Liverpool FC Forum

[ivor_the_injun]

For weeks, this board has been dominated by various threads criticising - and with good reason - things like GH's transfer record, team selections and tactics.

Time to smell the coffee - the board are behind him for now and he's here for at least another season. Instead of leaping on him at every opportunity and hoping that O'Neill comes in the summer, let's get behind him and the lads for the last games and hope that 4th place happens. Everybody knows that 4th is a horrible best case scenario, but that's where we are, so we need to get over it for this season and move on.

And let's face it, there's only so much criticism you can level at the man before you have to start pointing the finger at the team. Okay, Biscan shouldn't be anywhere near the bench, let alone the pitch, but it's not - for example - GH's fault that Murphy repeatedly finds an opponent's feet when trying to pick out a pass. It's also not GH's fault that Owen has fluffed so many penalties and gilt-edged chances this season. Similarly, you'd not have thought Hyypia and Henchoz would be so average for so long at the start of the season, so goals have gone in against us that wouldn't have happened 2 years ago.

Think of it this way: when Dudek spilled against Man U, everyone thought he was finished. When he got recalled, he got the best reception I saw for any player throughout that season, and on the back of that he had a fantastic game knowing that the Red half of the stadium was on his side. That's the Liverpool football club that I know and love. Admittedly we've been below par in games such as Fulham last week, but look at the body language of the players when they get booed off. Everyone knows how much of football is based on confidence, and leaping on their backs just doesn't help our cause.

Like him or not, GH is Liverpool's manager. He has money to spend over the summer and I hope he spends it well. I for one will be behind him and his players for as long as he is employed by the club, and I ask everybody that calls themselves a true fan to do the same.

[banana]

Behind Foolier.

NEVER.

Houllier has stolen 5 years of my life already, I will not support him any longer.

[The Manhattan Project]

This is what I think the problem is:

Some people think that the team is performing badly because of a lack of support from the fans.

The fans are booing because the team and manager are s##t and do not deserve our respect.

For the amount of money that these mercenary players get paid and the money that the fans give to the club by paying to watch their abysmal efforts while they lose to s##t teams like Portsmouth and struggle to scrape a fourth place, the club has no f##king right to whinge and complain about what the fans cheer.

Houllier deserves nothing from the fans. He selected these shitty players. He wasted millions on them. His negative tatics have made us boring to watch and ineffective against the opposition, while teams like Arsenal play exciting football with world class players.

The fans bear no responsibility to support the team while the team play s##t because of the players own lack of passion and their s##t attitude to the club. We are not compelled to support them regardless of how they perform. It's a two-way thing, fans will show the team respect when the team shows some respect for the fans and wins that f##king title.

It's nothing personal against the manager or the players. If the manager cannot take this club any further then he should leave. If these players are not good enough, they must go and be replaced.

[Stan Laurel]

Banana,

got a question for you...why you said GH has stolen 5 years of your life, that's pretty harsh to say that because he won the Treble and brought load of trophies back to Anfield before 2 seasons ago...I know he won Worthy Cup last season but is it Treble not good enough for you?

[DrLiverpool]

The man is bananas

I think that answers your question

[adayinthelife]

I would not be surprised if more Liverpool fans committed suicide last 2 years than any other club.If I could I would drag him out of his office kicking and screaming.This muppets incompetence is making so many fans lives a misery and yet the board want to give him more cash.They have sunk down to his level with their lack of bottle and blind faith in a man simply not up to the task.We the fans have the power but many seem like the board in lacking bottle cuz if we really wanted to I am sure his position would be totally hopeless and even he would accept he has no future at the club.We are in desperate times which calls for desperate measures i.e. calling for houlliers head and protesting at the boards lack of action or we could just stop putting our hands in our pockets until he is no longer at the club.By just sitting back we the fans are contributing to the disaster this club is fast becoming.MAKE YOURSELF HEARD.HOULLIER OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[oldredeyes]

Ivor, your sentiment is spot on and what I have come to expect from Liverpool fans. I am one of those fans who never miss a game at Anfield, always get behind the team and never boo them off the pitch.
But in over forty five years of watching games at Anfield I feel this season has been the worse.
The fans have not caused this sorry state at the club - the manager and his playing staff have done that - sadly assisted by the Board of Directors.
If the fans cheered the team off after diabolical performances GH would consider it to be a vote of confidence.
I don't like boos but misplaced support will do more harm than good.
Change is long overdue or we face a bleak future.

[DEJAN]

Well if the board wants him to stay, we can't change that. Lets just hope that he can look back at his mistakes and correct them. He needs to realise that he is the manager of LFC ( Legendary Football Club ). Yes!! We made more history than MU or Arsenal. It is time to continue that history. We played fantastic football in 2001 and thanks to him we could feel the glory again. But then he seems to have lost that path and spent 2 seasons looking for it. Lets hope he finds it B4 the next season begins. If he fails again then only the dummest fool in the world will support him. 

[jedwards]

Dear friend, I can not agree with your comments about GH as LFC manager, and the fans should support him all the way, to achieve the fourth spot, where you have shiftted the blame on the players. GH has drained even the good players in the squad of their confidence,however, there are quite a number of players your manager has bought, not worthy of their place in LFC squad, he also has change the team's style of play to much similar like Wimbeldon's style of play, long ball to front half!!!!.
The manager has no style, no tactics, he can not motivate players, can not handel big players, can not select good team formation, he is uesless apart from giving good excuses about his failuer, he has a big mouth in saying that his team is going to do this and that, but in actual fact his team is less capable than what GH dreams off, This is one LFC's manager who has created so much mess for LFC, as far as I remember over the past 40 years ago, and the main blame lies on the Chairman and Rick Parry, and possibley the whole board of directors, I can not see any good acheivement for LFC in future under GH' as a manager, and the fans should expect the worse to come next season, when the team will straggle even more than this current season while GH in charge. I have just read some news in the papers that the Chairman & Co. will give more funds to this idiot to spend in the summer, Well this is madness, when the large number of sincere LFC fans want to see the back of GH, and here the Chairman want to do the opposite!!!!.
The fans should make the voices heard by refuesing to accept this manager any longer, and they should ask for his sacking at once, and without any delay.

[DrLiverpool]

not right now

wait until the end of the season
it wouldnt be very good for confidence
and wouldnt help achieving 4th

[Dalglish]

I admire Ivor's tenacity and sets out his point well, a rare quality in here sometimes. Its all too easy for others to type an emotional outburst and believe they are contributing to the debate but they are not. However this post has had the ability to include some quality replies and they are welcome as this is a forum for debate and opinion. Mine is similar to "old Red Eyes" in that its been a VERY poor season although not the worse I've seen (Remeber Souness early 90's ? ) but it has ben bad and unacceptable for a club that has spent A LOT of money. Its no good pleading that we SHOULD Be up there cos of our history and past. What is needed are correct decisions on the playing, coaching , MANAGING , FINANCIAL AND genearl running of the club. Then and only then wil be be a serious contender for the title. We have the squad, we have the support , we have the infrastructure but sadly i feel not the manager and thats speaking as a fan who has met GH and thinks he's a lovely man who has LFC written right through him.But my wife says a I'ma lovely man and i KNOW I have LFC written right through me but i'm honest enough to admit i couldn't manage LFC and achieve the top honours!!!!  GH has took us as far as he can and it needs a new man at the helm to take these players onto the next level. Talk of Cisse, Hassallbank, Malbranqe etc......is futile when we have already seen BETTER players come into the club but not perform.

[XSD]

Banana,

got a question for you...why you said GH has stolen 5 years of your life, that's pretty harsh to say that because he won the Treble and brought load of trophies back to Anfield before 2 seasons ago...I know he won Worthy Cup last season but is it Treble not good enough for you?

Mickey Mouse treble

[vlady16.1]

i don't know much but i really enjoyed the treble year-- my treble jersey has a place of honor-- right beside my yzerman jersey-- my scarf hangs above my stanley cup banner

remember they have not said gh will manage next year-- i've read the reports-- i'm optimistic that mon will be here-- him  with cisse et al may be reeeal coool

[ivor_the_injun]

For the record, my post wasn't an attempt to shift the blame from Houllier to the players. I'm with all those that have pointed to poor selections, tactics and signings over the last couple of seasons.

However, as has been said many times elsewhere, many of the squad have been individually poor over the course of this season. How many of the following could claim to have been consistently at their best?

Henchoz
Finnan
Hyypia
Kewell
Heskey
Diouf
Owen
Murphy
Hamann
Riise (although he's much improved of late)
Biscan
Cheyrou

A lot of these, like Owen, Hamann, Henchoz and Hyypia, have been established for a while as the reliable cogs in the team that you'd back to do a job for you week in, week out. This year they've been poor. Yes, the signings like Diouf, Cheyrou and to a lesser extent Finnan have not been up to scratch for the money paid, but these players do have quality, it's just that they haven't shown it consistently enough to do justice to wearing the red shirt. Diouf looked an awesome player before he arrived, but now he just looks aimless and overpaid. I'd put half the blame on him and half on GH for overspending.

You can make a case for saying that GH's failings have rubbed off on the team, but if well-paid footballers aren't making tackles, completing passes, delivering crosses or finishing good chances in the box, you have to point to them and not the manager. None of the players listed above have done their jobs well enough this season to give us any right to be up there challenging for the title. Had Owen scored 30-odd goals this season and ground out some ugly 1-0s for us, GH would not be being criticised anywhere near as much. Likewise if players such as Murphy and Gerrard had found the net more regularly from midfield (Hyypia has more league goals than Stevie this season!).

I just think that, given that the board have made their decision, the fans should try and be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. I'd feel like a right Judas if I started booing my own team. I've grown up watching LFC thinking that you only boo at referees and the opposition (particularly if they're Manc or from the blue half). People ask why Anfield's no longer the fortress it used to be. Some of our own fans have started doing the away fans' jobs for them.

[XSD]

I think at Liverpool we seem to take players with potential, and never bring it out. Why is our coaching so bad, is it Houllier's skills of motivation?

Maybe Diouf would be a hell of a player if he went to Man U :/