by Scottbot » Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:46 pm
I made the trip up for the games against charlton and Fulham and the atmosphere was terrible. You could hear a pin drop at times and as you say Stu - the nervousness in the crowd does spill onto the pitch and, without a doubt must affect the players. Houlliers Liverpool have lost the crowd and i believe there are very few like yourself, who retain any faith in Houlliers ability to turn this team around.
The board will be taking an enormous risk if they persevere with houllier next season - The team will be under massive pressure to start the season in good form or risk playing in front of a nervous/apathetic crowd at Anfield week in week out.
Quite simply - Houllier claimed the doubters would be proved wrong when players made it back from injury. they are back, but now it is confidence undermining our performances but 4 games without conceding a goal and the wins over Wolves and Pompey was surely enough foundation to build confidence. Motivating the players to play in front of a nervous Anfield cannot be easy but, never the less, it is Houlliers job to do it.
I don't believe the comparisons with Ferguson are all that valid. Fergie did not spend the type of money Houllier has had at his disposal. Stu - do you really believe in your heart of hearts that Houllier, given more time, is gonna emulate the achievements of Fergie?
Bottom line - If the board keep Houllier on next season and the team start with a couple of poor perfomances/results the fans will turn on the manager/board big style + Anfield will be half empty. I must have seen 5,000 fans leave with more than 5mins to go on Saturday.