Houllier or Rafa's?

[Imy]

Houllier bought Big, strong, athletes and it showed with the crap brand of football we used to play, hoof it to Heskey to flick on to Owen

Rafa has tried to buy 'footballers' the problem is many have not been up to the pace of the premiership, top class 'footballers' cost many and we don't seem to have much of that either.

[Kenneth]

This is a good thread and I wish I had time to respond.

[kris90210]

You make a good point. Carragher says something similar in his book. The problem under Houllier was he set up the team to play purely counter attacking football. Over reliant on Michael Owen is an understatment. We had exactly the same problem back then as we do now - struggle to break teams down. The major difference being that we never controlled games then the way we do now.

With Houllier's team, when he left I felt like we needed wholesale change. Where as with this team at the moment we need to augment the team with some real quality who can help turn possession into something more meaningful than an impressive statistic.

From this team we have at the moment the spine is as good as anything in world football:

Reina
Carragher
Mascherano (not had his finest season, but he was arguably our best player against Madrid)
Alonso
Gerrard
Torres

Of those players, only Carragher and Gerrard are from the Houllier era. And you might argue he got a little lucky with those two coming through the youth. So thats 4 world class players Rafa has managed to bring in - which is no mean feat. Young players also remember.

If Rafa does go then his replacment will inherit a side with far more quality scattered through it than the one that Houllier left.

[the rev leeroy brown]

People keep saying that the squad is better under Rafa, how much the squad has improved, but lets compare like for like with the players on the pitch for Gerrards last game.

Jerzy Dudek.....Reina all day long
John Arne Riise......i prefer aurelio - far more solid and consistant
Jamie Carragher......class all day long
Sami Hyypia.......in his prime much better than agger or skrtel are at present Steve Finnan......again, i prefer arbeloa - faster, stronger and more attacking promiseHarry Kewell......he was ****e for us...end of. babel, reira even aurelio at left mid are better options
Steven Gerrard.....legend in the makingDietmar Hamann.....masher last year was immense. this years he has been poor but i think he still offers more than hamman
Danny Murphy.....i really liked murphy and wish we had kept him longer - but bennayoun is a better more gifted player
Emile Heskey....really wanted him to re-sign in january. better than kyut as lone striker.Michael Owen......CUNT!!!! hate this money grabbing blue nosed cunt. rather torres all day long.

the squad at present is better than that of houlliers. not much going on last weekends game but still filled with better players.

[BG1973]

If you fail to understand the concept of this debate then there is no point in you contributing.

Um the concept of the debate is player comparison. You called riise 'our scandinavian carlos' or something simliar.

Actually he was turd and if you're using him to make the point that somehow houlliers teams was better than Rafa's then your point is seriously flawed.

[Kenneth]

Um the concept of the debate is player comparison. You called riise 'our scandinavian carlos' or something simliar.

Actually he was turd and if you're using him to make the point that somehow houlliers teams was better than Rafa's then your point is seriously flawed.

Riise wasn't turd back then. He was pretty limited but he only really became turd in the last 18 months at LFC.

[murder_inc]

Riise wasn't turd back then. He was pretty limited but he only really became turd in the last 18 months at LFC.

Very true.
Old Johnny Rockets. Hows he doing in Italy now anyway?

[pondus]

Very true.
Old Johnny Rockets. Hows he doing in Italy now anyway?

He's doing ok, scored his first goal this weekend against Inter in the 3-3 draw. Was injured for about a month earlier this winter but came straight back into the team.

[BG1973]

Riise wasn't turd back then. He was pretty limited but he only really became turd in the last 18 months at LFC.

I always felt he was a very average player who occasionally scored wonder goals.

We struggled to string more than a few passes together back in those days and riise was one of the reasons why. Put him (and a lot of the players on that houllier list) under pressure and he would misplace an easy pass or panic and hoof it.

[redpablo]

i would have thought he scored more also because he was more or less always at left midifield under Ged, and left back under Rafa. I really rated him when he came then began to seriously dread him getting the ball towards the end, kind of like Babel at the mo,but I still hold out hope for the big dutch moose.

[fah-q]

You obviously don't remember the depressing brand of football we played under the Houllier for the last few years of his reign.

You think Boro on saturday was bad, think back to the worst run in living history endured during the winter of 2003/04. We didn't win in something like 10 games on the bounce.

Utterly dismal football punctuated with promises of corners being turned.

[Will]

Rafas all the way. Even made Gerrard a better player in my oppinion.

[dww]

Rafas all the way. Even made Gerrard a better player in my oppinion.

Also true of people like Finnan. He looked overawed by playing at Liverpool until Rafa turned him around. He looked shot last season but he improved markedly under Rafa. Same can be said for most of the players willing to learn.

I think Rafa would have liked to have had Heskey when he came. He may not have appreciated how useful a big man can be but he would have liked his unselfishness and workrate.

[Kenneth]

Also true of people like Finnan. He looked overawed by playing at Liverpool until Rafa turned him around. He looked shot last season but he improved markedly under Rafa. Same can be said for most of the players willing to learn.

I think Rafa would have liked to have had Heskey when he came. He may not have appreciated how useful a big man can be but he would have liked his unselfishness and workrate.

Are you sure about that?

[kris90210]

He's spot on about finnan