Liverpool FC Forum

[Puddy Heskey]

Could someone please tell me who the hell we payed all that money for over the last 3 years.

[REDTILLDEAD]

Er.....GH spent it on average, overated, medieocre passionless foreigners!...and will continue to buy players who are not fit to wear the "red shirt" if given another season...and another £100 million.

[115-1073096938]

Kewell
Baros
Hamann
Hyypia
Henchoz
Dudek
Kirkland
Finnan
Babbel
Litmanen
McAllister
Le Tallec
Pongolle
Barmby
Smicer
Riise

Some of the sh##e that Houllier has signed. None of them were ever any good.

[REDTILLDEAD]

Your boring me now!...

[shilton_red]

Id say some are good buys

Kewell good
Baros  good
Hamann good
Hyypia  good
Henchoz  good
Dudek  good
Kirkland  good
Finnan    not good
Babbel    not sure
Litmanen good foolish to sell though
McAllister good did a job for us
Le Tallec  not sure of him yet
Pongolle  no good
Barmby   no good
Smicer    no good
Riise  good

[Owzat]

Id say some are good buys

Kewell good
Baros  good
Hamann good
Hyypia  good
Henchoz  good
Dudek  good
Kirkland  good
Finnan    not good
Babbel    not sure
Litmanen good foolish to sell though
McAllister good did a job for us
Le Tallec  not sure of him yet
Pongolle  no good
Barmby   no good
Smicer    no good
Riise  good

Actually Stu is trying to make out we're stupid and he isn't by claiming there is nothing wrong and those signings were fantastic. The fact that money was wasted on some players is beyond his comprehension - Diouf and Heskey a combined waste of £21m, quite a few others came in at the £3-5m mark and have failed to deliver consistently, some not at all (Smicer, Ziege, Riise, Biscan, Diomede, Diao, Cheyrou......) A number of other good players came in at an exhorbitant fee (Kirkland £6m, Dudek £4m+.....) Two of our star players came through the youth team plus Carragher, 3/11 of most people's best XIs cost us a combined total of £zero

Justify all of those names then Stu.......... for every good signing there is one equally bad

[Scottbot]

GH has made a few cracking buys - People like Hyppia and Henchoz + McCallister was a master stroke. Even Heskey looked like a good buy a couple of years ago. He also did very well to sign Pongolle, Le Tellec and Kewell. However, i agree with Owzat - For every Hyppia there has been a Diouff, Diao, Biscan or Diomede.

I believe our current situation is as much to do with his coaching ability as it is to do with the players he has brought to the club recently. For instance - In the right team with good coaching i believe Biscan could make a decent Centre Midfielder (not CB!)

[115-1073096938]

Kewell good
Baros  good
Hamann good
Hyypia  good
Henchoz  good
Dudek  good
Kirkland  good
Finnan    not good
Babbel    not sure
Litmanen good foolish to sell though
McAllister good did a job for us
Le Tallec  not sure of him yet
Pongolle  no good
Barmby   no good
Smicer    no good
Riise  good

How can you say Finnan, Pongolle, Barmby and Smicer weren't good signings? Smicer is a good squad player... how much does a squad player cost these days? he was only £4.5m. Just because he didn't live up to his reputation means he's a bad signing. Barmby was a good player for us who served a purpose and scored some good goals to help us acheive the cup treble.

McAllister as someone pointed out was a masterstroke.

How you can only count Hyypia as good is beyond me... £3m for a player that was linked with a £12m-£15m move to juventus a couple of seasons ago. He's been a rock since he signed and if it wasn't for him earlier this season when we had those injuries we'd be in a seriously poor league position.

[JBG]

My two cents:

1. Djimi Traore: middling signing. Not the best player in the world but didn't cost much.

2. Rigobert Song: middling signing. Did an ok job for us for a while but Houllier quickly jettisoned him as soon as we signed Babbel.

3. Jean Marc Ferri: poor signing, hardly ever played. Houllier thanked him when he left, saying that he provided us with "good cover".

4. Titi Cammara: middling signing. Did ok for a while and didn't cost too much, but Titi fell out with Houllier and threw in the hat very quickly.

5. Eric Meijr: poor signing. Cost us nothing and gave us nothing.

6. Sander Westerveld: ok signing, but cost a lot of money at the time (record fee for a keeper). Like most keepers made a few mistakes, but he got hammered for it and nerves clearly got the better of him. Had a bad game in August 2001 against Bolton and was dropped by Houllier like a hot potato. Re-surfaced in Spain where he is regarded as one of the best keepers in La Liga.

7. Sammi Hyppia: Excellent signing. Didn't cost much and was a complete unknown when he arrived. In 2001 and 2002 he was regarded as one of the best centre halves and Juventus were reportedly interested in buying him in 2002. Since then his star has waned a small bit, although having to play alongside Traore and Biscan has not helped. Still a good player, if not quite as good as he was in 2002.

8. Stephan Henchoz: Excellent signing. Didn't cost too much (just under £4million) and he gave us some excellent service over the years, particularly in 2001 and 2002 when I personally felt that he was the best out and out defender in England. Has suffered a dip in form since then, and injuries haven't helped.

9. Marcus Babbel: good signing. His form was terrific in 2001, and GH has to be complimented for signing such an internationally renowned player. Unfortunately illness robbed him of almost 18 months, and he has since lost a lot of his pace and sharpness. A sad case, but GH can't be blamed for his illness.

10.  Nick Barmby: ok signing. Barmby was a bit over priced, but he played very well in 2001, scoring a lot of important goals. Injury plagued him thereafter, and Houllier eventually let him go.

11. Gary McAllister: Brilliant signing. In my opinion GH's best move. Macca was apparently moving towards the end of his career at lowly Coventry and the Mancs had a bit of a laugh when we signed him at the age of 35. However, he led us into the Champions League and to 5 trophies, not bad for a bald 35 year old! Macca's influence at Anfield should not be under estimated. One of the best moments of the GH days when Macca scored against the Toffees from 35 yards out. We never really managed to replace him.

12. Bernard Diomonde: awful signing. Never really given a chance, got injured and GH lost all interest in him. Hard to believe that Diomonde made 3 starts for France in the 1998 World Cup. GH didn't do his homework on him: Auxerre let him go as Guy Roux said he was over the hill. If he was over the hill in France what hope the Premiership?

13. Igor Biscan: terrible signing. Cost a lot of money, came with a lot of hype. Has no first touch nor technique, and not much footballing intelligence. A case of bad judgement.

14. Jari Litmannen: an ok signing, but GH didn't seem to fancy him, despite Jari putting in a fine perforamnce every time we played.

15. Vladimir Smicer: poor signing. Stu says that he is a decent squad player, but for the first couple of seasons that Vladi was here he was in the first team and often kept better players on the bench.

16. Emile Heskey: poor signing. Cost a lot of money, showed some early promise, but ultimately disappointed.

17. Christian Ziege: poor signing. Cost a lot of money, got us involved with a court case with Middlesboro, and never delivered on the pitch. GH said when Ziege left that the German was a left wing back, not a orthodox full back. Then why did GH sign him?

18. John Arne Riise: ok signing. Started very well, but has since faded, and has a tendency to hoof the ball up field. Has time on his side and is a good athlete, and could come good yet.

19. Grigary Vignal: middling signing. Didn't cost much, showed some promise, but was never really given a chance by GH.

20. Alou Diarra: ?

21. Didi Hamman: Good signing. Was a major factor in GH ealry success. However, some argue that for all of Hamman's talents and pluses, GH is playing it safe when he plays Hamman and Gerrard in the same team, and perhaps if we are to go up a level we should look at a more creative centre midfielder to play along side Stevie. Didi was a good signing none the less.

22. Salif Diao: Poor signing. Has been played all over the place by GH. The question that needs to be asked is did we need another defensive midfielder? Diao is not a bad player, but he needs to be played in the same position week in, week out. A case of GH getting giddy with money, methinks.

23. Bruno Cheyrou: poor signing. Had a good January and scored some goals, but his work continues to be poor.

24. El Hadji Diouff: very poor signing. GH blew most of his 2002 transfer budget on this guy, who has struggled to make an impact.

25. Milan Baros: Good signing. Hasn't delivered yet, but he's almost there, and the longer he is in the team, the better he will get.

26. Steve Finnan: ok signing. Probably too early to judge him yet, but Finnan hasn't reached the heights he is capable of.

27. Harry Kewell: good signing. Didn't cost much, and while we have yet to see the best from him, 2004/05 will see the real Harry Kewell.

28. Florent Sinama Pongolle: ok signing. Great pedigree at youth level means little at Premiership level. Has loads of pace, but one wonders about his footballing intelligence and his first touch could be better. A lot of hype surrounds him, but he has miles to go yet.

29. Anthony Le Tallec: ok signing. What goes for Pongolle also goes for Le Tallec. A positive sign is that he appears to be coming with the physical level of the Premiership. Its early days to judge Pongolle and Le Tallec.

30. Jerzy Dudek: ok signing. Had a brilliant start to his career at Anfield, but his form has dropped since then, and is now 2nd choice.

31. Kirkland: a good signing. Looks a great prospect to me, and is already a fine keeper. Could be the new Ollie Kahn.

32. Luzi Bernardi/Pegguy Apprexhad/Paul Jones: ok signings for what they are: third choice keepers.

[Starbridge42]

JBG I agree with you almost completely but I think you underestimated the quality of the signings of harry kewell and milan baros.  Both were bought for peanuts when you look at their class and while neither have shown their best at anfield yet they are both young and will be world class players.  Harry Kewell actually got 7% of the votes (19,961 votes in the total poll) on some website as to who is the greatest footballer of all time so he beat Beckham, Ronaldo and Figo.  (pele won with 61% of the votes and Zidane got 19%).  Baros is only 22 and will be a top class striker in his prime which is a few years away and kewell will reach his peak in a few years too so when Kewell is in his prime and baros just short of the mark watch out they will be seen as brilliant signings then provided they don't leave before then.

[Owzat]

Kewell good
Baros  good
Hamann good
Hyypia  good
Henchoz  good
Dudek  good
Kirkland  good
Finnan    not good
Babbel    not sure
Litmanen good foolish to sell though
McAllister good did a job for us
Le Tallec  not sure of him yet
Pongolle  no good
Barmby   no good
Smicer    no good
Riise  good

How can you say Finnan, Pongolle, Barmby and Smicer weren't good signings? Smicer is a good squad player... how much does a squad player cost these days? he was only £4.5m. Just because he didn't live up to his reputation means he's a bad signing. Barmby was a good player for us who served a purpose and scored some good goals to help us acheive the cup treble.

Bit harsh on the new boys, Barmby was expensive but not necessarily cr@p and Smicer has been anonymous through most of his games for Liverpool FC. It is mainly a price thing, Smicer may have had a few good games but for £4m+ we'd expect consistency

[JBG]

By my recollection Barmby had a reasonably good 2000/2001, particularly in Europe.

[REDTILLDEAD]

Iknow what we have bought?......a load of french sh##e!!...and if gh gets his way that wont be the last of them?

[Owzat]

£14m worth of fresh french manure heading this way in the summer if kermit gets his way. We should veto French league players in the same way they banned our dead carcasses (beef)

[REDTILLDEAD]

Er?...what the f##k is he on about?..anyone!!