by Owzat » Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:04 am
* He discovered Stevie G !
I would think the talent scout did most of the hard work! He claims credit for a number of players but scouts do most of the work
* Prior to him taking over Liverpool did not really have any big name players !
Yeah right! Houllier turned us from a top six team into................ a top six team, spending over £100m in the process. The number of star players has increased but so has the spending. I believe Owen made his debut in 1996 which was before Houllier's entrance
* Michael Owen has won the European Footballer of the year during his stewardship.
We wonder how many awards Owen might have won BUT for Houllier
* Under his forward thinking , revolutionary and visionary leadership Liverpool have begun plans for a new stadium. Can you believe this guy ?
It isn't really down to him. No doubt he will want it named after him though. FFS you'd think he was forking out the cash. Truth is it was probably his reign that made the council think of this groundsharing nonsense
* Thanks to him Liverpool have spent heavily on the academy, a breeding ground for local talent to come through.
As you've said, he has turned to French youth, not unusual for foreign managers. Do you recall he said that he would build Liverpool around a base of English players? We have offloaded more English players as currently see first team action - Owen, Gerrard, Heskey, Carragher & Murphy vs Thompson, Fowler, Barmby, McManaman, James, Wright, Redknapp. (not mentioning other British/Irish players like Matteo, Kennedy, McAllister & McAteer)
* Although Michael Owen's future is uncertain he will do every he can to make him stay.
Winning the Premiership is what will guarantee Owen will stay, I doubt Houllier can manage that
* He candidly observes that Chelsea could well win the league this season and remarks that it is a bad thing if the title is won by a chequebook.
The fact is Houllier has spent over £100m on players and the team is no nearer winning the Premiership than it was when he started. He discards as many good players as he does bad ones and the squad has too many passengers. It is really just another "hidden" excuse for not finishing higher in truth
* Liverpool has only been his team for 4 years !
It is in his view. Excuses can be made - joint manager, first full season, having all the previous managers dead wood etc
* The Ferguson Comparison ( ie Houllier was more successful in his 1st few years than Ferguson ) is rammed down our throats.
Unfortunately comparison is always made with Ferguson because of the length of time before he won the Premiership. Most managers don't last that long and Ferguson was lucky to survive after their escape from relegation. Using the longer period of time for a comparison is convenient but what happens if we give him seven years and still no Premiership? It is one hell of a risky way to "invest" over £100m on an outsider
* He has been unlucky with injuries.
He should have spent more wisely on building the squad. At one point we had Anelka, Owen, Fowler, Litmanen, Baros and Heskey up front but he saw fit to get rid of three of them. £100m is a lot to spend and then turn round and use injuries as a near permanent excuse for failure.
* We have really been unlucky in recent games and deserve more points than we have.
He can highlight our misfortunes but rarely mentions the oppositions. Is he claiming he is unlucky? If so, we should get rid of him now, a Jonah in charge won't get us anywhere. Besides which, he conveniently forgets the "treble" season when we were lucky in the finals (Birmingham and Arsenal were very unlucky not to win) You have to make best of what luck you get and the truth is the team miss too many chances to fall back on the bad luck excuse
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