by Cool Hand Luke » Mon Nov 24, 2003 5:34 pm
First of all I would like to thank Mr Houllier for taking us from a sqaud of jokers into a squad that should be amongst the top teams. I don't think we are that short of being able to compete with the "Big Three". Rather than major overhaul I think the squad needs a little bit of fine tuning. I think we are three quality players short of being able to compete. But those players must be players that a ready for the first team, rather than potential first teamers (i.e.Biscan,Diao,Smicer).
I would cut my loses with Heskey, get rid of Troare, and Henchoz(let me explain), and get Babbel of the books. Henchoz has been great for us but we need at least one centre back with pace.
Then I would bring in Boumsong on a free to partner Hyypia at the back. Although Diouf has done well on the right, he often looks isolated, and dosen't look like part of the midfield, this comes from him being more of a striker. I would do my upmost to bring in Simon Davies, though it would be diffucult it is not imposible, he would probarly cost around 9 Mil. Then lastly we need to address the ongoing problem of 'Who partners Owen'? I am not sure about Cisse, I would like to see more of him before making a final judgement, if not him there are others out there, I have mentioned Mark Viduka a number of times and there others.
But these are the problems that need addressing in the immediate future, for the long term I think we will have to replace Hyypia for someone faster in order to complate our defence, and also Hamann, he is to slow, it remains to be seen wether Diao can provide the solution.
I do think the current squad is strong and should not drop below 4th place and maybe could brake into the top three. But some of Houllier's decisions over the past year have deaply disapointed me, not playing an anchor man, Diao should have played this season, also he never gave a run to Cheyrou last season, when we had no left sided midfielder, he's reluctance to cut his loses on Heskey, playing Smicer in the wide positions when anyone can see that he's at his best when in the middle behind the strikers.
The fact that Houllier has now changed his mind and has decided to play in an attacking manor, tells me that he dosen't really have his own set of beliefs on how the game should be played, or he dosen't have enough confidence in his ability.
I think Houllier is a very proud man, and will never step down, so I think it is up to the board to tell him in the summer that his time is up.
i think yes what about you