Liverpool FC Forum

[tubby]

I expect Hodgson will dip into the market during jan to buy a 30 year old cb who used to play for him years ago .

Fulham reunion

[burjennio]

Fulham will want to much for Hangeland, not to jump on the flavour of the month bandwagon but Gary Cahill is a great player and it will only be a matter of time before a top team nabs him. Spurs or City probably they buy everyone else ffs

[jimmy brighton]

Myself I don't see the point in wasting money on another CB when we have Skirtel, the greek, Agger about to come back, Kelly and a highly rated Danny Wilson. Then of course we'll have Carra back in Feb. Seems ludicrous to me. Need to strengthen elsewhere. Mainly up front!!

[rocky29]

all these posters saying we dont need backup are having a fecking laugh we need a minor miracle thats what we need. Get hangelaand and stop all the cahill rubbish hes overpriced over rated.

[jimmy brighton]

all these posters saying we dont need backup are having a fecking laugh we need a minor miracle thats what we need. Get hangelaand and stop all the cahill rubbish hes overpriced over rated.

So you don't rate Skirtel or Agger? You don't rate Kelly or Wilson as back up to them two? The only doubt I'd have would be the Greek but even he is handy against the smaller prem teams who tend to play the ball higher in the air!

[eds]

Does anyone know how long Agger is out for?

[jimmy brighton]

2 weeks I believe.

[eds]

2 weeks I believe.

No need to get a CB in Jan if he is back in 2 weeks.

Money should be used on a decent winger or forward.

[HodgsonOUT!!]

id give wilson a run hes a great prospect and has soemthing none of our centres have and we need badly whitch is PACE!!!
cant believe some people on here are saying we need a new centre now carras injured, we have needed one for alot longer carra is nowhere near what he was and nowhere near what our best defender should be if were gonna compete

[Ring-of-Fire]

Myself I don't see the point in wasting money on another CB when we have Skirtel, the greek, Agger about to come back, Kelly and a highly rated Danny Wilson. Then of course we'll have Carra back in Feb. Seems ludicrous to me. Need to strengthen elsewhere. Mainly up front!!

I agree with this. We have enough cover at CB - it's up front and wide midfield we should be concentrating on.

[metalhead]

Carra: Houllier's my top boss
4th Dec 2010 - Latest News


In a fascinating interview ahead of Gerard Houllier's return to Anfield on Monday, Jamie Carragher explains why he regards the Frenchman, in his first three years at Anfield at least, as the best manager he's ever worked with...

It's 9.30am on a frosty morning in Merseyside, where the memory of a late defeat to Tottenham Hotspur two days previous is about to be blotted further by news that Jamie Carragher will be sidelined for three months.

A dislocated shoulder suffered during a seemingly innocuous challenge on former teammate Peter Crouch will keep the 32-year-old in the treatment room until late February at least. Carragher could be excused for not being in the best of moods.

It says much about the man that he still arrives on cue for a pre-arranged sit down with Liverpoolfc.tv. Most footballers - forgivably - would have postponed. It's also an illustration of the high regard he has for old boss Gerard Houllier, who is the subject of today's interview.

In football, as in all walks of public life, perspective arrives only with patience. For many years after the press conference announcing his departure from the club, analysis of the Houllier era was bottom-heavy. The final two years, the inability to translate cup success into league glory, the litany of misjudged signings such as El Hadji Diouf and Bruno Cheyrou - it was all too fresh in the mind. The 2001 treble, it often seemed, was a prefix to failure.

"He came back too soon," says Carragher, referring to Houllier's dramatic return to the dugout for our Champions League encounter with Roma in March 2002 - just weeks after undergoing heart surgery.

"I think he'd say himself now that he'd probably have been better waiting until the end of the season. That was just his enthusiasm for football. Obviously it didn't help him that summer when he made certain decisions but for the first three or four years he was the best manager I've had.

"He wasn't so much a coach, he was a manager. He was fantastic in a team meeting in getting you pumped up for a game, getting everyone together and team spirit."

So, six eventful years on, how would Carragher define the Houllier era?

"He put us back on the map in Europe with that UEFA Cup run in 2001," says the now veteran defender. "He was also the first manager to get us into the Champions League.

"The treble in 2001 is definitely under-appreciated. That season was unbelievable. To win a trophy in a season is a great thing. To win three?

"It's not just the finals. You've got the quarter-finals and the semi-finals - they're all massive games. Everything is on a knife-edge. Lose one game and it all falls apart.

"There were signings that didn't work but look at Sami Hyypia - what a signing he was. Markus Babbel, Didi Hamann, Stephane Henchoz, Gary Mac - these signings. Look at what Heskey did in the treble season. Look at the way he made me and Danny Murphy better players and brought Steven Gerrard through."

Carragher will himself be best remembered for his performance during one night in Istanbul, for overcoming sustained bouts for cramp to ensure the greatest comeback of them all didn't morph into a story of what might have been.

But while he regards lifting the Champions League trophy as his finest hour, Carragher argues that the treble was and is an even more remarkable feat.

"It's actually a better achievement than Istanbul," said our No.23. "Istanbul as a one off will never be beaten by anyone but someone wins the Champions League every year. To win three cup competitions in one season - that's not something that happens very often, not just at Liverpool but anywhere."

Houllier famously declared in the aftermath of Istanbul that it was largely his team that had triumphed. After all, he argued, 12 of the 14 players who wore red in the Ataturk were either signed or, in the case of Steven Gerrard and Carragher himself, nurtured on his watch.

For some, this undermines the tactical brilliance Rafael Benitez displayed to guide the Reds past Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Chelsea and, after a dreadful first half, AC Milan. Not forgetting the immense contribution of Benitez signings Luis Garcia and Xabi Alonso.

It also ignores the fact that most observers - including Carragher - felt it was right for Houllier to leave the club a year earlier.

"Don't get me wrong - the players and Rafa, it was our team," reflects Carragher. "But a lot of the players Gerard brought through played a major part in Istanbul. He's got to take some of the credit for that.

"Whenever a manager leaves it's because things haven't gone too well towards the end - it was the same with Rafa Benitez lately. But what Gerard left was winners in the team. He didn't inherit a team of winners.

"Even though the team wasn't doing too well, there were players in the squad who knew how to win trophies. Myself, Sami, Stevie, Michael, Didi, John Arne Riise. All these players had played in major finals. That made Rafa Benitez's job a bit easier coming in - he had players who knew how to win."

Carragher played his 650th game for Liverpool against West Ham last month and is now placed fifth - just behind Ian Rush - in the club's all-time appearance list.

This, perhaps, is another aspect of Houllier's legacy that is undervalued.

It was the Frenchman who warned Carragher to reel in any excesses early in his career; Houllier who brought the training facilities and methods at Melwood into the 21st century; Houllier who nagged him to get a girlfriend and settle down.

"The club and the team he came to was maybe set in its ways from the old days; going out drinking and enjoying your wins," says Carragher. "He certainly put a stop to that and he was certainly proved right by the success he had in his first few seasons.

"When we won the treble in 2001 - that's when the penny finally dropped.

"After the FA Cup final, no one was allowed a drink even though we'd won - and we went on to win the UEFA Cup final. These things make a difference.

"The fact I'm still playing now, and you look at Danny Murphy, Stevie, Michael Owen, Heskey - all those players from back then are still playing around the 30 mark or over. A lot of that is down to the manager.

"It probably wouldn't have been possible (to play 650 games) without the advice he gave me off the pitch. He's someone who came in just after Arsene Wenger and revolutionised English football in terms of how we look after ourselves.

"He was (on at me to get a girlfriend). I think all managers want players to settle down. It keeps them in. It wasn't just me - he was like that with other young players in the team.

"He was the biggest influence on my career because of what I won with him, how he influenced me as a player and what he gave me off the pitch."

Even today, more than six years after his Anfield reign ended, Houllier takes a keen interest in Carragher's wellbeing.

"He sent me a message about my shoulder and I spoke to him on the phone about how to come back and different things," explains Carragher. "He's given me a lot of support there, which is appreciated."

Having admitted that he could have been forced to hang up his boots by now without Houllier's mentoring, there is a certain irony in the fact that a rare injury will prevent Carragher facing the Frenchman's new club on Monday.

The centre-back knows there will be no room for sentiment as Liverpool look to bounce back from the Spurs defeat, but he is hoping the Kop gives Houllier the welcome his trophy haul and dedication to the club deserves.

"I'm expecting a great reception for what he did and also what he went through. He basically had a heart attack because he was putting so much work into trying to get Liverpool back to the top.

"He's the manager I won 70 or 80 per cent of my trophies with, he's someone I get on very well with and I'd like to see him do well. Though obviously not on Monday."

---------
good words from carra but there is a small dig at Rafa about inheriting a team of winners, which I thought wasn't necessary

[Red-er-Dare]

Yeah I saw that over on RAWK, causing a stir up. We play Villa on Monday and the interview relates to Houllier's time here. Carra gives his opinion which he's surely entitled to, and the Rafa crew over there didn't like it.

Fair enough, it's his opinion. I must say the the treble winning season does seem to be underated amongst Liverpool fans, factor on top of that, in that year we qualified for the CL too.

[mrt]

Players playing beyond their 30th birthday.  Whatever next?  Thanks, Gerard, for the club's fantastic new training facilities and all the good work done there enabling us to finish 20 - 30 points behind whoever won the league, playing a horrible style of football.  Thanks for Champions League qualification for the first time, although had there been 3 or 4 places available, Roy Evans would have qualified every year.  I know some of you, like Carra, will think fondly of him and he did bring in some cracking players amongst the dross, as mentioned in the article ( he neglected to mention Litmanen and Anelka) but I couldn't take to him.  He did come back too soon from his surgery.  Things were looking good and could have been better if Thommo was left to get on with things (hypothetical, I know).  Wouldn't have looked good, though, would it, if we managed to win the league without him?  That said, welcome back, Gerard, and thanks for persisting with Patrik Berger.  Lots of love, Mark x

[metalhead]

Yeah I saw that over on RAWK, causing a stir up. We play Villa on Monday and the interview relates to Houllier's time here. Carra gives his opinion which he's surely entitled to, and the Rafa crew over there didn't like it.

Fair enough, it's his opinion. I must say the the treble winning season does seem to be underated amongst Liverpool fans, factor on top of that, in that year we qualified for the CL too.

A lot of the posters there are actually OK with it, he gave his opinion and he is entitled to it, if he felt Ged was his best manager he ever worked with then good for him.

People shouldn't take it the wrong way, he is still a legend after what he has done for this club.

[metalhead]

PMSL at that post though in there

roy must be heatbroken
fought and got the bumper contract for carragher but still can't win his heart
jesus wept