Liverpool FC Forum

[JBG]

I know everybody else has been moaning about the Spurs result, but for me personally, the defeat on Saturday was the hardest moment yet for me this season. It felt worse than losing at home to UTD and Arsenal.

It was a real kick in the balls.

We have had a terrible season for the second year in a row now, but the Frenchman in charge has blamed everybody but himself for this calamity.

To be fair to Houllier to a certain extent the injury situation has been difficult, with losses of key players such as Michael Owen and lately Steven Gerrard.

Houllier has been quick to latch onto this, saying that we should wait until he has a full strength side back. This is to ignore the fact that despite all of the injuries he has still had available, for the bulk of the season, guys like Hyppia, Riise (£4.5million), Danny Murphy (English international), Biscan (£5.5million signing), Heskey (£11million signing and regular England international), Diouff (twice African Player of the Year and £10million signing), Smicer (£3.75million signing) and Jerzy Dudek/Chris Kirkland (two good goalkeepers). These players, a few games aside, have pretty much been available for all of the season.

Add to the above, new signing Harry Kewell has been available to Houllier for most of the year, aside from two spells with injury.

The losses of Hamman, Gerrard and Owen have been painful, but we have almost always had at least one of out three most effective players on the pitch every game this season.

There’s two sides to the coin. Some people (mostly Houllier’s supporters) see the injury problems as being debilitating, while others, like me, see it as an excuse, and Houllier has been given ample time and resources to spend on quality squad players to cover this eventuality, which he has not. People like me also believe that even when we had a full compliment of players available, we still have serious problems.

However, it looked like things might be turning back in Houllier’s favour since the turn of the year. He picked up three wins in 2004, and players started to return from injury. A week ago it looked like 2004 had the potential to be a very good year for Houllier and Liverpool.

To be honest, however, more was made out of the three wins by the media than what they were. We were simply dreadful against Yeovil, and I cringed with embarassement as five Yeovil players strung together a passage of beautiful passes in the first half which almost resulted in a wonder goal. For those first 45-60 minutes it was impossible to tell which side was from the Premiership and which was from the third division.

At Stamford Bridge Liverpool battened down the hatches and defended superbly against an out of sorts Chelsea. It was a terrible game and both sides played poor football. We scored a very good break away goal, but Chelsea probably deserved a draw. However, we desperately needed the win, and I hoped the win would boost the players.

The following game, against Villa, was another poor affair. We passed very badly and our finishing and play around the opposition’s box was dreadful. We could have won by four, but were lucky not to draw the game. Afterwards Houllier admitted that we were playing badly, but we had three wins on the trot now and with players coming back, the potential was there to go on a long run.

Then came Spurs. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised by the result or the performance. We always play terribly at Spurs under Houllier. Houllier and the players should know this, and given the circumstances of the season, a titanic effort similar to that against Chelsea was required. We went to Stamford Bridge and broke our bad record there, and if we were really going to get our season back on track, we needed to go to Spurs, stand up to them like men, and break our hoodoo there.

The performance against Spurs was one of the worst I have seen from a Liverpool side in many a long time. Our passing was terrible, our centre halves looked slow and uncomfortable, and we created little or nothing.

However, the worst thing about the Spurs game is that none of the players tried.

It was like they were still clapping themselves on the back after the Chelsea win and simply expected Spurs to fold. We were completely outplayed in midfield by an opposition featuring a guy just signed from the first division and a youngster who came on as an early sub. Didi Hamman, a guy who helped drag Germany to the World Cup final in 2002, was anoynmous, as was Danny Murphy, a guy who has a few English caps to his name and possibly our best player of 2002/03. People becried the loss of Gerrard, but surely Hamman and Murphy are good enough to compete against Jackson and Brown? On Saturday’s performance, obviously not.

We were all over the place at the back. Houllier played three centre halves and a converted midfielder. A guy who has scored only once all season for Spurs (and that was in the Carling Cup) and is another of their expensive and unproductive forwards, had a field day against us.

At the other end we gave nothing. Heskey had a few nice touches and flick ons, but overall our forward play is laboured, confused and scattered, despite the fact that we had Owen and Kewell (as well as the middling Heskey) to choose from. This is the same Kewell who terrorised Europe and was likened to Rivaldo only 2 years ago at Leeds, and Owen the guy who performs miracles for England and the guy who tormented the then Italian Champions, Roma, in their own back yard in 2001.

We clearly then have some good players.

Against Spurs we played: Jones (a stopgap keeper but a solid player Cost: free), Henchoz (seasoned international once one of the best defenders in England, £3.75million), Sammi Hyppia (£2.5million former captain who was acknowledged as one of the best defenders in Europe only 2 years ago), Igor Biscan (expensive flop, £5.5million), Djimi Troare (slowly improving, £750,000), Didi Hamman (hugely experienced German international, £8million), Danny Murphy (our player of the year last season IMO, £3million), Bruno Cheyrou (once dubbed the new Zidanne with caps for France, £3.75million), Harry Kewell (£5million), Emile Heskey (£11million) and Michael Owen (on his day seen as one of the best in the world, free).

The above team cost around £43.25million, we got Kewell on the cheap, and a fully fit Owen would cost around £25-40million depending on the state of the transfer market. On the bench we had Jerzy Dudek, Jamie Carragher, John Arne Riise and Steve Finnan.

I know people have made excuses about injuries, but the above side on paper should have been too much for a Spurs team that included an Irishman who cannot decide whether he’s a defender or a forward and only just came back from loan from the first division, a left back more interested in fouling and diving than playing, a perpetually injured, over rated former English international in midfield, a first division player recently signed from Sheff UTD, another player just back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines with injury (to counter any arguments about Owen being rough), an inexperienced youngster thrown on in desperation due to an early injury and a misfiring, expensive foreign forward who up until Saturday looked totally out of his depth in England.

I thought our defeat was shocking. I know teams can have their off-days (i.e. Man UTD against Wolves) but Liverpool were dreadful. It wasn’t simply an “off-day” either. Had luck gone against us early in the games against Chelsea and Villa I’m sure we would have lost those as well, because we are not playing well, and aside from the games against Spurs, UTD, Arsenal, Chelsea at home, and Everton and Blackburn away, we have not played well all season.

I’m not being negative, I’m not slagging Houllier for the sake of it. I’m just being realistic. I have spent the last 14 years of my life getting my hopes up only to see them dashed. I see no reason why Houllier is any different from Souness and Evans. We are no closer to winning the league than we were in 1992, in 1997 or 2001. Its beyond us.

We might go on a winning strak again this season, but there’s always another Spurs performance around the corner, regardless of the team we put out.

People like Stu criticise the likes of me for not getting behind the team. Lets put the record straight. When the team runs out at 3-00pm I shout for them and get behind them for the next two hours. I have never booed or shouted criticism at the players during a match. I criticise the players and management on forums such as this and in the pub because I love the club. I grew up watching players like Graeme Souness, Kenny Daglish, Steve Nicol, Craig Johnston, Phil Neal, Sammy Lee, John Barnes, Ian Rush and Ray Houghtan play intelligent, controlled and skillful football for Liverpool. Players who would chase every ball, tackle every player. Guys who would gladly take a free kick in the face and risk a broken nose for the good of the team. I grew up with guys like Paisley and Daglish at the helm, quiet men who just got on with the job of coaching the team, rather than berate Martin O’ Neill for “not doing enough to dispel the rumours”.

I love this club, and will always support it. But I will not support those – Houllier, Parry and Moores – who are destroying the club I love with their incompetence, arrogance and pride.

Enough is enough……Houllier and Moores out.

[supersub]

JBG...Excellent post..........
....... only stu and GH can possibly think up an answer.

[big al]

Perhaps Stu Is GH anyway good post JBG, one footnote however, my mate Biscan, after the usual extras cost just under £7 million. I hope this is not just too much for you. JBG I know exactly were you are mentally right now I was there last season when I saw the worst run in over 25 years.  Houliers attitude at the time spoke volumes he started to balme his palyers. 

Redandblue posted a thread about Houlier being the darling of the media. he's right of course.  I saw a commentator n sky say that he always stands by his players and I wondered where this guy had been for five years.  Houlier Stabs more people in the back than the whole Roman senate did on Ceasar. He had a rivalry with Fowler and set about destroying the player we all called GOD  why? because the egotistical ba#ta#d wants to be number one.  He courts the media.  I'm from Belfast and I've seen a lot of Psyco-paths flirt with the media, their ego drives them, think of mad dog Adair who could'nt wait to get in front of a camera to talk about himself. Now infamous around the world.  I'm not saying Houlier's a murder but he's slowly strangling this club>

[redandblue]

Good commentary both JBG and Big Al.

I was at White Hart Lane on Saturday and it was one of the worst Liverpool performances which I have EVER witnessed. I went as a guest of a Spurs fan so I was in the Spurs section. You know what? They were laughing at us. They were actually sniggering at our incompetence and lack of passion.

I was dreadfully embarrassed and so too was my host. I think that he felt sorry for me, This is the same Spurs team which was being tipped for relegation three weeks ago. They were better than us in EVERY department.

Everyone has an off day. But this was truly awful Michael Owen is being dragged down by the mediocrity around him.

Houllier, Parry and Moores. You can dream all you like about Worthington Cups but this Liverpool team is simply unacceptable.

Saturday was a disgrace.

[JBG]

It certainly is embarassing when Spurs fans laugh at you.

In some ways I can understand a bad performance. They happen to the best of them, like UTD away to Wolves. However, you just know that in UTD's case its just a blip, whereas at Liverpool we are guaranteed at least one shocking performance/result a month.

People got carried away after the Chelsea game, and no doubt people will get carried away again as we win another few games. However, you just know that we'll have at least another three or four Spurs performances between now and the end of the season.

What was most disappointing was the lack of fight. The whole club is under pressure, but some players looked lost or looked as if they simply didn't care.

[big al]

I don't think we were carried away JBG just foolishly we were hoping that the tw#t was going to pull of a miracle. even though I doubt he will I still live in hope.  Lets face it what else have we got but hope.

[DAV]

Heskey 

[greenred]

Its all very depressing.I notice all the houllier apologists have gone very quiet.What a surprise.I dont think liverpool are capable of putting together a decent run at the moment, because houllier has lost the confidence of the players.They dont believe in themselves and they dont believe in the boss.The sooner Moores wakes up to it the better.

[DAV]

YEP

[THEBARON]

Just a quick line to applaud and appreciate the piece from JBG - you are 100 percent correct !
We all back the team at the start of every game and care for the club as much as the Houllier apologists - the difference is that we can see for ourselves the shambles that the club is becoming.
It is a very sad state of affairs when supporters of a team like Tottenham  feel they can take the p#ss out of LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB.
Wake up Moores or f##k off !