Liverpool FC Forum

by **kopite** » Mon May 30, 2005 5:19 pm

Thanks Gerard

by **yckatbjywtbiastkamb** » Mon May 30, 2005 5:33 pm

i couldnt stand houlliers style and i will always say we had a large slice of luck when we did the treble but there`s got to be a little sense of perspective here.
before houllier we were a defensive shambles and the players basically took the :censored:

out of one of the nicest fella`s in the game in roy evans. the players were in the comfort zone basking in their celebrity status rather than worrying about trophys. the result against burnley in the f.a cup last season was a common occurance during the 90`s with the likes of bolton (before their prem days) and bristol rovers beating our best side at anfield, never mind our youth team which is what rafa basically put out at turf moor.
houllier made sure the players knew who was boss once again and gave us our best defence in ten years so i thank him for that.
where houllier fell down was the style of play, it was atrocious at times and for a club with our tradition to have opposing fans shout hoof (especially arsenal the cheeky barstewards) at us was the limit for me. we played with a big target man in toshack during the seventies but he used to get his head on well crafted moves - not hopefull punts.
houllier would be an excellent manager for a team who want to become hard to beat and organised, someone who just wanted to survive in the prem and pick up the odd trophy in the cup comps.

by **zarababe** » Tue May 31, 2005 2:09 am

Nice Article.... In The Times..

Houllier given pause by Lyons from pining for Liverpool
By Matt Dickinson

ACCORDING to various sources around Anfield, Gérard Houllier had been finding it hard to cut his ties with Liverpool. In the early days of Rafael Benítez’s regime, he had made a habit of dropping in at the Melwood training ground. Twelve months after his dismissal as manager, the Frenchman, and his brother, went to the dressing-room in Istanbul to join the celebrations after last week’s momentous European Cup final victory.
Having signed or nurtured many of the players who triumphed so famously against AC Milan, Houllier could hardly have been expected to have looked on dispassionately, but some on Merseyside feared that he was clinging too tightly to his past. As Benítez sets about putting his stamp on the Liverpool team in a hectic summer of transfer activity, the news is welcome that Houllier, too, is moving on — in his case to Lyon s.

No spare time now. Managing Lyons is a job that will require Houllier’s undivided attention, akin to following Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, with all the pressures and expectations that would entail. The bar is set high. Second place is failure.

French champions for the past four seasons, equalling the league record, Lyons were disappointed this year only to reach the European Cup quarter-finals, where they were unexpectedly beaten by PSV Eindhoven. Houllier must believe that he can do better, but Paul Le Guen, his predecessor, thought that he had taken an enterprising team as far as he could. He stood down after winning three titles (the first in the sequence was won by Jacques Santini).

No easy task, then, and one that could be made considerably more difficult if Lyons sell some of their best young players, including Michael Essien, the Ghana midfield player, who has attracted the interest of Manchester United and Chelsea. Stressful enough, certainly, that Houllier must be the first coach (rather than a player) to be put through a medical by a prospective employer. With questions being asked about his long-term health almost four years after he underwent open-heart surgery, Lyons revealed that they had sent him to a top cardiologist for an all-clear.

Even before the confirmation that he had been appointed, there was a reminder of the strains of the job when Sylvain Wiltord, the former Arsenal forward now thriving at Lyons, said that he did not mind who followed Le Guen, provided that it was “anyone but Houllier”. Wiltord is close friends with El-Hadji Diouf and the Senegal forward, who was bought and then exiled by Houllier at Anfield, could not wait to put down the poison for his former manager.

It has left Houllier to fight fires even before the first day of pre-season training. “Everybody has the right to have an opinion, but I have not had Sylvain in my group before, so it is a preconception,” he said. “We will sit down to talk and he will discover me.”

It must be hoped that Wiltord gives his new boss a chance — certainly before he relies on the word of such a dubious character as Diouf. A man with a habit of spitting at fans and opponents is not to be taken too seriously.

The failings of Houllier’s final year at Anfield have been dissected countless times — so much so that he became overly sensitive to criticism in his last days — but he contributed more to Liverpool than the treble of cups in 2001. He modernised training and instilled values in a club that had become a byword for fast living.

Sympathisers in France worry that, 17 years since he won the championship with Paris Saint-Germain, he has taken on a thankless task, given Lyons’ recent success, but Liverpool fans will wish him well. On those regular visits back to Anfield as a television pundit, fan and unemployed manager with a hankering to chat to Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard just like in the old days, they never made him feel un welcome, even if they now have a new hero in Benítez.

Looks like ppl often lieave the club but the club never leaves them !

by **azriahmad** » Tue May 31, 2005 3:54 am

Lyon have fallen for his bullsh1t. Hopefully he'll buy back all the LFC players (even the few good ones) he bought at the price we paid for them i.e. £100m

GH - YOU HAVE A JOB NOW, HOW ABOUT GIVING BACK THE £5M YOU GOT TO GO AWAY!!!!

Big Niall, you took the very words out of my mouth or shall I say fingers (for typing in this thread).

My first reaction upon hearing Houllier's appointment at Lyon is that he should buy back all of the cr@p he bought to Liverpool, especially the obscure "next so-and-so" from the mickey mouse French league, who even he dared not to let them start after buying them!

Lyon has won the French League title back-to-back on 4 times in succession (1 under Santini and the last 3 under Paul Le Guen, with the last season's performance being a very strong one in Europe) and after inheriting this successful side, it would be interesting to see how he fares.

Of course, he has already a ready made excuse, in case Essen is sold "we 'ave lost a very important player" etc. etc.

by **azriahmad** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:05 am

At the risk of incurring the ire of Stu, with my thread just prior to this, I have said it many many times that Houllier is great at doing the admin and foundation work like the successful Clairefontaine football academy in France which sow the seed of France's 1998 World Cup victory and the Euro 2000, as he has done for the Liverpool training and football academy. He is very highly regarded among coaches (and also in FIFA) as a very good technical coach.

However, he is not so good (to put it very mildly) at being the man manager, the tactician and the talent spotter. Nope, not good at all. Worst aspect is man management methods - I think most of you know what I am talking about so there is no need to spell it out in the open.

I am grateful for the trophies he won for us during his time and I am happy that Lyon has employed him. Perhaps he can prove me wrong but I certainly don't regret that Liverpool FC has sacked him at the end of last season, as it ewas the right time for a fresh change, and taht Liverpool FC have really moved forward.

by **115-1073096938** » Tue May 31, 2005 3:58 pm

So he's no good tactically and no good at spotting talent?

Look at the team that won the champions league, how many were his players and explain how we managed to win numurous cups and finish above the mancs (who had by far supirior personel to us at the time).

If your going to talk about tactics get it right. Or don't bother.

by **Leonmc0708** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:01 pm

stu_the_red wrote:So he's no good tactically and no good at spotting talent?

Look at the team that won the champions league, how many were his players and explain how we managed to win numurous cups and finish above the mancs (who had by far supirior personel to us at the time).

If your going to talk about tactics get it right. Or don't bother.

Stu lad, we have just won the European Cup for the fifth time, meaning we do not have to give it back, get over GH he left one year ago.

MODERATORS CAN WE GET A LITTLE BIT OFL OCK DOWN HERE PLEASE ?

by **Big Niall** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:03 pm

I knew people would say many of the players were brought under GH so he deserves credit, as opposed to rafa did well to get so much out of so many average players that GH bought, GH never looked like winning league or champions league with them.

If we had a terrible season they'd say , "see we're no better now, shouldn't have sacked him etc"

If we won the treble they's say "A lot of it is down to GH"

The funniest was when he backed up his record on signings by saying none of the guys who left went onto better clubs (it was because they were rubbish) or that proof that we were an attacking team is that we had more shots than any other team (ignoring the fact that we had, by far, the most shots outside the box as we had no ideas on how to create chances).

Question for all GH supportere, rewind the clock, would you sack him.

by **115-1073096938** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:07 pm

Who dragged up the post ya tool?

Who's the one mentioning Houllier every chance they get?

I'm defending someone who put his life on the line for this club and gave his all to give us what we wanted and very nearly succeeded. He gave us some success and deserves a pat on the back. Not to be slated at every oppurtunity.

Anyone in here who doesn't appriciate what Houllier has done should :censored:

off.

As i said a long time ago, if he won't do it himself, he's laid the foundations for something great. This season i was proved right.

He deserves respect when spoken about and he deserves to be left alone, in Liverpool's past with Dalglish, Fowler, Owen, Rush, Hansen etc and remembered for what he achieved and not what he didn't achieve.

by **LFC #1** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:09 pm

no-one questions his sacking, it was needed, and by god what a revelation Rafa has been. It's just GH gets far too much slack for a guy who was a good servant to the club, bringing us our most successful season since 89/90 in 2001. Unfortuantley his last 2 seoans were poor and it was time for him to move on, and now with Rafa in charge, he will (starting already with European Cup) be bale to take us that extra step further, which Gh was unable to manage.

by **115-1073096938** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:09 pm

A question for you Niall...

Do you think we could have attracted a manager of Benitez's class and proven record and won the champions league this year if he'd not been here?

Nuff said. Run along.

by **Big Niall** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:16 pm

Stu- your logic amazes me and I won't even bother. I actually believe you are GH.

Yeah, GH deserves credit for getting the sack so that a top class replacement can be found.

I thought LFC had achieved a bit of a rep around Europe before GH, maybe I am mistaken

by **molby** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:19 pm

i agree with you stu, gh was a good man with an enormous task to accomplish, and in a lot of ways he pulled our club kicking an screaming into the new century.

by **Big Niall** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:31 pm

molby wrote:i agree with you stu, gh was a good man with an enormous task to accomplish, and in a lot of ways he pulled our club kicking an screaming into the new century.

Yeah, he took over from a manager (who was soft and had to go) who never finished outside the top 4, spent £100m and left us a million miles behind the top3.

by **banana** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm

GH has nothing to do with us winning CL. Benitez has changed everything. The same players who looked dreadful under Houllier and got a lot of stick now have a medal around their neck. I can tell you one thing. If GH was around those same players would have been knocked out in the qualifyers, and finished mid table. Benitez is much better at organizing the team, making tactical changes and building fitness. He is a fine boss, not afraid of making decisions. Houllier only wanted to protect himself from getting fired, so he built a base of loyal players without skills and passion. Like Murphy and Heskey. And he made sure he had an very generous contract, with a golden parachute making LFC bleed if he got the sack. Give me a break. He is not responsible for this team getting good. Most of them are his players? I guess so. But with £ 100 million pounds you can't do much worse really. Where is Diao, Cheyrou, Vignal, Diouf, Kewell, Heskey. They are all expensive flops. Only a few of his players got better during GH reign, most players actually became worse. A bit of reverse alchemy from le boss.

Lyon must be crazy getting a so defensive minded coach, at least they are making a big gamble.

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