[Guest]

1994/1995 - 4th, League Cup Champion
1995/1996 - 3rd, Lost to Scums in FA Cup
1996/1997 - 4th,
1997/1998 - 3rd,

Joint managment & later sole by GH
1998/1999 - 7th,
1999/2000 - 3rd maybe 4th,

So please tell me where's the improvement ???
To be fair, can Evans alone be blame for the 7th place ? I would agree that we are just back to the level where Evans was incharge.
If we had a better run in the Cups maybe could still be considered improved but knock out very early !!
Evans "left" cause can't beat the Scums for the Championship.
Apart from the defence GH have not achieve anything that Evans didn't, so how come Evans is labelled as a failure while GH already a success ?
We can only judge on next season, progress or whatever. I personally would agree there is a improvement if we win a Cup & replace Arsenal as the strongest challenger for the Premiership if not the crown itself.

 

[pool_till_I_die]

The improvement I believe is at the back. The times that we were getting third and fourth before was a case of give the ball to Macca who will do something. The main problem with this is that our defence was pants. The best defender we had was M Wright and he never really got a patner (except Ruddock). Now we have a solid back unit at least and all we need now is to get Macca back (I know it's never going to happen) or someone like him who can change a game. Statistics should not be taken at face value as they often decieve. We also have a young squad and a lot of money. we are talking of buying top class players (as well as Babbel already signing).
We have had a bad run of form lately and let's all hope that Leeds slip up against the Hammers,

 

[M]

The improvement is that with a season filled with injury we still managed to make fourth, possibly third and other teams don't relish the prospect of playing us. The point is that we now have a firm structure upon which we can build which was not the case with Evans.

Oh and I no longer look the other way when the other team cross the ball into our box.

 

[Guest]

I agree. Javier, u may be right in that our league position has not improved over the last few years but GH has made us a more difficult team to beat and sorted out a very leaky defence. Remember he has only been in charge for 1 1/2 seasons and Evans had 4 seasons in charge.

What we need now is continuity - chopping and changing will do us no good, as has been shown with many Italian clubs who change their managers and players more often than they do their underpants.

The successful Liverpool teams of the 70's and 80's were built around a solid defence (as was the AC Milan team that won 3 European cups) and even though attacking wise we still need to improve, you cannot expect miracles in one season. History shows that it takes time to build a successful team - and that is what we are doing now, rebuilding. Be patient and i think with a few more purchases we will do alright in the next few years.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I agree with Skylight. It's a relief that our defence is now much stronger than before. Houllier have been shrewd with his purchases this season. But we probably need another probing midfielder like Zidane to complete the puzzle. All the more better if Robbie gets back his prolific scoring touch and of course we must be lucky with injuries (the amount of injury problems, esp to the strikers, were terrifying this year!).

Javier, Roy Evans is a Mr Nice Guy, and it's very difficult for a manager with such a personality to achieve great results. To me, I think GH is more demanding, which in a way is good as the players need to be pushed to perform to their best ability...

 

[pool_till_I_die]

I honestly think that Evans was very close to success and all we needed was a good defence. He was a nice guy but I don't think that that matters that much.

 

[LFCNet]

Evans can't deal with Ince, so he has to go.

Houllier can't deal with Ince, so he asked Ince to go.

That's the difference.

 

[RazorUK]

I agree with Pool,
All that is really missing in the team is that spark to open up a game from 0-0 when the team is struggling. If we could get a young John Barnes or Steve McManaman from 4 years ago we'd have what we need, unfortunately these players don't pop up very often for a cheap price. I would love to see Liverpool sign Zidane, tha would make ahuge difference to this season's team.
I actually go into games expecting Liverpool to win, under Evans I didn't know what to expect, I never thought we'd put a run together. Under GH the defence is solid, and I no longer worry when other teams are in posession, because I believe in H&H to do the job.
As pool said, under Evans we only ever had 2 good central defenders, Ruddock and Wright. I have to say that I thought Rob Jones, barring injury was the best fullback Liverpool have had since Stevie Nicol.

 

[Guest]

it's true that in terms of league position we are still the same..

but we have struggled much more to get that 3/4 spot now....cos leeds , arsenal ,chelsea have all improved so much!!!

the best defenders evans brought were kvarme ,babb,mcateer ,...!!!!!that says it all!

GH brought only 2 central defenders..and suddenly we have the BESt defence of teh league!

we are also now getting more star players like babbel..and i'm sure a lot more to come..

now we;re being linked to lizarazu ,sergi, ZZ..etc..

what star players were we linked to in evans time!???leboeuf!??

 

[Guest]

We are only in phase 1 of Houlliers plan , wait for the next stage ,Next season .
Qualifing for the CL would I'd say bring us on a year in that we could attract higher quality players who might not join if the are not in the CL.
If you think about the ammount of teams that start off in the CL , a player has many choices of teams now who are in this, so he would be unwilling to join a team who are not in it .
Houllier has started where all managers should ,at the back we have the best defencive record in the Prem and have Babble on his way and maybe a new left back to that part is looking fine .But of course he is going to know what is needed in midfield and these playmakers , players who can turn a game on one pass are the players who will only come with us being in the CL.

 

[Guest]

You can say very positively that we don't have a playmaker all season.

Smicer is supposed to do that, give the killer pass, turn the game with a moment of brilliance. He has done it a few times (eg. v H'field in the FA Cup, by providing the cross for Titi, scoring the winner at Watford), but generally he is a flop. Unless he stop having diarrhoea or, quoting some one, any other life-threatening injuries, he will never do it for us. The need for ZZ is therefore of paramount importance.

 

[pool_till_I_die]

The problem is that there are limited players out there and as Razor pointed those that are there are damn well expensive. This means that a risk will have to be taken unless the constant ZZ rumours turn out to be true.

 

[Guest]

Badge..i agree with u totally..
i just don't see why other supporters and the press reckon he's a flop.?
maybe he hasn't played as good as he was said to be able t but he still hasn't played that badly!he's still has one of the most assists this year(even though we haven't scored that much)

 

[RazorUK]

Yes Liverpool would be a better side with Zidane in, but how about taking a gamble on one of the young Argentinians? D'Allesandro is supposed to have exactly what we are lacking in midfield. I'm also led to believe that he has European links, or holds a European passport. I think 6 million for a young teenager is going to be more likely than Zidane with no Champions League.

We certainly need a creative central midfielder and a decent left winger, for me Berger is much better when he cuts in just behind the frontmen.

 

[Badge]

Smicer's been very unlucky this season. It's also worth noting that he's very popular among the Anfield faithful despite everythng. Why? Cos they know a good player when they see one and they know he will come good next season (personally I think he played well anyway, when he got injured we stopped scoring). Also Houllier also said to watch for him next season and that he will come good. He told meself and me mates that personally last week so I have faith in the guy. Also I saw Smicer play for the Czechs in Dublin recently and he was impressive (as was Paborski). Watch out for these guys in Euro2000 and then you will appreciated Houllier's decision to buy him.

 

[Guest]

i certainly agree with u too razor..

if some of u know smicer when he used to playu for lens...u would certainly back him up too!

he's a bit inconsistent this season...mainly due to his nigging injuries...
but in some of his matches..he already showed some glipses of his talent and brilliance..
and next season....he will certainly show more of it!