Liverpool FC Forum

[A.B.]

The positives for a better next season are there. We are capable of playing good football but just have not done it constantly in the league. Our performance against Arsenal in the first-half was quite poor however in the second-half it was brilliant but we didn't take our chances and payed the price.

The first-half of the season wasn't helped by injuries. We carried our inconsistancy from last season into this and the injuries we picked up were remarkable, players were dropping like flies and injuries were the type of things we as fans started getting used to. We had a good run during the holidays but the fact that we dropped points we shouldn't had didn't help us. Second half of the season we really were downright poor mostly because of International and Champions League hang overs. Despite of all that we played some good football in the League but just couldn't scrap the necessary games.

We've reached the Carling Cup final and Champions League final with 90 percent of Houllier's players, and with all that Benitez has had to deal with he's done fairly well in his first season. So how are these the positives? Well Benitez has managed to get most players he hasn't signed to play good football where as under Houllier they resorted to hoofing the balls at every opportunity they got. This he's done in his first season.

Has he made mistakes as a manager? Of course he has, this is his first year in the Premiership so he was bound to make mistakes but in order to learn you have to make mistakes. There's been times where we've questioned the personal he put up against certain oppositions and question his tactics, but realisticly the side we had against Crystal Palace for example was good enough to beat them, he believed in the players but they couldn't get the job done.

Now that Benitez has gone through this season he's learned everything he needs to learn, about the league and about the players he has. Whether we win or lose to Milan you can still expect four to five players to be signed in the summer, at least thats what Luis Garcia and Sami Hyypia have said in rescent interviews. Rafa clearly is planning for next season, he's commited to the club and as long as we're under his watch we won't be behind the leaders so much again.

We obiviously need some players to improve the quality of the team, one of those positions is up front. Baros has a bleak future at the club and both Cisse and Morientes haven't exactly proved themselves (Morientes is a class player but he hasn't had the form to prove that however with the proper pre-season training I'm sure he will play better next season) and we need a striker who can score 15-20 goals a season. I believe that Benitez will buy that kind of player, who it will be we don't know but we'll wait and see.

Another position is on the flank, whilst Riise has had a solid season he simply is too static to play on the flank pernamently. We've been linked with Joaquin, Vincente but that's just speculation but I doubt that we will see Riise on the left wing next season. Now on the right flank Luis Garcia has pretty much cemented his place there despite the fact that he's not a right winger, even so he's our leading goal scorer (13 in all competitions) and that's a hell of amount of goals for somebody who hasn't even spent a full year with the club. He's already surpassed Robert Pires 1st season goal record at Arsenal.

We need a quality winger who is dynamic and can cross the ball into the box effectively in order to use Nando's superb ability in the air which we haven't taken advantage of.

The two other positions are in the center of the park and possibly at the back [either LB or somebody to replace Hyypia]. Hamann and Biscan could both leave on a bosman in the summer and whilst Alonso and Gerrard[if he stays] are a great pair in the center of the park we need good back up as we've learned from this season's injury crisis that you need to be prepared for the worst.

Hamann,Biscan, Smicer (gone for certain), Kewell, Baros, Diao,Diouf, etc... could all be gone in the summer but we have a manager who knows what he wants and we have the money to buy the players we need.
Some have said that we don't have money as we've had a 20 million loss, however as the tenth richest club in the world and the run in the Champions League there's enough money for Benitez to spend in the summer. You can also include the sales of certain players and that the chairman may chip in from his own pockets.

The future is bright, the future is red. The positives are there, we've played some good football with the players we have but just imagine what we could really do once Benitez gathers the players he needs to bring  success domestically.

[Dalglish]

Strange that Houllier got so much stick when the majority of his players are stil at the club ?  

We all know where and when it all went wrong for Houllier (Summer of 2002 when he spent £20 Million on Daio, Doiuff and Cheyrou) but credit must be given to him for the remainder of the players that he DID sign....I.e. Hyppia, Riise, Cisse, Dudek, Baros, Finnon, Traore ...Al bought by Gerard Houllier.

I realise the debate on him will go on and most of it isn't well reserached but simply what I call "jumping on the Bandwagon" mentality cos he's an easy target. History i hope wil be kinder to GH than many fans have been 

Good post though and positive

[A.B.]

The thing that frustrated me with Houllier was that he couldn't get anything out of the players he called the "Next Zidane" etc...

Ok he bought Biscan and called him the Croatian Zidane, a central midfielder and played him in almost every position but the central midfield. 10 million for Diouf! He's had a good season with Bolton but he isn't worth that much, we bought Diouf and let the likes of Duff,Eto'o[who said rescently he was supposed to sign with us],etc.. sign for other clubs when he could signed them.

He bought a lot of players with "potential" and missed on the players that were already proven and that could had helped us.

[stapo1000]

We all know where and when it all went wrong for Houllier (Summer of 2002 when he spent £20 Million on Daio, Doiuff and Cheyrou) but credit must be given to him for the remainder of the players that he DID sign....I.e. Hyppia, Riise, Cisse, Dudek, Baros, Finnon, Traore ...Al bought by Gerard Houllier.

of those players Only riise and finnan have been succesful. Hyypia's been good too. Cisse's yet to show that hes worth 14million, dudek is very dodgy, baros hasn't scored in 20 games, traore is prone to mistakes. And what about loads of other players that gh bought who failed to make the grade

[7_Kewell]

i think Rafa has done a decent job with the squad he has.....but if we beat Milan....he will have done a world class job and will have the money to bring in/out who ever he sees fit!

[stapo1000]

i think Rafa has done a decent job with the squad he has.....but if we beat Milan....he will have done a world class job and will have the money to bring in/out who ever he sees fit!

That's true. This game could be mean more than a 5th european cup for the cabinet(as if that wasn't enough). It could decide how the not too distant future is to pan out for us ie. Whether sg stays or goes, the quality of players we can afford to bring in given our financial state and how appealing lfc would be to top european players. The cl final isn't just our biggest game in 20 years, it's our biggest game ever

[7_Kewell]

The cl final isn't just our biggest game in 20 years, it's our biggest game ever

agreed, we beat AC Milan and win our 5th European cup.....our return to the top will be accelerated greatly.  we will be able to get MORE money from the players we sell....and we will be able to compete with everyone for the worlds biggest players!

when we won our last European cup, we had a team which was one of the best in the league.....we don't have that at the moment but we could should we win but 1 football game.

[Big Niall]

The 1977 Euro cup final was our biggest ever game.

GH was terrible, played football, spent a fortune and try to convince the fans that 4th is an incredible achievement for LFC. He spend more than Wenger.

He played Biscan Centre back and Henchoz full back FFS.

People say he left with great dignity, he took £5m for doing a job and now tries to claim credit for HIS players being in final He used to say the fact that players he bought and sold to lesser clubs never went on to anything showed that LFC was the place to be. Rubbish, it showed he bought a lot of rubbish. He claims credit for it all now, but if it'd been a disaster season he'd say that he did better.

So thinking GH is rubbish is jumping on the bandwagon as it disagrees with you. I always thought so even when we won "the Treble". League and Euro cup are what this club has built its legacy on.

After 2002 he did very little right, made constant excuses and bugged the sh1t out of me.

Every fan that suported GH all the way to the end and said that he shouldn't have been sacked (you know who you are) remember that Rafa wouldn't be here if GH was not sacked. AS many of you said you weren't suporting the team if you called for GH to be sacked, we wouldn't have Rafa here if everybody had that attitude.

The guy has cost the club a fortune, we are still wages of many guys on loan.

I have no good memories of him and nothing good to say about his management (except that he got rid of spice boy rubbish). Good ridance and give that £5m back.

[taff]

Good lord I guess you dont like GH

I think history will be kinder, at least I hope it will although it was time for him to go.  He did contribute a lot to where we are now but just didnt have it in him to go that extra mile.

Now we have someone who does have it in him

[Gareth G]

I think it's unfair to keep going on about Houllier, he put us back on the map by winning that treble, albeit playing some poor football. He got some unbelievable results for us, beating Man Utd consistantly along the way. However, his reign is over and it was for the best. I supported him thoroughly through his years with us but I knew deep down that he had to go, which he is, so I don't understand why people have the need to bring him back up all the time.

Anyway, we now have the bast manager in the world in my opinion and I'm looking forward to some quality football next season and hopefully some silver to boot. Even though this season has been pretty bad, there's still plenty of positives to take from it, the quality football for example - we have realistically waited 5 - 6 years to actually see this. Not many teams can say they reached a domestic cup final, CL final and finish 5th in a bad season!

[7_Kewell]

i wasn't GH biggest fan but i do give him credit for the way he changed the culture at Liverpool.  Under Evans, our players went out drinking, clubbing and living the high life.....under GH they were told that they behaved like athletes or go......and i think our club is the better for it,

[2520years]

Talking of positives...according to Sky, Glazer has bought Magnier and McManus' shares in Utd.  This gives him a majority shareholding of 56.8%  Anything that annoys 'Shareholders United' has got to be a good thing.

[lfclfclfc]

frankly speaking, despite a rather disappointing season domestically, i was strangely happier than last year, or the years before. i think we are playing much better football under rafa, tactically better and more versatile, players improving and, not to mention deadwood come alive!! generally, there is a sense of purpose and that gives me hope. i agree that future is bright. next year is going to be a good year, i am looking forward to it already!    But first thing first, thereis  a cup to be won!