Houllier to destroy French Champions

[dancefreak2003]

He's just been appointed manager of Lyon who have been consistantly been the top french team for the past five years.....he'll have them relegated in 2 seasons i'd say!!

[mezdupmaiden]

Probably have a coronary at their first loss! Do you reckon he's getting paid to loose matches and wreck teams?

[mezdupmaiden]

how did he wreck a team?
last time i checked liverpool were successful enough during his time in charge.
Wrecked their spiritship! Sure, even Gerard was going to go!

[Philby]

"spiritship" isn't even a word lad.
Houllier did a great deal of good for liverpool football club & anyone who can't see that is either blind or a fool.

He made us a force in Europe once again, won countless cups, contributed in a big way to Gerrard's development*, brought in the bones of Rafa's european cup winning team and nearly lost his life in the process.

Show some respect. I hope Houllier does a great job


* - Gerrard cites Houllier as a major figure in his development and credits GH with making him an even better player (in many ways, mainly by making him captain)

[General Michael Collins]

Woul like to wish GH all the best in his new job.He gave us many happy memories.Hope he is successful i his new post.

[Superdave]

Totally agree with those sentiments. Houllier laid the foundation for last wednesday and for what is to come hopefully.

Look at what he took over from Roy Evans and look what he left behind. To call him a failure if short sighted and just plain wrong.

[STEVIEG]

I agree he should have went the year before.

































Still got more points in the league than Rafa though!

[Eoin]

Houllier did a great job of turning around the disaster that was Liverpool in the 90s.

He made great progress. He just couldn't take them any further.

[STEVIEG]

Exactly. It was a good decisionto get rid of him last year and maybe they should have done it a year before but then its unlikely they would have got a manager who looks like he could be the real deal. Not too mention winning a seriously major trophy against all the odds.

[11 league titles]

even though i think the pool were lucky to win the treble, .
Surely that should be a treble, not the treble

[Sound]

Surely that should be a treble, not the treble


This is not really a pissing contest you should get into.

Heh, heh, heh.

[11 league titles]

This is not really a pissing contest you should get into.

Heh, heh, heh.
Maybe ,but its been a tough enough month or 2 being a united fan..surely we should be allowed cling to past glories such as "the" treble in peace

[STEVIEG]

You are the Special One

[STEVIEG]

No you said too i have evidence!!!!!!!!!!!!

[STEVIEG]

I have a text that will be provided to the jury


NaffGate!

[Captain Planet]

Woul like to wish GH all the best in his new job.He gave us many happy memories.Hope he is successful i his new post.
its nice to see you left the big 2005 in your signature GMC. that was my touch!

Winning the uefa cup with houiller&friends was a momentus occasion. i think we finished 2nd in the league that year aswell. that was the height of the houllier years. however it went a bit pear shaped after that and he left a bad taste by over staying his welcome. He just tried to hard to find "ones for the future" instead of world class players of the present.

[mezdupmaiden]

"spiritship" isn't even a word lad.
Houllier did a great deal of good for liverpool football club & anyone who can't see that is either blind or a fool.

He made us a force in Europe once again, won countless cups, contributed in a big way to Gerrard's development*, brought in the bones of Rafa's european cup winning team and nearly lost his life in the process.

Show some respect. I hope Houllier does a great job


* - Gerrard cites Houllier as a major figure in his development and credits GH with making him an even better player (in many ways, mainly by making him captain)
Don't you lad me!

I won't show n e one respect i don't want to my dear!

In my opinion he ended up a flop........ but i do respect urs!

[mezdupmaiden]

.....opinion that is....not ur flop!

[Jim Comic]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N149045050606-1206.htm

[Jim Comic]

He's just been appointed manager of Lyon who have been consistantly been the top french team for the past five years.....he'll have them relegated in 2 seasons i'd say!!



they're running away with the french league at the moment, 14 points clear at the top

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/france_results/tables/default.stm

[dancefreak2003]

Give him a few years he's still got the majority of Le guen's squad wait for him to bring in his replacements.

[kipto]

i hope lyon win the title......of course houllier lost the plot towards the end of his reign at liverpool...but he did a good job in breaking the spice boy culture

[jungle]

I agree. I reckon Houllier isn't a bad coach, but he was truly useless when it comes to identifying good transer targets. Liverpool regularly paid too much for mediocre players when he was in charge. That was the real undoing of his time there.

[Rebelred]

I have lyon at 12s to win the CL

[Jim Comic]

i hope lyon win the title......of course houllier lost the plot towards the end of his reign at liverpool...but he did a good job in breaking the spice boy culture


if houllier does win the league with lyon he'll have won trophies with 3 different clubs, not many coaches can say that, plus he's given a lot of credit for the french world cup win in 1998 for his work in setting up the french academies, etc.

[homer jay]

if houllier does win the league with lyon he'll have won trophies with 3 different clubs, not many coaches can say that, plus he's given a lot of credit for the french world cup win in 1998 for his work in setting up the french academies, etc.

what about the farce that was their last game for usa 94 when they threw away the lead to bulgaria?
he was way too negative a coach at liverpool imo. fair play to him on their league & champs league form tho.

[Jim Comic]

he was way too negative a coach at liverpool imo. .

I agree, he'd taken the club as far as he could but seemed to run out of ideas in the last 18 months. Still he expanded the anfield trophy cabinet which is ok in my books.

I think every liverpool manager over the last 50 years or so has won at least 1 trophy which is some record.

[Fat Tom]

he was way too negative a coach at liverpool imo.

Benitez?

[Sound]

Benitez?

WUM.

[Fat Tom]

hehehehehehehe.

I was just Hopping Ball.

In all fairness I find Liverpool far less negative than Chelsea.
As such, if ye had better strikers I think a lot of people's perceptions would change.

Benitez is a great coach as well.

BORING BASTARDS.

[homer jay]

I think every liverpool manager over the last 50 years or so has won at least 1 trophy which is some record.

did roy evans win the league cup?

[Jim Comic]

did roy evans win the league cup?

yup

[homer jay]

hehehehehehehe.

I was just Hopping Ball.

In all fairness I find Liverpool far less negative than Chelsea.
As such, if ye had better strikers I think a lot of people's perceptions would change.

Benitez is a great coach as well.

BORING BASTARDS.

i find the pool a bit negative to be honest. but i can't blame benitez, they were leaking goals badly last season, so its only right that he sorst out the defence the best way he can.
i find it hard to stomach his stiker choices sometimes. i also have an eerie feeling he's building his team with crouch being the main/only striker :-? .

[Jim Comic]

i find the pool a bit negative to be honest. but i can't blame benitez, they were leaking goals badly last season, so its only right that he sorst out the defence the best way he can.
i find it hard to stomach his stiker choices sometimes. i also have an eerie feeling he's building his team with crouch being the main/only striker :-? .

almost all successful teams are built from the back. I very much doubt the liverpool of the 70's/80's would have won 4 european cups if they didn't have the likes of hansesn/lawrenson/etc at the back, same with milan, munich etc.

the liverpool of this season can hardly be called negative just coz the forwards aren't banging them in. Like any manager, i'm sure benitez doesn't give a rat's arse who scores once he wins football games and if that means 4 forwards get 5 each and a midfielder like gerrard getting 20, instead of 2 strikers getting 20 each then i'm sure he'll take it.

I'm always amazed at the press rabbiting on about the lacks of goals from drogba, cisse, crouch etc when lampard and gerrard are scoring plenty.

All that matters is the team win, who scores is totally irrelevant.

[STEVIEG]

They are better this season and hang on to the ball a bit better too
Last season they used boot the ball away a bit much but they are much better now-i still feel they don't like to be attacked on the ground with speed and they looked vulnerable against Bolton and even Luton when pegged back, but remember this, Liverpool, have the same defensive record as Chelsea this season and that's counting the whipping at Anfield. Up front is where the problems are at-that's why the likes of Garcia are so important, he gets goals very regularly.

[Jim Comic]

that's why the likes of Garcia are so important, he gets goals very regularly.

not regularly enough in the league alas, europe is more his forté

[STEVIEG]

True

[Jim Comic]

but remember this, Liverpool, have the same defensive record as Chelsea this season and that's counting the whipping at Anfield.

yeah, that's the only league game where they've conceded at anfield, so far anyways.

[dotty]

i find it hard to stomach his stiker choices sometimes. i also have an eerie feeling he's building his team with crouch being the main/only striker :-? .

its the way he likes to set up his teams,was very successful at valencia employing mista as a lone frontman with aimar playing off him with bareja and albelda running the midfield,think he desperately wants an aimar like playmaker and a genuine winger in the mould of vicente who he had at the mestella.

[dancefreak2003]

As I said the rot is beginning to set in if this report from F365 is to be belived.


Lyon boss Gerard Houllier has admitted that he wants to sign Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre at the end of the season

[STEVIEG]

As I said the rot is beginning to set in if this report from F365 is to be belived.


Lyon boss Gerard Houllier has admitted that he wants to sign Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre at the end of the season



Handy bait for Diarra

[dancefreak2003]

Handy bait for Diarra


Two birds, one stone eh?

[STEVIEG]

Two birds, one stone eh?


Yeah he's going through a rought time but he's not the worst player
i just reckon his attitude is wrong at the moment and it's showing on the pitch

[dancefreak2003]

Er lets call a spade a spade he's been consistantly dodgy since he arrived. I've never once felt safe with the back four with him playing in it. He's a weak link.

[FL4ZGN]

Lyon boss Gerard Houllier has admitted that he wants to sign Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre at the end of the season


He probably remembers the headers Micky burined against the pool during his last season in charge.

[STEVIEG]

He probably remembers the headers Micky burined against the pool during his last season in charge.


No that was early last season Rafa was boss

[FL4ZGN]

No that was early last season Rafa was boss


You are correct STEVIE.

Gerard was sat in the stand.

[STEVIEG]

You are correct STEVIE.

Gerard was sat in the stand.

Aye he was indeedy

[Philby]

Good article on Houllier's progress @ Lyon, a good antidote to the vitriol found in many sections of the press.

http://sport.independent.co .uk/football/european/article345890.ece

After the savaging, Houllier is thriving in Lyon's den

With the disappointment of his departure from Anfield 18 months ago a receding memory, the former Liverpool coach is turning France's champions into a major force in Europe. In a rare interview, he talks to Paul Newman

Published: 17 February 2006



The frozen grass pitches are unplayable, snow has been shovelled off the synthetic training area and a biting wind is blowing through the Rhône Valley as the afternoon light fades. No wonder the head coach of Olympique Lyonnais is wrapped up in a thick coat, gloves and woollen hat.
Some in his position would no doubt have left the training session - particularly one involving no more than an extensive warm-up and a prolonged game of head tennis - in the hands of others. Gérard Houllier, however, is enjoying every moment of his first season for 17 years back at the helm of a French club.
The same seems to be true of his players, though they were not so sure last May when Paul Le Guen left after three hugely successful years as coach. Sylvain Wiltord, one of the Lyon players, was reported to have said "tout sauf Houllier" ("anyone but Houllier") when asked about possible replacements. The former Liverpool manager, however, duly took charge, 12 months after his six-year reign ended at Anfield.
If the players took a little convincing last summer, the spirit in the Lyon squad now is demonstrated at the training session by three of their Brazilians. Juninho, Cris and Fred, who might have been forgiven for treating a game of head tennis in the bone-chilling cold with less than whole-hearted enthusiasm, are the most competitive of all the three-man teams. They hotly dispute the rules, play with grace and gusto, and pose for mock celebration photographs after Juninho's spectacular winning overhead kick. A beaming Houllier clearly approves.
The coach and his team have good reason to smile. Lyon have lost just once in 35 competitive matches this season. They lead the French League by seven points with a game in hand, are through to the last 16 of the French Cup and next week travel to PSV Eindhoven in the knock-out phase of the Champions' League, having qualified with five wins and a draw. The latter came away to Real Madrid, who had been roundly beaten 3-0 at the Stade Gerland.
In the privacy of his office an hour after the training session, Houllier agreed he had been on a hiding to nothing when he succeeded Le Guen. "It was a huge challenge," he said. "I knew that finishing second in the league would be failure. Our priority this season is to win the title for the fifth year in a row, because no French club has ever done that before. Another goal was to go further in the Champions' League than the club had gone before."
Houllier's early days were overshadowed by a familiar foe as Chelsea succeeded in their long-running pursuit of his key midfielder, Michael Essien. "The first month was difficult, until the transfer window closed," Houllier said. "Some players wanted to leave, some didn't know what would be happening to them." Losing Essien was a setback - "Michael was very popular with the fans and in the dressing-room. He's a very nice guy and an outstanding player" - but the consensus is that Houllier's work in the transfer market last summer made Lyon stronger than ever.
Tiago Mendes, arriving from Stamford Bridge as part of the Essien deal, and Benoît Pedretti, signed from Marseilles, bolstered the midfield, while Sylvain Monsoreau (from Sochaux) and François Clerc (from Toulouse) provided more options in defence. The most significant signings were in attack, with Fred joining from Cruzeiro and Norway's John Carew moving from Besiktas to challenge Sidney Govou, Sylvain Wiltord and the emerging youngsters Hatem Ben Arfa and Karim Benzema for the striking positions.

cntd...

[Jim Comic]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4912902.stm

[Jim Comic]

lyon beat real madrid 2-0 last night, how the mighty have fallen

[STEVIEG]

Diarra, Diarra, whats the score?

[Rebelred]

lyon beat real madrid 2-0 last night, how the mighty have fallen
bit harsh on Lyon there.They're a decent side and have been for the past 2 years at least. Should have knocked Milan out of it last year.
Also, Lyon beat Real last year and drew with them in Madrid, still can't figure out why I didnt back them last night,the odds were probably good

[Jim Comic]

bit harsh on Lyon there.


i was referring to madrid

[Rebelred]

i was referring to madrid
i know,but I dont think its that madrid have fallen that suddenly, this is the level they've been at for 2 years or more now.They'll be back again, playing boring,defensively solid,Capello type football

[Jim Comic]

i know,but I dont think its that madrid have fallen that suddenly, this is the level they've been at for 2 years or more now.They'll be back again, playing boring,defensively solid,Capello type football


reckon so!

[ho chi feen]

lyon beat real madrid 2-0 last night, how the mighty have fallen

Considering they got thumped 3-0 there last season, it's an improvement.

[Carmona]

Considering they got thumped 3-0 there last season, it's an improvement.
From what I've heard it really should have been 5-0 at half time. Keep it up there lads.

[holyfeetholyfingers]

lyon are also undefeated and equal top the french league and look pretty unstoppable there. houiller lost diarra but bought in pretty much every excellent young player in the french league (kallstrom, toulalan, squillaci,and more and he only just missed ribery and gourcuff).
all in all he's doing quite a good job. plus he's actually making tiago look like an excellent player.

[AmadeusDC]

lyon are also undefeated and equal top the french league and look pretty unstoppable there. houiller lost diarra but bought in pretty much every excellent young player in the french league (kallstrom, toulalan, squillaci,and more and he only just missed ribery and gourcuff).
all in all he's doing quite a good job. plus he's actually making tiago look like an excellent player.

Ya that's true...........but at the same time he could sweep the domestic trophies in France for 5 years and guide Lyon to a couple of Champions Leagues and Liverpool fans still wouldn't want him back at Anfield in a million years!!! Some people are suited to certain places/clubs. -AmadeusDC-

[Jim Comic]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/6580469.stm

[wayne gayle]

No big deal. If you made a chimpanzee manager of Lyon they would still win the title every year.
No doubt we'll now be listening to a lot of rubbish about how Houlllier has "rehabilitated himself" and "proved his doubters wrong" etc. ect.
All he had to do was carry on the good work of his predecessor Paul Le Guen; if he had taken Lyon farther than Le Guen did in the Champions League (ie into the final or winning it) then I would be the first to commend him but they were easily beaten 2-0 by a Roma team that were subsequently humiliated by Manchester United.

[MonTheHoops]

Sorry, but all Le Guen did was carry on the good work of Lacombe. All Lyon's success has been built on his foundations.

[ho chi feen]

Sorry, but all Le Guen did was carry on the good work of Lacombe. All Lyon's success has been built on his foundations.

Santini too, let's not forget he brough them that ever-elusive title to get the ball rolling.

[wayne gayle]

I'm not familiar with the managerial history of Lyon. Santini and Le Guen have hardly gone on to better things (sacked by Spurs and Rangers respectively).
Lacombe;I don't know what happened to him.

[ho chi feen]

I'm not familiar with the managerial history of Lyon. Santini and Le Guen have hardly gone on to better things (sacked by Spurs and Rangers respectively).
Lacombe;I don't know what happened to him.

Actually, Santini mysteriously walked out on Spurs after a good start to the league campaign.

[wayne gayle]

Actually, Santini mysteriously walked out on Spurs after a good start to the league campaign.

Yeah, my mistake but I don't think he was any good anyway.

[dancefreak2003]

The cracks are appearing already though...juninho is threatening to leave if there are no quality signings made.