Houllier's best XI

[RedReet]

Why? He played him as his first choice right back for years. Loved Steve Finnan - great, great player.

Aye, because all his replacements who he tried first were **** (Josemi, Kromkamp etc.).

[Galb]

Totally agree mate.

Its not a popular view anymore but the Evans years have become more and more rose-tinted as time has gone on. They started brightly, we played some great football at times but for the money spent relative to other teams (remember, we were breaking British transfer records at the time with players like Babb and Collymore) we have to be regarded as having failed. One League Cup for arguably the biggest spending team in league is poor. We rarely really threatened for the league and, for every great performance, would also have some poor losses against 'weaker' teams. By the end of Roy's reign, we were starting to slip off the pace , especially given our successive failures to qualify for the Champions League (even allowing for the less places available then).

I always felt Houllier rescued the club from what could have quickly developed into a big decline. In particular, getting back to being in Europe and winning things in Europe was essential to our success during the last 10 years.

Which remains essential today and is why we need to get back into the CL asap.

[Nicey]

Big fan of Ged, broke my heart when he left .. still remember the chants when he was in Hospital .. or the tear in his eye when he applauded the fans ..

Liverpool were a joke when he took us over ... a bunch of pretty boys who were all show and no go

[Chris]

Big fan of Ged, broke my heart when he left .. still remember the chants when he was in Hospital .. or the tear in his eye when he applauded the fans ..

Liverpool were a joke when he took us over ... a bunch of pretty boys who were all show and no go

Defo, he done a great job overall and Rafa continued it, we've been pretty lucky with managers really bar the disease.

There were some awesome times, that treble season was incredible. Seemed like we were playing every 3 days and winning every 3 days.

[Exiled_red]

I liked him and he did undoubtedly did alot for us, but his attempts to claim credit for our CL win and France's WC win were embarrassing.

[Tee]

His brand of football was embarrassing. Wonder what Shanks would have made of it. Our footballing identity was lost because of Houllier IMO.

[Muddled]

His brand of football was embarrassing. Wonder what Shanks would have made of it. Our footballing identity was lost because of Houllier IMO.

So we should have kept our spice boy identity?

I think Shanks would have enjoyed the 2001 season, much like I did.

As others have mentioned, he lost his way and became a bit of a div towards the end and since, but Nicey is right, he brought us in to the 21st century.

[Lee]

I liked him and he did undoubtedly did alot for us, but his attempts to claim credit for our CL win and France's WC win were embarrassing.

So we should have kept our spice boy identity?

I think Shanks would have enjoyed the 2001 season, much like I did.

As others have mentioned, he lost his way and became a bit of a div towards the end and since, but Nicey is right, he brought us in to the 21st century.

Yup. Houllier would've won the league with the team that Evans had.

[Nicey]

I liked him and he did undoubtedly did alot for us, but his attempts to claim credit for our CL win and France's WC win were embarrassing.

Tel you what .. you put 5 years of your life into a team, find them, train them, coach them, to have mostly them lift the biggest prize in world football the year after you leave and try not mutter they were my lads ...or allude to that fact... if you can you should start your own religion

[kris90210]

Aye, because all his replacements who he tried first were **** (Josemi, Kromkamp etc.).

He was all about competition for places. Josemi, £2 mil? Kromkamp, wasn't he on a free?

[Muddled]

He was all about competition for places. Josemi, £2 mil? Kromkamp, wasn't he on a free?

I'm with RedReet on this one BeverleyHillsKris, I think Rafa tried to replace Finnan nearly every transfer window, not provide competition for places.

[kris90210]

His brand of football was embarrassing. Wonder what Shanks would have made of it. Our footballing identity was lost because of Houllier IMO.

This bit is true to a certain extent I think. We became far more pragmatic under Houllier. The free flowing, attacking football left with Evans and has never really come back.

Saying that, like most I have huge respect for what Houllier did. He was exactly what we needed at the time. It's just a shame that he ****ed up in 2002. That was a huge turning point, as was 2009. Just goes to show, it only takes one bad summer for everything to start falling apart.

[kris90210]

I'm with RedReet on this one BeverleyHillsKris, I think Rafa tried to replace Finnan nearly every transfer window, not provide competition for places.

He was his first choice for a good few years, and he never looked to spend much money on that position while he was there. But fair enough mate

[RedReet]

I'm with RedReet on this one BeverleyHillsKris, I think Rafa tried to replace Finnan nearly every transfer window, not provide competition for places.

As Kris said, he didn’t spend much on transfers but 4 players in 4 is hardly a sign of confidence in a player. Always felt Finnan had to prove himself time and time again, which he did admirably.

[Muddled]

He was his first choice for a good few years, and he never looked to spend much money on that position while he was there. But fair enough mate

I can see your point of view mate, however, I think it is credit to Finnan and Rafa's lack of financial clout that he never managed to replace him. If he'd had enough money left over, I think he would have got Rafinha (sp) but instead settled for Josemi, realised his error, went for Kromkamp and then from memory, tried for Alves and went for Arbeloa. All while Finnan remained professional and did a cracking job for us. In my opinion of course