Liverpool FC Forum

[115-1073096938]

1. Why was Houllier sacked?

2. Where all the players used properly under Houllier?

3. In your opinion, what players where not used properly?

4. Would Hyypia, Gerrard and Owen walk into any side in the world?

5. Did Valencia have the best players in la liga?

6. How many players performed last season to a decent standard.

7. On paper are the top teams that much further ahead than us?

8. Do you believe in the new manager?

9. Do you think the replacement of Heskey with Cisse will make us stronger?

10. Do you believe all our players will have a better season than last?

11. Do you believe anything is possible in football?

12. Finally, do you think Benitez can make something of at least 1 of Houllier's bad signings?

My answers...

1. Poor signings at a crucial point, losing one of his best players to illness, falling ill himself, failling to get the best out of certain players and never regaining that winning mentallity he seemed to lose after he fell ill.

2. No.

3. Smicer, Owen (latter stages of Houllier's reign), Kewell, Riise, Finnan, Murphy, Hamann, Le Tallec, Cheyrou, Biscan, Heskey and Baros.

4. Yes.

5. No.

6. Gerrard 9/10, Hyypia 7/10, Carragher 8/10 but only had a half sesaon. The rest 6 out of ten at best. Most around 6 and 5 which is average to poor.

7. No, probably only Arsenal, Chelsea i would say are equal as in my opinion they lack any Genuine world class players. Maybe there defence gives them a SLIGHT edge.

8. Yes.

9. Yes definately. As much as i liked Heskey 10 goals and 5 top class games a season isn't good enough.

10. Yes, especially Owen, Kewell and the fullbacks.

11. Yes.

12. Yes i would like to think so.

Thats my take on why we aren't as far behind as some people think we are and also the reasons why we haven't gone out and spent stupid money.

[barnesrush]

theres one for the pessimists out there!!!

[woof woof !]

In answer to your questions Stu, IMO.
1,Failed to inspire confidence at a time when the team seemed to be treading water, allied to lots of money spent on a squad that was clearly underachieving.
2, No . some players were not always used in their strongest position , thus damaging the players reputation and the teams effectiveness.
3, Tempted to name the whole squad ! but particularly , Diouf , Baros and Biscan.
4, No, Gerrard and Owen maybe,but some clubs would say "no" to Sammi (god bless him)
5, No
6, Gerrard, outstanding, Sammi,solid.
7, On paper ? Arsenal and Man U no, Chelsea look juicy ON PAPER ! (b'stards)
8, Not Yet, but in the meantime he has my support.
9, Absofukin'lutely. (no disrespect to emily )
10, Believe ? Hmmmm, No,  not ALL of them but certainly the majority .
11, Almost.
12, Yes. Keeping an eye on Diao and Biscan (isn't hindsight wonderfull ? )

[115-1073096938]

Note how the title says 11 and there is actually 12.



Forgot to change the title, was originally gonna be 10 but then added a couple halfway through lol.

[Bruno Zidane!]

To question 11 can anythin happen in football, well if Liverpool can win the league and the blue $h!te go down ill say yes cos Greece have got me believin it can!!!!

[kenco]

You backed G. H. totally. So why are you asking these questions. you should know the answers.?

[115-1073096938]

I backed him out of respect for his achievments and the fact he was our manager at the time. He done good things for this club and its in a far better shape now than it has been at any point over the last 14/15 years.

We are, in my opinion, more than capable of getting back to where we belong with the current crop of players. To stay there we'd need to keep improvig but there are definately players there who we haven't seen the best of and to be honest last season, there were only three players who had an above average season yet we still managed to finish 4th.

We all know what Owen's capable of, he fell well short last season. Riise had an average season aswell. Theres two players who can make a massive difference who didn't really last season. Then theres Baros who missed over half the season. My pont is with three players playing well and some of our best out of form and with an injury crisis we still manageed 4th. If we can get 5 or 6 on top form and have a normal injury run theres no reason we can't improve majestically.

[stanstaunton]

We still need wide mids at least I think (Jermaine Pennant, anyone?)

[kenco]

We all know the only reason we came 4th was down to stevie G. End of story, not because we were a good team.Stu i like your banter and your opinions. But you know as well as me this team really needs to improve. We are not good enough. We need new signings.

[115-1073096938]

Kenco i'll take that as a compliment. I have to i supose i don't get many

Seriously though, yes, we have to improve. But i believe we can tactically and mentallity wise. Thats the first improvement.

Look at the team that finished second.

Dudek

Carragher
Henchoz
Hyypia
Riise

Murphy
Hamann
Gerrard
Smicer

Anelka/Heskey
Owen

Thats a decent side. Imo, Hyypia is the same play, as is Riise, Carragher has improved. Henchoz has got slightly worse, but mainly down to the tactics changing a bit and us requiring more pace at the back, i think the defence overall is as good as it was then.

The midfield has Gerrard who imo is twice the player he was then. In that season i thought he was very good but only shown glimpses of what he can do. Hamann has gone backwards but i feel isn't much worse. Overall the centre of midfield hasbecome stronger with Gerrards improvement. Kewell imo is better than Smicer and i think we have seen nothing of what Kewell is capable of. Murphy, same player just lacking form.

The attack, i still believe Owen is the same player. He's lacking confidence in his team and form thats all. He'll get that back this season. Cisse is better than Heskey imo, Anelka.... i'm not so sure. Baros is a cracking backup player.

I disagree this squad isn't good enough to win the league. If the manager can get consistency from our best players then i thikn we are good enough, i'm not blind enough to say we don't need signings to improve further, but i think we can improve ALOT without signings and in my opinion, thats what we should be looking to do first.

Jermaine Pennant is a player i like aswell, quick, good dribbler, good technique and delivers a good ball... would like to see it happen but doubt it will.

[thecatsmeow]

For what they are worth

1. couldnt manage his way out of a paper bag
2 no
3 GH could not motivate them therefore they were not used properly
4. Gerrard yes... owen and hypia may not be able to walk into every premiership team( which is a shame for hypia he is underated)
5. no
6. gerrard and hypia
7. on paper chelsea man u and arsenal look better and some other teams are catching up
8 ask me start of november
9 if we replaced heskey with my neighbours 3 legged cat we would be stronger
10. if believe and hope are the same   yes
11 . i dont believe its possible for lincoln city to win the premiership this season so no anything is not possible
12 nope you cant make silk out of a sows ear

[kenco]

We will only improve, of course, but we still need at least four world class players in order to win us the league.And you know that.[ i'am up to bed now now................... hear from you tommorow] ......old t*wt hey!!

[115-1073096938]

I think we need 2 or 3 to challenge for Europe or consistently be the best, but i think we can challenge this season with the current crop.

Our opinions of world class are miles apart by the sound of it so thats a bad term to use.

For me, Gerrard, Owen and Hyypia would walk into any side in the world probably, Kewell is more than capable but has only ever shown flashes, saying that that was only his first season. We've all seen how good Riise can be and he's improved alot defensively and i think the goalkeepers are amoungst the best in the country. Cisse, well i've yet to see him properly and live on a regular basis, but from what i have seen and read he's top class.... or at least not far off...

Theres more there than you are giving credit for believe me. You'll see this season coming and nothing will be better than me sitting here at the end of the season and saying "told you so ".

If i can say that to ya at the end of the season, we'll both be happy fella's.

[madred]

We will all be happy fella's Stu mate! Lets hope whatever happens this season we get behind this man and give him our total support through thick & thin! We all want the same thing and i really do believe this guy has what it takes to get things right and get the best out of our players. New top class players are always welcome but as long as they know what it takes to be in with the spirit of wearing a liverbird on their chest. Walk on.

[LFC #1]

1. Why was Houllier sacked?

2. Where all the players used properly under Houllier?

3. In your opinion, what players where not used properly?

4. Would Hyypia, Gerrard and Owen walk into any side in the world?

5. Did Valencia have the best players in la liga?

6. How many players performed last season to a decent standard.

7. On paper are the top teams that much further ahead than us?

8. Do you believe in the new manager?

9. Do you think the replacement of Heskey with Cisse will make us stronger?

10. Do you believe all our players will have a better season than last?

11. Do you believe anything is possible in football?

12. Finally, do you think Benitez can make something of at least 1 of Houllier's bad signings?

My answers...

1. Poor signings at a crucial point, losing one of his best players to illness, falling ill himself, failling to get the best out of certain players and never regaining that winning mentallity he seemed to lose after he fell ill.

2. No.

3. Smicer, Owen (latter stages of Houllier's reign), Kewell, Riise, Finnan, Murphy, Hamann, Le Tallec, Cheyrou, Biscan, Heskey and Baros.

4. Yes.

5. No.

6. Gerrard 9/10, Hyypia 7/10, Carragher 8/10 but only had a half sesaon. The rest 6 out of ten at best. Most around 6 and 5 which is average to poor.

7. No, probably only Arsenal, Chelsea i would say are equal as in my opinion they lack any Genuine world class players. Maybe there defence gives them a SLIGHT edge.

8. Yes.

9. Yes definately. As much as i liked Heskey 10 goals and 5 top class games a season isn't good enough.

10. Yes, especially Owen, Kewell and the fullbacks.

11. Yes.

12. Yes i would like to think so.

Thats my take on why we aren't as far behind as some people think we are and also the reasons why we haven't gone out and spent stupid money.

1. houllier was sacked because the majority of fans, Board and some playrs alike had lost patience in our downward spiral in his last 2 years of management, there was no confidence anymore so he had to make way for a new manager.

2. No, quite simply.

3. Diouf and Heskey played on the Wing when they were bought as strikers, b4 Kewell we didn't have a left wing so would habe to play a central player like Murphy out there, Smicer was also used wrongly and Owen to an extent. Also Biscan played CB is more of defensive midfielder.

4. Gerrard - yes, without a doubt
    Hyppia - maybe not AC Milan
    Owen - ah probably most sides, but there are clubs like
    Real Madrid (Ronaldo and Raul) and maybe AC Milan   (although he'd probs play ahead of Inzaghi)

5. No, but their squad was one of the best, lots of good players like Aimar, Baraja, Vicente and Ayala.

6. Stevie G was more than decent he was outstanding.
    Carragher was consistently sound in Defence, and Hyppia was decent but was not as solid as previous seasons.

7. Not really, Chelsea (on paper anyway) have more depth in their squad but haven't played together and will take time to adjust to each other's game.

Man Utd are stronger on the wings with Giggs and Ronaldo, as we need a right winger.

Arsenal have a good sqaud, more well rounded than ours.

But a Centre midfielder and a right winger of high quality would make ourtr squad as good as anyone's in England.

8. Yes he has done well in Spain and seems to have a good work ethic.

9. undoubtedly.

10. can't get much worse than last season so yes, Owen will defo improve as well as guys like Kewell and Murphy who underperformed last season and have shown us that they are better players in seasons b4 last.
Gerrard can't really improve on last season he was immense, but if he does watch out.

11. almost anything, Greece winning Euro 2004 confirms this.

12. I hope so, Biscan maybe or Diao.