Liverpool FC Forum

by **ynwa** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:05 pm

cant belive gh got rid of theses playersJari Litmanen Patrik Berger Nick Barmby Nicolas Anelka David Thompson Sander Westerveld Jamie Redknapp Steve McManaman Dominic Matteo Robbie Fowler

by **stmichael** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:19 pm

litmanen- when he signed i thought it was a brilliant signing. outstanding passer of the ball. very similar to bergkamp. sold because he just didn't fit into our preferred formation. houllier preferred HESKEY instead.

berger- best left foot in the premiership and also scored goals, a rare commodity for a modern day midfielder. suffered too many injuries late on in his liverpool career and was subsequently sold. houllier rated SMICER higher obviously.

barmby- great in the treble season but disappeared into obscurity.

anelka- previous moaning tendencies counted against him despite the fact he was a proven goalscorer who looked aelectric during his loan spell with us. houllier preferred to risk 10m on diouf who had two good games during the world cup. in 2 seasons he has scored 5 goals, enough said.

thompson- great talent, scouse through and through. being young and english probably didn't help. sold to coventry and two years later was in the england squad. nice.

westerveld- from what i could see, made one costly mistake against bolton and was never played again. never made as many bloopers as dudek has though.

redknapp- see berger

fowler- don't know. lost a few yards maybe? people were to quick to compare him to previous form. still scored 15 goals during the treble season despite heskey and owen being the number 1 partnership.

by **Owzat** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:37 pm

Simple answer is Houllier is too full of himself. He obviously wanted to get rid of most of the players from the Evans era and has all but extinguished all traces. I feel some were justified as they were past their sell by date, continually changing the squad doesn't help continuity though

The most consistent unchanged/settled team of the top sides in England generally wins the Premiership - Arsenal are pretty much the same team as last season

by **115-1073096938** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:35 pm

litmanen- when he signed i thought it was a brilliant signing. outstanding passer of the ball. very similar to bergkamp. sold because he just didn't fit into our preferred formation. houllier preferred HESKEY instead.

berger- best left foot in the premiership and also scored goals, a rare commodity for a modern day midfielder. suffered too many injuries late on in his liverpool career and was subsequently sold. houllier rated SMICER higher obviously.

barmby- great in the treble season but disappeared into obscurity.

anelka- previous moaning tendencies counted against him despite the fact he was a proven goalscorer who looked aelectric during his loan spell with us. houllier preferred to risk 10m on diouf who had two good games during the world cup. in 2 seasons he has scored 5 goals, enough said.

thompson- great talent, scouse through and through. being young and english probably didn't help. sold to coventry and two years later was in the england squad. nice.

westerveld- from what i could see, made one costly mistake against bolton and was never played again. never made as many bloopers as dudek has though.

redknapp- see berger

fowler- don't know. lost a few yards maybe? people were to quick to compare him to previous form. still scored 15 goals during the treble season despite heskey and owen being the number 1 partnership.

Litmanen. Should have stayed as a squad player. Had the ability to change games with his outstanding passing, vision, technical ability and choice of pass. He didn't have the alround defensive and athletic ability to be a first team player, should have been kept on though imo.

Berger was gettin on and past it. He realeased him at the end of last season where he hardly played due to injury and replaced him with Harry Kewell. Correct to let him go, it wouldn't have been worth offering him a new contract and i doubt he'd have signed one to sit on the bench.

Barmby. He's playing first division football now. Theres your answer. Gave us some good service though.

Anelka was a mistake. Out and out. HOWEVER!!!! Given his past i can fully understand Houlliers decision. I would have preffered him to have took the risk on Nico as in my mind he was worth it. Gerard thought differently and i respect that. I do think the signing of Diouf instead contributed to the way we have stagnated. But Cisse is as good as Nico and in my opinion has the potential to be better.

Thompson wanted to leave. End of Story. You do not keep players that want to go. Steven Wright shouldn't have been sold. But thats in the past.

Westerveld had alot more than one bad game. See bolton, Middlesborough, Uefa cup final to name a few. He is a decent keeper. Not a patch on the two we have now.

Redknapp? You're having a laugh? He lost his pace and fitness, wasn't exactly the most creative of players and couldn't defend. Never fulfilled his early potential. Right to be let go.

Fowler??? f##kin hell mate. There was no way he would have settled for being on the bench. At the time Heskey and Owen was by a country mile the best partnership. Fowler and Owen only ever once performed well together as a team and that was against Charlton away. I supose Roma away they done well but that was as individuals. In the treble season the only two league matches at home we lost Fowler and Owen started. They were the only times they started together at anfield aswell. Everyone would have loved him to have stayed... but that wasn't a real possibility.

by **JBG** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 5:21 pm

I agree with Stu's analysis above, and it would have been nice to have kept Litmannen on as a squad player: he gave us different options and he was brilliant at holding onto possession in the last 10 minutes if we were protecting a lead.

I'm not sure about Cisse being better than Anelka...I'm not saying he won't be but we'll have to wait and see.

by **Badmao1** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:27 am

cant belive gh got rid of theses playersJari Litmanen Patrik Berger Nick Barmby Nicolas Anelka David Thompson Sander Westerveld Jamie Redknapp Steve McManaman Dominic Matteo Robbie Fowler

Jari Litmanen- Mistake to let him go, although GH might not have seen him in his first team plans surely Litmanen deserved a place in the Liverpool squad. I believe if he was ever given a run in the first team he would have proved himself one of GH's best ever signings.

Patrik Berger- Correct to let him go, although he was a great goalscoring midfielder his terrible run of injuries made him a bit of a liability. Shame because Berger has a lot of talent and could have been one of the premierships best players.

Nick Barmby- Mistake in my view to let him go. Nick Barmby has always been a bit of an up and down player, i remember when he first burst onto the scene at Tottenham and there was talk of Liverpool swapping Redkanpp for him. At that time he was excelletn and a regular England player who scored goals a bit like Scholes for Utd. Something happened to him but i thought in our treble winning season he was approaching him best form and aslo played during Englands famous 5-1 win over Germany. Even as a squad player Barmby was worth holding onto in my opinion.

Nicolas Anelka- Mistake to let him leave, although i never liked him he is a fantastic player and could maybe have improved our all round play. Will always think back to the decision to let Anelka leave and sign Diouf.

David Thompson- Correct. A good player but was in need of first team football which he didn't warrrant at Liverpool.

Sander Westerveld- Correct to kick him out. Never liked the guy as a player or person. Always had something to say and didn't do enough to back it up. Don't agree with anyone who says he was a better keeper than Dudek or Kirkland.

Jamie Redknapp- Correct. Although one of my favourite players he was just so unlucky with injuries that his career was doomed. Wish him all the best with his future career and marriage.

Steve McManaman- Correct, He wanted to leave and we don't need players like that. McManaman provided many good seasons for Liverpool and was a great player but i have no problem with him leaving. My problem is with Smicer replacing him!

Dominic Matteo- Mistake. While at Liverpool Matteo was always developing into a better and better player and although he did seem prone to the odd huge mistake we've seen him stop these at Leeds. Wish him all the best and maybe a Liverpool comeback someday.

Robbie Fowler- Mistake for me. Robbie Fowler is one of the best striker the world has every seen and his career at Anfield was amazing. As with Redknapp and Berger injuries were not kind to him and have robbed him of the chance to shine on the biggest stage. I would take Fowler in him prime over Michael Owen, Henry, Shearer or anyone one in the premiership. We should have held onto him and maybe GH should have done more to make sure his fitness was up to scratch and done more to rebuild his shattered confidence. I really hope that Fowler can recapture his best form and win a place in the euro 2004 squad.

by **columbia** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 6:54 pm

agree with stu other then about fowler in 99 they were, for goals between them, the best strike force in the league. Most people think it was yorke and cole. I reckon if theyd have played regularly together they could have been amazing.

by **115-1073096938** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 9:00 pm

I would take Fowler in him prime over Michael Owen, Henry, Shearer or anyone one in the premiership

Then you are clearly insane

good day to you

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