Liverpool FC Forum

[The Magician]

I think Gerard Houllier is trying to turn us into the Arsenal of the early 90s.

[come on u reds]

I think most of Houllier's signings have been ok.I also think Houllier has a knack of turning good players into mediocre players with his 'tactical' awareness.Steven Gerrard is an efforvescent player who likes to roam the pitch in search of the ball,driving the play forward and creating chances;well that's what he use to do until his game was stifled by the ultra-defensive attitude of Mr Houllier.I would likes us to attack in numbers;to go for the jugular from the start.Diouff will come through,so too will Diao and Cheyrou.

u speak a hell of a lot of sense and i agree i dont like to admit this but after this season which i think we will do pourly in it could be time to be on the manager market but i will stick up for heskey a bit but i think he needs to be pushed tell him wut we want from him and hopfully get more the heskey that played for leister and the one that first came     

[Dubliner]

I never thought I would feel so dissapointed with a Liverpool side as I do now - and I remember Souness and the signing of Julian Dicks et al. Here we are on the cusp of a new season and I honestly have no positive feeling about us winning anything - I do hope I am proved wrong.

I remember the glory years of the seventies and eighties in which we seemed to have a knack for bringing through good backroom staff (Paisley, Fagan, Daglish etc) and also in signing good players at relatively modest prices.

We now seem to have the worst of both worlds in that I have no confidence in the back room staff (Houllier, Thompson, Lee etc) and also the players we have introduced over the last few years, e.g. Heskey, Traore, Diao, Diouf, etc.

We also appear to have let go (or not signed) some very useful players that showed real skill and talent on the pitch, e.g. litmanen, berger and anelka.

One wonders whether the team selection is more down to personalities than what is good for the club and will achieve results. I am still at a loss as to why Houllier insisted on playing Traore (Bambi) over Riise in a number of important games last season.

I make no appologies for my comments for I am not one of the "Emperors new clothes" brigade, there is something serouly wrong at my beloved club and I believe everybody who wants to see us return to the glory days - or at least play entertaining football - should speak out.

I have supported Liverpool for more than thirty years and I have no doubt will support them for many more. However I feel the time has arrived to review the strategy of this once great club with a new stronger leader and back room staff.

I hate to say - again hope I am proved wrong - but we will not win the Premiership under Gerrard Houllier, despite the fact he is a very nice and honourable man.

[genecola]

We will win the championship.

We will still win it even if we lose the first five games.

And I will still be supporting Liverpool even if we were in Division 3.

I'm very sure Everton fans thinks they can win the championship too.

The last thing the team needs right now is the lack of faith from its fans.

You just don't change parents if your kid falls on his first try on walking.

[AHAK]

IS HENCHOZ INJURED? if he isnt then houllier is a *****.  If he is what the hell is he doing putting carrager in at centreback to replace him.  He hasnt played there for more than two years.  If babbel is available why isnt our ONLY world class rightback/centre back at least on the bench.

Just when it seems Houlier cant surprise me any more a new season starts and he proves me wrong.

[rasclot]

I love houlier i think he's a wonderful manager and a great tactiction. I can see what he's trying to do here but its going to take time. It may look like were playing to narrow but once the players get used to the style of play gerrard is trying to get installed im sure we will begin to roll over teams. I wish people would lay of Heskey and smicer, they may not contributing much goals wise butits thier all round game and what they give the team.I also think playing Harry on the right is an inspired decision, just imagine him when he's fully fit flying past full backs then cutting back on to his left for shoots. I think we will see the best of Diouf now after a difficult settling in period, andi go with Gerrard when he claimed Biscan could be theanswer in midfield quality player just needs a good run in the team. IM also looking forward to the return of Kirkland he's so much better than dodgy jerzy.

[AHAK]

I love houlier i think he's a wonderful manager and a great tactiction. I can see what he's trying to do here but its going to take time. It may look like were playing to narrow but once the players get used to the style of play gerrard is trying to get installed im sure we will begin to roll over teams. I wish people would lay of Heskey and smicer, they may not contributing much goals wise butits thier all round game and what they give the team.I also think playing Harry on the right is an inspired decision, just imagine him when he's fully fit flying past full backs then cutting back on to his left for shoots. I think we will see the best of Diouf now after a difficult settling in period, andi go with Gerrard when he claimed Biscan could be theanswer in midfield quality player just needs a good run in the team. IM also looking forward to the return of Kirkland he's so much better than dodgy jerzy.

You must be GH brother    or a Manc 

[supersub]

rasclot is cheesey in disguise.

[its cold in the stands shadow]

i agree with our mate from the emerald isle, gh is a nice bloke and showed a lot of guts after his heart troubles and i would love him to succeed.
but its a sad fact of life that nice guys are not always the winners. i thought we had a decent go today against a good chelsea side and apart from maybe cheyrou i thought eveyone else played okay. but for the run of the ball it could have been a different result plus we were without argueably our most influential player.
but after five years the team still has no balance or structure and there`s no understanding or intuition between the players. we rely on individual brilliance rather than well constructed moves to open up the opposition.
but i`d rather see us have a go and fail like today than packing midfeild and defence and hoping for a breakaway goal.
at one point we had owen, heskey, baros, kewell,diouff and murphy on and whilst it was a bit of a positional shambles from a manager who is supposed to be tactically astute, i agree with the sentiment.

[kennys mate]

if not GH then who!!!     

[its cold in the stands shadow]

i`ve always thought keegan brings a bit of emotion and passion into where ever he`s been as well as producing good attractive attacking sides, not just the one at newcastle but fulham and city also. this proves he is a good hands on coach and inspires players to better themselves under his guidance. i dont think he gets the credit for what he done by taking newcastle so close to the title.
some say he blew it but i say he peformed a minor miracle taking a side who last won the title in the 1920`s from the bottom of the old second division to competing toe to toe with one of the best sides the domestic english game has ever seen (the united mid 90`s team). his whole philosophy he says is based around the years he spent under bill shankly and it is a bit of an "in joke"  amongst players who have played under keegan to count how many times he says "bill shankly used to say...." or " when i was at liverpool...."
i think the only reason he is plying his trade at city is to keep his hand in for the liverpool job. i think he feels its his destiny to return to the club he sweated blood for and return them to the top of the english game.i heard him in a interview a couple of years ago when the fella said to him " i suppose newcastle will always be your spiritual home" and he replied " i love newcastle but people underestimate the effect liverpool football club had on me, they took a shy lad of 19 with limited ability and turned him into a european footballer of the year , everytime someone mentions bill or bob i cant help but feel those fellas had a massive influence on not just kevin keegan the player but kevin keegan the man, i miss them both "
keegan at the helm wont guarentee the title but you will get a throwback to the 60`s/70`s style of all out attack with the manager instilling into the players what it means to play for the shirt.
i think its written in the stars that one of shanklys favourite sons and original king of the kop will return to restore passion ,flair,success and tradition to liverpool football club. it will be more than a job to him.its his destiny.

[supersub]

A good shout.

[its cold in the stands shadow]

with a keegan side the very least your guarenteed is exiciting attacking football played on the grass, and unlike everywhere else he`s been i think all the main ingredients are already at the club.they just need coaching, direction, a lot of passion for the shirt and instilling a desire in them to go that extra yard for their team mate.
liverpool used to thrive on nights of all out attack (saint ettienne), this in turn lifts the crowd and before you know it its the 70`s again.
we where never a hearts in the fridge type of outfit, houlliers style is too cold and calculating, lets get keegan, do a bit of badge kissing and get stuck into them.the clubs legend was built on tales of fortress anfield`s atmosphere and teams getting mullered for daring to try and take two points from there.

[Dubliner]

Interesting comments on the manager front, however we might as well resign ourselves to the fact that GH is in for another season.
However after another mediocre season I feel GH is not the kind of guy that will need to told anything. He has high standards and I feel he will step down if they make no advancements on last season.
So unless i am wrong - again hope so - we will be looking for a new manager next summer. The names in the frame would obviuosly be one of the old boys Keegan, Daglish, Toshack and possibly that Celtic man O' Neill.

No doubt Keegan would have the passion and get them playing more creative football, but again  - I have the utmost respect for the man - could he bring home a title. To me he showed a weakness of character when at Newcastle and England which would be ruthlessly exposed in a title race - no I don't need to go into the Ferguson rants, we all remember them.

Daglish has the class and the character but like Toshack I would wonder whether they could be enticed to take on the position in the Culdron at Liverpool.

Thus crazy as it may sound I feel O' Neill at Celtic might be the man for the job. The man rumoured to be biding his time for the Manchester job - who knows Ferguson staying on could be a blessing in disguise. O' Neill has a proven ability to bring out the best in his players and he certainly has a strong characther.

I feel he would get some good structure back in the side which would allow us to play wider , more attacking football.
Who knows we might even get back that Fortress Anfield position.

[supersub]

Yep I can't argue with your reasoning.I wanted Martin O'Neill a year ago when rumours began to develop he had bought property on the Wirral.Sadly the story subsided as well as the team performances.You never know,new season fresh hope and elephants will one day fly,upside down too boot.