Houllier: I was better than Benitez

Former Liverpool coach Gerard Houllier claims he did a better job of managing the club than Rafael Benitez.

Houllier won six trophies with the Reds during his time in charge before being replaced by Rafael Benitez in 2004.

Liverpool won the Champions League in Benitez'z very first season in charge - coming back from 3-0 down in Istanbul to beat AC Milan in a final for the ages.

While the Spaniard was feted for the success, Houllier believes it was his own selections that made the success possible.

"When I came into the changing room in Istanbul some of the players said: 'Boss it's your team'," the Frenchman told the Evening Standard.

"Twelve out of 14 in Istanbul were players I had signed or developed. I left Liverpool with a team and in the Champions League. But when you finish seventh with Torres and Gerrard...

"After Rafa Benitez left this summer, one of the players sent me a message: 'Boss, he hasn't beaten you'."

Houllier though, seems to be happy with the appointment of Roy Hodgson and underlined the importance of hiring someone who the fans know.

"Bill Shankly was followed by his assistant Bob Paisley, then Joe Fagan, then Kenny Dalglish then Graeme Souness then Roy Evans. My arrival was greeted with, Gerard who?"

Houllier hedged his position when talking about the influence of foreign players in the Premier League.

"The recruitment of overseas players has not damaged English football but it's true that you're losing some positions," he said.

"Goalkeepers for instance, England needs to have a school for goalkeepers.

"You need to train them a different way because, out of the 20 teams in the Premier League, you don't have five English goalkeepers."

what you guys think?

Houllier has been that way ever since...Rafa replaced him? Bitter as always.

Right, so much players sent you a msg.Now that Rafa left, why dont you disclose the player that sent you the msg?Bullshit.Houllier just made himself look pathetic.

And oh wait, players that sent him msg after Rafa left? There left Stevie and Carra from the team he built....

This post has been edited by solstice818: Jul 21 2010, 04:02 PM

I've not verified the source of your article so I'll take it with a pinch of sort. Houllier has no beef with Rafa so it's highly likely that even if he did say those things, it's been somewhat taken out of context.

Assuming it's true however, no one is disputing that our 2005 Champions League winning team comprised of players mainly signed by Houllier. It doesn't however mean that he would have triumphed in Istanbul. In fact, it may be counterproductive because he never scaled the same heights Rafa has in Europe even with a squad signed completely by himself. Houllier did however have a pretty good relationship with players like Gerrard and Carragher and I think he was genuinely happy for the lads when they won the cup. In his autobiography, Carra did state that Houllier walked into the dressing room after the game to congratulate the team and 'some' of the players did say that it was his team, essentially. I don't believe the press but I do believe Carragher.

anything that makes Rafa looks bad, count the British press in!

HOULLIER is definately better than RAFA, atleast he wont spat wif SAF

and his players really won our last CL Cup

Ngog going to be offload?




Mascherano going soon? how much his price tag then?

This post has been edited by CrossFirE: Jul 21 2010, 04:48 PM

we should offload masherano since he got no desire to play for liverpool anymore..now the most important is that RH have to sell him at a high price..

i have read in an article written by Redknapp jr saying that by playing in Liverpool he can plays in position in with he is comfirtable with without the need to struggle with other footballer.Tottenham and especially Arsenal has many of them wonderful midfielder and Joe might have problems playing with them

it's a very english tradition to give no 10 jersey to 1st centre forward

inter signed him in 2008, but he remained with his old club on loan.

so inter still have that single non-eu slot open.

no. It works when the players moves, on that year. So we basically used up our non-EU slot.

ah, my bad then, was browsing the papers too quickly i assume.

anyway, swiss rightback degen has been told that he can leave. a major overhaul in the defence department? insua sold, aurelio left on a free, kyrgiakos and degen are told that they can look for new clubs, and danny wilson signed.

RH seems determined to have his squad assembled by himself. not exactly a bad thing though, fans have too much of sentiments with the players and we were cheering underperforming stars even though we know the standard has dropped. but at the moment we're seeing more players linked with transfers away compared to those coming in. can RH really reconstruct the team in such a short amount of time? europa league's registration is looming and we still lack some names in few positions to fill the list.

one of the busier summers for the club.

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Added on July 21, 2010, 5:58 pmeither way, the newspapers are producing the news of the pursuit like there's no tomorrow.

baffling.

This post has been edited by livingmonolith: Jul 21 2010, 05:58 PM

yeah... i like Houu Hoouuu llier... more than rafa....we solid in defence but we win more title during his regime..he sign more proven players even got some were not...still remember Gary Mclister...he's old....but the everyone talk about him...keep scoring...especially winning goal from freekick againts everton...we had heskey, owen, fowler during that time..we won against man utd few times through gerrard, fowler n murphy...the only mistake he done is signing diouf n salif diao n few others....but i remember what the late bobby robson told him " IF U START WIN AND WIN TROPHIES...THEN U CAN'T WIN ANYTHING IN A SEASON...THEN U WILL BE SACKED"

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Added on July 21, 2010, 6:14 pmOne to watch: Martin Kelly

I tipped Martin Kelly as my one to watch last season but a couple of unfortunate injuries meant it never really happened for him.

If he keeps a clean bill of health, however, Kelly can make his mark during the 2010-11 campaign. As Johnson's natural replacement at the club, Kelly gave an impressive taste of what he is capable of on his full Anfield debut in October.

His man-of-the-match display was one of few highlights of the 2-1 defeat to Lyon in the Champions League, combining defensive solidity with attacking intent that nearly saw him score at one point.

His support play and crossing stood out, as did his distribution and good positional sense. Kelly does the simple things well.



This post has been edited by sissoko: Jul 21 2010, 06:14 PM

Liverpool Football Club are delighted to announce that Joe Cole has put pen to paper on a four-year deal.

The England international has passed his medical and has been allocated the squad No. 10.

Confirmation from .tv


jovanovic will get no11...confirm riera gonna be sold!

I can't disagree with this since the club's financial state is a bit of a mess right now. But then again, Lucas can't tackle like him..lol

I dont like this... Jova already get number 10 and Joe cole joined and snatched it away from him...Hmm...not so right, no?

lol b4 and after

Wasn't Owen's number 10? I guess, once you join the Mancs, your legendary status is out the window. And Luis Garcia's name is in there!!! Owen... Longgg forgotten...

This post has been edited by skydive: Jul 21 2010, 07:19 PM

As far as I'm concern, I was never a big fan of Gerard Houllier, not to discredit him for the happy times he brought us, but the way he screwed with Robbie Fowler makes it hard for me to like the Frenchman.

Not forgetting that he's still blaming David Ginola for the 1994 World Cup. Oh well.

Gerrard houllier forgot player like alonso and garcia play alot part in bringing the european cup.Rafa has limited budget after succeeding Houllier and it is impossible to turn houllier team to rafa team.Dont let me start with Diouf and Diao for lack of fund in 2004 .

About Joe Cole getting 10 , well he deserve it and I guess Jovanovic will be fine with that as he wear 23 in Sparta Prague and 14 in Serbia shirt

Hopefully no internal crisis

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Added on July 21, 2010, 7:40 pmHopefully no internal crisis

This post has been edited by dfadzli: Jul 21 2010, 07:40 PM