by JBG » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:13 pm
Yeah, the summer of 2002 was when he blew it.
People go on about Diao and Cheyrou being poor (including me) but they were really signed as squad players, and I don't think Houllier saw them as being in the first team straight away, at least not with Diao who was supposed to only come to us in January 2003 but Houllier brought him over early as cover for the injured Gerrard (in hindsight Diao would have been better off staying in France until January).
I think he hoped to play Cheyrou in the first team, but it was obvious Houllier had second thoughts about signing him even before the 2002/03 season kicked off as he very publicly kept Cheyrou on the bench for the first 5 or 6 matches in order to allow the Frenchman to "watch and see how the English game is played" (a retarded excuse).
Diouff was the summer's big name signing, and as Has said, he was seen as the long term replacement for Fowler. However, I don't think Houllier rushed into signing him as I remember Liverpool being linked to Diouff as early as January 2002 and I also remember Houllier praising him in March (during the African Nations Cup) and again in early May 2002. I even remember looking out for him in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup as he was strongly linked to joining us at this stage and I was absolutely amazed at his (and I don't think I'm exagerating here) young Luis Ronaldo like performance against France when he absolutely destroyed Dessailley and Thuram.
Houllier spent ages agonising over whether to keep Anelka or sign Diouff, before going for Diouff in the end. A lot of the newspapers at the time we advising Houllier to sign Anelka and Damien Duff but Houllier told everybody to trust him over Diouff and Cheyrou.
It soon became obvious that Diouff was knackered after the World Cup and his style of play didn't suit Liverpool at all, and the move to Anfield was probably too soon for him. Cheyrou was also completely unsuited to Liverpool. He had a big reputation in France, but most French journalists thought that he would have been more suited to Arsenal's style, or even go to Fulham under Jean Tigana.
Houllier blew it in 2002 because even though his side finished 2nd in the Premiership and performed very well in Europe they occasionally struggled at home against weaker teams (we could beat Barcelona or Roma at Anfield but draw or lose to Charlton). It was probably only a matter of time before teams adapted to our negative style of play and used our weaknesses (poor technique, lack of width) against us....in fact, we were caught out from October 2002 on. He really needed to have added some width and penetration in the summer of 2002 and if he had signed Duff and Anelka, as well as holding onto Litmannen, I am very confident we would have won the league last year.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.