2000/01 - The Treble Season

[jonesie]

Just been passing a long, unemployed afternoon by digging out the DVD. Good memories.

"Gerrard, he's not shy of shooting from long range...AND YOU CAN SEE WHY!"

More importantly though, it hit home how we are a much better team now. Sure back then we had Owen at his best and Heskey was fantastic, scoring 22 goals, but with only Gerrard, Carragher and Hyypia still at the club now, we've had a complete turnover.

That season was amazing, with some superb results, but we're much more entertaining and exciting to watch now.

I like to remember GH for that season and not his last two, because it was him that set us up for where we are now. He put us back on the European map after the barren years of Souness and Evans. He layed the foundations for Rafa to build on and restore us to the heights of old.

We're looking ahead to an exciting season, but it's good to look back at just how far we've come.

[Dessy]

Makes you wonder where we'd have been if good old Roy would have been man enough to force GH out?

[Dhav]

I can see this turning into one of those tiresome GH debates but I wonder what foundations he actually laid.

I know one of the things he said was that his legacy was leaving behind a club in stronger position than when he arrived. Questionable I'd say. When he left in 04 we were as far behind the top clubs as at any point under Evans, plus he spunked away a lot of money on poor players, meaning we were also in bad financial shape so Rafa's hands were tied and he couldn't bring in all the players he wanted to.

I think the playing squad was in a bad mess. Look at how many players we had to give away on loan deals etc, no one wanted to take them off our hands. Yes he left behind some good players, but Carra only emerged as World class centreback under Rafa, GH employed him everywhere else but there. Gerrard was top quality, but did he develop because of or in spite of Houllier?

I'd be interested to know what foundations specifically you think he laid?

[jonesie]

I'd be interested to know what foundations specifically you think he laid?

Of course we know that the playing staff was weak, very weak in fact.

What I meant was that he restored our image as a trophy winning club, seeing as we'd won **** all bar a League Cup in the nine years before that.

Maybe 'laying the foundations' was the wrong expression.

[Parm]

Just been passing a long, unemployed afternoon by digging out the DVD. Good memories.

"Gerrard, he's not shy of shooting from long range...AND YOU CAN SEE WHY!"

More importantly though, it hit home how we are a much better team now. Sure back then we had Owen at his best and Heskey was fantastic, scoring 22 goals, but with only Gerrard, Carragher and Hyypia still at the club now, we've had a complete turnover.

That season was amazing, with some superb results, but we're much more entertaining and exciting to watch now.

I like to remember GH for that season and not his last two, because it was him that set us up for where we are now. He put us back on the European map after the barren years of Souness and Evans. He layed the foundations for Rafa to build on and restore us to the heights of old.

We're looking ahead to an exciting season, but it's good to look back at just how far we've come.

superb memories, I remember every match at one point had everything riding on it. The UEFA cup and FA cup final follwoed up by winning at Charlton to secure the CL spot

[Dhav]

Of course we know that the playing staff was weak, very weak in fact.

What I meant was that he restored our image as a trophy winning club, seeing as we'd won **** all bar a League Cup in the nine years before that.

Maybe 'laying the foundations' was the wrong expression.

I think you're saying he restored some pride and dignity to the club and in the shirt along with the will and determination to succeed. This I completely agree with. He did change the mentality for the better in this regard.

[Darth Marty]

Theres not one manager Id criticise...I even liked Souness.....I reckon he would have been a great manager for us had he stayed longer and got rid of the **** that he had under him, for ****s sake how hard must it have been for Graeme Souness to see players NOT TRY for his beloved Liverpool?! Id have done my nut at the ****ers too.

Yup...I love Rafa, but I loved all previous managers too, and no doubt ill love the next manager!

[Ataturk]

I think you're saying he restored some pride and dignity to the club and in the shirt along with the will and determination to succeed. This I completely agree with. He did change the mentality for the better in this regard.

both evans and houllier suffered from the clubs inability to compete off the pitch and attract star names. they both had talented local lads but that culminated in 2001 where even though we had lost macca we had a good core. i think 2001 laid the foundations for 2005s champions league triumph. we had carra, gerrard, hyppia, didi and vlad in the team and a others with good european experiance. for that we have houllier to thank.

for me leverkusen was the beginning of the end for houllier. his return from a heart condition which could have taken his life. he didnt shirk the challenge of coming back because he was committed.

poor man manager, negative tactician he may have been but respect to GH and what he achieved in 2001

[Dhav]

both evans and houllier suffered from the clubs inability to compete off the pitch and attract star names. they both had talented local lads but that culminated in 2001 where even though we had lost macca we had a good core. i think 2001 laid the foundations for 2005s champions league triumph. we had carra, gerrard, hyppia, didi and vlad in the team and a others with good european experiance. for that we have houllier to thank.

for me leverkusen was the beginning of the end for houllier. his return from a heart condition which could have taken his life. he didnt shirk the challenge of coming back because he was committed.

poor man manager, negative tactician he may have been but respect to GH and what he achieved in 2001

I don't really buy that line of Houllier setting the foundations for the 2005 CL win, despite the fact that 12 out of the 14 players who played in the final were "Houllier players".

1) the 2 Rafa players, Alonso and Garcia, were absolutely critical in us winning #5, Garcia in the knockout stage, and Alonso in the final.

2) the squad was so thin that it meant Rafa had to prioritise competitions, and of course he prioritised Europe, saving players like Hyypia for the CL.

3) the playing staff was so weak that Rafa couldn't really play any kind of sustained attacking/possession game against the opposition, where we could impose ourselves and take the game to them. We had to stop them rather than play our own game. In the whole knockout round excluding the Leverkusen tie, in 5 matches we only really took the game to Juve in the first half at Anfield and for 6 mins against Milan in the final. Compare to Athens where we had most of the play and Milan played the spoiling/counter attacking game. In a way, the fact that our team was so poor allowed us to play a game which could stop the opposition from winning.

Personally, I think Houllier left such a poor team behind that Rafa worked wonders to turn it around and used those disadvantages in his favour to win the CL. On paper it is probably the least talented group to win the CL since Red Star Belgrade. Proof is how poorly the team did in the league (finished below Everton FFS). But like Rehhagel with Greece at the Euros, Rafa proved being an underdog, being inferior to the opposition, can be used as an advantage. There's no pressure on you to take the game to the opposition - if you are organised, disciplined and tactically aware, you can choke the life out of the opposition and if you take the few chances that come your way you're laughing.

In a way, I think if Houllier had left a better team, one capable of taking the game to the opposition, we were less likely to win the CL in 05 as we would have tried to attack teams but struggled to match the likes of Chelsea and Milan.

So in a way, we should thank Houllier for leaving such a poor team behind that it forced Rafa to play the only way in such a team would have any chance of winning the CL. If that makes any sense.

[h7k]

1) the 2 Rafa players, Alonso and Garcia, were absolutely critical in us winning #5, Garcia in the knockout stage, and Alonso in the final.........


For me Hamann changed the game coming on in the 2nd half in the CL final

[Radar]

Is anyone like myself feel strange, saying that yes we won the treble but they were all muck trophies. Man U won the league, European Cup and the FA Cup in '99???

[kop-al-74]

Just been passing a long, unemployed afternoon by digging out the DVD. Good memories.

"Gerrard, he's not shy of shooting from long range...AND YOU CAN SEE WHY!"

More importantly though, it hit home how we are a much better team now. Sure back then we had Owen at his best and Heskey was fantastic, scoring 22 goals, but with only Gerrard, Carragher and Hyypia still at the club now, we've had a complete turnover.

That season was amazing, with some superb results, but we're much more entertaining and exciting to watch now.

I like to remember GH for that season and not his last two, because it was him that set us up for where we are now. He put us back on the European map after the barren years of Souness and Evans. He layed the foundations for Rafa to build on and restore us to the heights of old.

We're looking ahead to an exciting season, but it's good to look back at just how far we've come.

It was a great year for Liverpool in terms of finals and real excitement.Just a shame the signings of the summer of 2002 were the make or break signings which unfortunately set us back instead of forwards.A real shame.

[Yozza]

Is anyone like myself feel strange, saying that yes we won the treble but they were all muck trophies. Man U won the league, European Cup and the FA Cup in '99???

Have to agree on this one.... it wasn't THE Treble

Still, a fantastic rollercoaster of a season & I'll always be grateful to Ged for that

[Dhav]

Have to agree on this one.... it wasn't THE Treble

Still, a fantastic rollercoaster of a season & I'll always be grateful to Ged for that

League Cup means comparatively little. UEFA Cup I was indifferent to, I missed the game because I had two final exams the next day.

But I'll always be grateful to Owen for the FA Cup Final. One of the best days of my life.

[LFC1892]

I can see this turning into one of those tiresome GH debates but I wonder what foundations he actually laid.

I know one of the things he said was that his legacy was leaving behind a club in stronger position than when he arrived. Questionable I'd say. When he left in 04 we were as far behind the top clubs as at any point under Evans, plus he spunked away a lot of money on poor players, meaning we were also in bad financial shape so Rafa's hands were tied and he couldn't bring in all the players he wanted to.

I think the playing squad was in a bad mess. Look at how many players we had to give away on loan deals etc, no one wanted to take them off our hands. Yes he left behind some good players, but Carra only emerged as World class centreback under Rafa, GH employed him everywhere else but there. Gerrard was top quality, but did he develop because of or in spite of Houllier?

I'd be interested to know what foundations specifically you think he laid?

I find myself nodding in agreement to all of that.

Rafa worked wonders with the squad he inherited and lack of money due to Houllier's expensive blunders in the transfer market. It's a credit to his skills as a coach and man-manager that he won the CL in '05, in spite of Houllier's players.