Liverpool FC Forum

[Coley]

We do need to build on this.  It will only be a great result if we follow it up with another win at Villa.  Otherwise it just looks like a freak, which i'm worried it might have been.  Still, it felt a lot better coming in to work this morning and being able to give some stick out for a change.  Fingers crossed.

[JBG]

I agree with you Coley, we really need to build on this.

I don't want to sound pessimistic but people got carried away last year when we beat UTD in Cardiff, saying we turned the corner, but it was a false dawn.

[Coley]

i know what you mean JBG we can't get carried away, but allow ourselves a smile. 

It was an 'ugly' win last night.  We played a lot like we did in 2001 i thought.  However, i would be quite happy if we carry on winning ugly all season.  I think we need to forget about playing pretty football for a while, get back to basics and keep to a system that works.  If you then introduce quality players to that system (like Kewall) you never know what might happen.  We can't all play like Man U or Arsenal!

[RedSi]

Agreed Coley, significantly more of a contribution from Kewell than last night would be nice though. Emile stepped up to the plate and Harry is the type of player whom I would have expected to do likewise, I didn't see it......

[Owzat]

1989/1990 season was the last victory at Chelsea.

Yep, 5-2 on 16/12/89

A good result and good performance last night, but we need to keep it up. I still think the squad is better than the results it has been producing but not good enough to challenge for the title. I think the major consequence of last night's result was to seriously dent Chelski's hopes of winning the Premiership. As for us - we have to take one game at a time, getting carried away with one result will get us nowhere. Beating Chelski at home guarantees nothing for the rest of the season

[JBG]

1989/1990 season was the last victory at Chelsea.

Yep, 5-2 on 16/12/89

A good result and good performance last night, but we need to keep it up. I still think the squad is better than the results it has been producing but not good enough to challenge for the title. I think the major consequence of last night's result was to seriously dent Chelski's hopes of winning the Premiership. As for us - we have to take one game at a time, getting carried away with one result will get us nowhere. Beating Chelski at home guarantees nothing for the rest of the season

Spot on Owzat.

That result was more serious to Chelsea than to us. We are a million miles away from where we should be, and a lot of work to do yet.

As for winning "ugly", didn't 2001/2002 prove to everyone that you cannot win the Premiership these days by winning "ugly". You can win a lot of games by digging deep and playing negatively, but you cant beat Charlton, Middlesbro or Blackburn at Anfield with "backs to the wall, hit them on the counter attack football".

Sometimes listening to people who just forget about the harsh lessons learned in the past drives me insane!!

[Waterloo Red]

How many times have we had results like this & then we think we are back? I just cant get excited until we go on a winning run!

[coops]

I will reiterate what I said on another similar post:

I won't change my opinion based on one match. That would make me fickle now wouldn't it? And that I am not. I can support LFC and still be critical of GH and those players who do not deserve to be wearing the red shirt.

I have mixed feelings about last night. Whilst I am glad of the 3 points, the performance was that of a rabbit caught in a headlight, we had one shot on target and scored, and defended for the whole game like we were bottom of the league fighting for our Premiership lives, against a Chelsea side suffering a severe dip in form.

Also, GH now believes he has proven his critics wrong. What a pile of sh##e. How can one game prove ANYTHING? I think this is an indication of GH's state of mind.

[JBG]

I agree with you 100% Coops.

I don't want to sound smart but I was confident that we would get a result against Chelsea.

Under Houlier we have done exceptionally well against the big sides, and we were unlucky to lose to Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea this season.

However, beating the big sides hasn't been a problem under Houllier.

Beating the smaller sides (especially at Anfield) and beating them consistantly, has been the problem.

[Coley]

JBG - just to expand on my 'winning ugly' post earlier on this thread.  I think in certain games (like last night) you need to play like that, and against teams that attack you, you can counter attack.  We also need to be able to attack the like of Charlton, Leicester etc at home i agree and we haven't got that, but it maybe would have happened naturally if GH hadn't tried to force us to attack.

I don't know, it's all bollox really isn't it?

[JBG]

I agree Coley, for the moment its good policy to play the big sides on the counterattack, but against Charlton and Leiciester at home we need to be able to carve open teams who will try to play us on the break, and I don't think we are good enough to do that week in, week out.

[Owzat]

You can't play on the counter at home and be title contenders or even be taken seriously. It is ok as the away team if you're happy to settle for a draw but I doubt manu, Arsenal or Cheski play away looking for a draw except vs other top sides. We need to re-establish our solid defence and build from there, attacking football will just cost you if your defence isn't good enough. Look at Arsenal and manu's defence, the best two in the country and where are they?

[supersub]

As for winning "ugly", didn't 2001/2002 prove to everyone that you cannot win the Premiership these days by winning "ugly". You can win a lot of games by digging deep and playing negatively, but you cant beat Charlton, Middlesbro or Blackburn at Anfield with "backs to the wall, hit them on the counter attack football".

Sometimes listening to people who just forget about the harsh lessons learned in the past drives me insane!!

I agree,you don't win the league playing like dogs of war every week.It's fine when the occassion calls for such an approach but history will always show the best football team wins the league.This is the point that certain Houllier fanatics can't seem to grasp;they persistently harp on about the treble of 2001 and beating the mancs in the worthy cup,as though that is the ideal method to gain results.Well it is sometimes an exceptable way to get the 3 points of the better sides(chelsea wednesday),but definitely not from the majority of teams in the premier,were a few more options/ideas on the pitch are needed.

[big al]

I'd rather play like dogs of war which would be to the current squads strebnghts than play open football and miss out on Europe.  I'm one of Houlier's biggest critics but if the team can get results like that then that's all that matters, the team can develop and more skillful players can be intergrated into the team.  I won't knock Houlier when he got it right so I don't think its fair to be expecting miracles overnight.  As Stephen Gerraed said after the game " we won three trophies playing like that"  If Houlier plays to his strenghts and changes the style of play gradually then he could survive by getting the right results.  I don't want it all now just some protent of whats to come. that's whats being missing all season.  Well done Houlier

[supersub]

dogs of war won't get results at home against the mediocre teams,they are happy with a point,so how do you counter-attack a team that doesn't attack,why have everyone behind the ball in your own box when they are doing exactly the same at the other end.You can't play keep ball,if the opposition are happy for you to keep it...90 minutes possession,no shots,no goals..1 point.brilliant.