Monsieur Baldrick's hilarious attempt to go fourth takes a side-splitting twist when he reveals his cunning plan to win the title.

And regular viewers won't be surprised to know he has statistics to back up his bold claim. This time it's the stunning fact that his battered troops have won more corners this campaign than any other outfit. Honestly.

It hurts like hell watching your team turn into the biggest joke in football, especially when the men who run it are either too naive to see through the brazen delusion their clueless manager keeps spinning to save his skin, or too gutless to do anything about it. As David Moores hides behind the skirts of "we're not a sacking club" let me use his manager's chosen weapon of statistics to remind him why, fourth or no fourth, most fans think Gerrard Houllier's time is up.

He was given sole charge of the club 65 months ago with a brief to close the gap on Arsenal and old rivals Manchester United. Brief my f##king a#se. They had world class players. we had one top class player It has become a chasm. After spending £115m on players, he now wants to sell most of the dross that's left, and start again. How many deserve to go? At least a dozen. How much would he recoup? Can anyone change a tenner?

First-teamers safe from the cull? The two keepers, Hamann, Hyypia, Riise, Finnan, Baros, Murphy, Kewell all have something to offer this club Three. Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. All there before he arrived. Young players brought through the ranks? Steven Gerrard

Class players shown door for challenging his Stalinist rule? Too many. The only player he let go that was worth keeping was litmanen

Points off the top? 29. Points dropped by Easter? 50. Attendance today if season-ticket holders had to pay on the gate? 15,000. Why? Entertainment value: Nil. How many games do you go to?

Amount of excuses, lies and false promises (sorry plateaus, injuries, League Cups, edge-of-seat players and next Zidanes) used to distract attention away from the fact they have sunk to the level of Charlton and Birmingham? Incalculable. Lies and false promises???

Amount of times Anfield hierarchy has called that position "unacceptable"? Innumerable. Last time the fans were so depressed about the club's slide to mediocrity? 1956.

What happened then? The manager Don Welsh was sacked for finishing third and failing to gain promotion to the First Division by one place. Reason given? Being outside England's elite was not good enough for Liverpool.

Reason the board didn't sack any of its next seven managers? It didn't need to. Because they were all decent men who loved the club more than themselves, and knew when it was time to go. or simply didn't have the know how or belief that in their own ability to turn things round

Chances of Moores having the guts to do what the board did in 1956? Probably none. Its not a question of guts. Its a question of not turning into spurs and having a new manager every two or three years. We sack Houllier now the new manager comes in wants at least 5 years and then doesn't do it he'd get about 3 years tops and we'd fall into the spurs catorgary.

Chances of Houllier doing what his predecessors did? Definitely none. And why's that? what chance did Ferguson have of becoming one of the greatest managers ever after his first five years incharge at Man Utd? was he living on the past from what he did with Aberdeen? good managers don't become bad overnight  

Time the pair of them have left if they don't act this summer? As long as it takes for Liverpool to fall out of next season's title race.

About a month

anyone agree?

I don't agree at all. Its a provocative piece of sh##e to be honest. You base all of you're opinions on 1 and a half seasons of under acheivement. Had Houllier done nothing in his career and had he not won us the cups and shown vision then i'd be backing up what you are saying but the fact is he has done that.

You say its living in the past??? well ok lets look at this season... Michael Owen and Harry Kewell are rubbish, Finnan is poor, Riise is poor, Hamann is average, Hyypia is only a good player nothing more.

So we need to sell every player. A manager... just like a player... doesn't lose there ability over night.