The difference between o neill and houllier

[Brett Sinclair]

The results Houlliers has been getting have been poor but then he did inherit a bunch of players that didn't really have a pre-season (anyone that saw the team in Portugal and at Walsall could tell you that), were unfit and played 1970's football (with some 1970's players) relying on the manager to coax every ounce out of them to get a result. Despite all that results have been poor BUT the idea that MON would have had us in sixth now without the 30M he needed every year to keep us there is laughable. Like everyone else I am concerned that results have to start coming soon. Assuming they do, next season will see us getting results as good as O'Neill playing football that will be worth watching.

[Eigentor]

As I've been saying on other threads, if MON had stayed on, we would have had an uninterested, dispirited MON as manager, dejected by not having money to spend and because he was overlooked for the Liverpool job. Whether results had been as bad as under Houllier, I don't know, but I don't think the table would have been a pretty sight in any case.

The interesting point is the claim that Lerner wanted a new manager as different to MON as possible. If the rumours that we prefered Moyes are correct, then the claim seems unprobable. But if it is true, then we should perhaps ask if the board had expected (or at leasted feared) the kind of situation we are in now. Everyone knows that an organization needs time to adapt, and thus, that change should be implemented gradually. Even so, it looks as if we, in a remarkably short period of time, have gone from a plan involving laissez-faire spending on players with a traditional British manager in charge to one involving nurturing of home-grown talent and bargain signings combined with careful long-term planning by an experienced French football academic. Plans don't come much different than those two.

[Holtenderinthesky]

As I've been saying on other threads, if MON had stayed on, we would have had an uninterested, dispirited MON as manager, dejected by not having money to spend and because he was overlooked for the Liverpool job. Whether results had been as bad as under Houllier, I don't know, but I don't think the table would have been a pretty sight in any case.

The interesting point is the claim that Lerner wanted a new manager as different to MON as possible. If the rumours that we prefered Moyes are correct, then the claim seems unprobable. But if it is true, then we should perhaps ask if the board had expected (or at leasted feared) the kind of situation we are in now. Everyone knows that an organization needs time to adapt, and thus, that change should be implemented gradually. Even so, it looks as if we, in a remarkably short period of time, have gone from a plan involving laissez-faire spending on players with a traditional British manager in charge to one involving nurturing of home-grown talent and bargain signings combined with careful long-term planning by an experienced French football academic. Plans don't come much different than those two.

Good post, and it's these differences that the players are clearly struggling to adapt to.  Whilst we all accept that Houllier needs time to put his own side together, the position we find ourselves in in the league requires more of the MON style of management (that is to say getting the best out of a bunch of average players) than the Houllier ( get to Bodymoor Heath now or I'll cut your balls off) way of doing things.   The probability is that in the long run Houllier will bring the best out of the players that we have, the problem is whether or not we can cope in the mean time.

[paulcomben]

Revealing article. All useless if Villa get relegated, though. Then, Houllier and all of the players on high wages will leave & we'll be trying to get Eddie Howe or Paul Jewell to cobble together a cheap team of youngsters and has-beens to get us up. And Lerner's investment will be worth nothing.

[villa for life]

Forgive my football ignorance, but have either Houllier or MON been involved in relegation battles before and how did they perform?