Gerard Houllier 1st Eleven

[Amit83]

Me and a mate of mine got thinking about the signings that Houllier brought to the club (not home grown). Then wondered what the best possible 11 would have been if they were all in the squad at the same time.

 

This is what I came up with

 

Dudek

 

Babbel Hyypia Henchoz Riise

 

Barmby McAllister Hamann Kewell

 

Litmanen

 

Anelka

 

 

 

As far as I can remember these were the players he brought to the club (Not home grown)

 

Goal Keepers

Jerzy Dudek, Chris Kirkland, Paul Jones, Pegguy Arphexad, Sander Westerveld

 

Defenders

Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Christian Ziege, Abel Xavier, Steve Finnan, Markus Babbel, John Arne Riise, Frode Kippe, Jean-Michel Ferri, Djimi Traore, Gregory Vignal,

 

Midfield

Gary McAllister, Dietmar Hamann, Harry Kewell, Nick Barmby, Anthony Le Tallec, Bernard Diomede, Brono Cheyrou, Vladimir Smicer, Salif Diao, Igor Biscan, Alou Diarra

Strikers

Djibril Cisse, Jari Litmanen, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, El Hadji Diouf, Milan Baros, Emile Heskey, Erik Meijer, Titi Camara,

 

 

Who would be in your Houllier 1st Eleven?

 

YNWA

Edited June 2, 2007 by amitpatel8383

[Guest hemal]

That's a good team.

 

Would challenge for top 4

[_00_deathscar]

Dudek

 

Babbel Henchoz Hyypia Finnan

 

Kewell McAllister Hamann Riise

 

Litmanen

 

Baros

[MFletcher]

Compared to Benitez bringing in:

 

Reina, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt, Crouch

 

You have to say, Houllier really did make some appalling transfers.

[ShaunOfTheRed]

Compared to Benitez bringing in:

 

Reina, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt, Crouch

 

You have to say, Houllier really did make some appalling transfers.

 

Ged brought in some great talent and while I agree he missed on quite a bit what manager doesn't.

[_00_deathscar]

Yes, Hamann, Finnan and Hyypia in particular were terrible.

[Ben 23]

And McAllister, well past it...

[Knox_Harrington]

All rated at their Liverpool peak:

 

Dudek, Finnan, Hyypia, Henchoz, Riise; Smicer, Hamann, McAllister, Kewell; Heskey, Anelka.

 

Subs: Litmanen, Westerveld, Baros, Barmby, Babbel.

[MFletcher]

I'm hardly saying that all of his transfers were bad.

 

But when Rafa brings in a player you can identify a role for them. Players such as Diomede and Diarra cost us good money and never played for the club. Certainly players such as Hyypia and Finnan have been integral to our success in recent years, but you have to say that Houllier's record - in general - was pretty poor.

 

Certainly the replacing of "God" with Heskey (net spend anyway) and the £14M he was allowed to lavish on Cisse - who we'll struggle to give away for half that. There were an awful lot of expensive misses and bizarre dealings.

[Gomez]

I'm hardly saying that all of his transfers were bad.

 

But when Rafa brings in a player you can identify a role for them. Players such as Diomede and Diarra cost us good money and never played for the club. Certainly players such as Hyypia and Finnan have been integral to our success in recent years, but you have to say that Houllier's record - in general - was pretty poor.

 

Diarra was a free and we sold him for ?3m. He also spent most of his time on loan so I doubt he cost us much in wages either.

[MFletcher]

I'm pretty sure we bought Diarra from Bayern for about 2M?

 

I could be mistaken though.

[carrafan]

Diarra came on a free from Bayern.

[R A Softlad]

And McAllister, well past it...

 

Waste of money.

[Molby]

I'm hardly saying that all of his transfers were bad.

 

But when Rafa brings in a player you can identify a role for them. Players such as Diomede and Diarra cost us good money and never played for the club. Certainly players such as Hyypia and Finnan have been integral to our success in recent years, but you have to say that Houllier's record - in general - was pretty poor.

 

Certainly the replacing of "God" with Heskey (net spend anyway) and the £14M he was allowed to lavish on Cisse - who we'll struggle to give away for half that. There were an awful lot of expensive misses and bizarre dealings.

 

 

do not post your opinions on this forum again

[_00_deathscar]

I'm hardly saying that all of his transfers were bad.

 

But when Rafa brings in a player you can identify a role for them. Players such as Diomede and Diarra cost us good money and never played for the club. Certainly players such as Hyypia and Finnan have been integral to our success in recent years, but you have to say that Houllier's record - in general - was pretty poor.

 

Certainly the replacing of "God" with Heskey (net spend anyway) and the £14M he was allowed to lavish on Cisse - who we'll struggle to give away for half that. There were an awful lot of expensive misses and bizarre dealings.

 

Hamann?

 

McAllister?

 

Smicer?

 

Dudek?

 

Henchoz?

 

Riise?

 

Babbel?

 

All of the above have contributed greatly to our treble and the greatest night of my life (think it's quite obvious which one). Likewise with Cisse and Heskey, who whilst expensive and never having fulfilled potential, contributed greatly to our success.

[Nerik]

Dudek

Babbel Hyypia Henchoz Riise

Smicer Hamann McAllister Kewell

Litmanen Baros

[MFletcher]

As I've already said, Houllier made some great buys.

 

Unfortunately, when he spent big money, they were usually dreadful.

 

No-one can tell me that Heskey (11M), Cisse (14M), Diouf (10M), Diao (5M), Cheyrou (5M) were good buys. Heskey was a solid player, but for 11M? Look at what we sold those players for - the net loss is staggering. Cisse is lazy and has a tendency to hit the ball as hard as possible. The less said about the summer of Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou the better.

 

A lot of his buys contributed to our success in 2001 and 2005, but I will always maintain that Houllier did more bad than good in the transfer market. For every gem (Hyypia, McAllister) there was an expensive waste of space who didn't deserve to pull the shirt on.

[Knox_Harrington]

Heskey was magnificent for eighteen months. Not enough, but not enough to call him simply a solid player.

[MFletcher]

Heskey was far too inconsistent in front of my goal for my liking. I always liked the way he did the donkey work and made chances for Owen, but if Owen was injured or on one of his long barren scoreless runs then Emile simply couldn't step up to the plate and contribute the goals. One of the most frustrating players I've watched. The talent is there, it just refuses to show itself consistently.

[carrafan]

To be perfectly honest, Cisse wasn't a bad replacement for Owen at all.

He would have fitted in perfectly into the then Houllier's tactics. Gerard wanted someone to chase balls pumped over the top which was what Cisse was doing at Auxerre where he had a tremendous record in a league where not many goals are scored.

Cisse wasnt a Rafa type player. Thats the reason for his downfall here. Rafa wants hard working players who defend from the front, help out the midfield when needed and do a lot of donkey work. Cisse scored goals, thats it. Hence he didnt work out. He would have fitted right into Houllier's tactics.

 

Heskey was interesting. He was never an outright 11 million buy. We actually lost out only a couple of million on the fella when we sold him to Brum for 4 mil. Most of the 11 was, added bonuses which we never fulfilled. His last season at Leicster and his first season here was nothing short of brilliant. 23 goals in his 1st season. His downfall started when Houllier played him out on the wing.

 

Cheyrou and Diao was just cack. Not so much Diouf but the other two were just cack.

 

My major problem with Gerard was the fact that he played so many players out of positions. Smicer, Berger, Cheyrou, Diouf(ok, he was no good upfront) and Heskey.

 

I actually like Gerard, an LFC fan through and through and genuinely wanted to do good for the club. He gets a lot more s**** than he deserves.

[jariiiiiiiiiise]

Heskey was far too inconsistent in front of my goal for my liking. I always liked the way he did the donkey work and made chances for Owen, but if Owen was injured or on one of his long barren scoreless runs then Emile simply couldn't step up to the plate and contribute the goals. One of the most frustrating players I've watched. The talent is there, it just refuses to show itself consistently.

 

wait till snorky finds out your dissing Heskey

[Knox_Harrington]

Heskey was far too inconsistent in front of my goal for my liking. I always liked the way he did the donkey work and made chances for Owen, but if Owen was injured or on one of his long barren scoreless runs then Emile simply couldn't step up to the plate and contribute the goals. One of the most frustrating players I've watched. The talent is there, it just refuses to show itself consistently.

Apart from when he did, during the treble season. He was terrific pretty consistantly that season - played at a level that no forward has managed week in, week out under this manager yet.

 

Don't disagree he's frustrating but we saw the talent far more often than we care to remember. It's obscured by how bad he was towards the end.

[MFletcher]

Apart from when he did, during the treble season. He was terrific pretty consistantly that season - played at a level that no forward has managed week in, week out under this manager yet.

 

Don't disagree he's frustrating but we saw the talent far more often than we care to remember. It's obscured by how bad he was towards the end.

 

He was brilliant at times, but the way he started to balloon shots over in his last eighteen months or so here was quite shocking.

[Knox_Harrington]

He was brilliant at times, but the way he started to balloon shots over in his last eighteen months or so here was quite shocking.

It might have been. But that doesn't make him a bad buy or a waste of money. Indeed we recouped £6m for him didn't we? So the treble season and the season after weren't worth the five million he cost in headline transfer fees? Ridiculous. Those were more often than not top notch performances.

[Cam]

Dudek

Babbel Hyypia Henchoz Riise

Barmby McAllister Hamann Kewell

Litmanen

Anelka

I think they'd absolutely hammer a Rafa-bought XI.

 

Reina

Arbeloa Pellegrino Agger Aurelio

Pennant Alonso Mascherano Gonzalez

Kuyt Crouch