The replacement for MON...?

[pmk1981]

lerner is on the wind up

Houllier???  bloody has been!!!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I was just reminded on 5 live about his '5 plus 5' rule. ie - never more than 5 players in front of the ball. He was a bit of a 4-4-2 merchant as well wasn't he? I could imagine Petrov and NRC, with Ireland competing for one of the wide midfield berths, until he gets any of his own signings in.

Having just read a Lyon blog, he appears to be very conservative, strong defence with a very defensive midfield, even though he always plays 4-3-3 that can switch to 4-5-1. He will rotate the squad and is not afraid to upset anybody. The time to get nervous will be in January.

Not the most exciting appointment, hopefully it will be a two year contract but I'll be wishing him the best of luck, should the rumour be confirmed.

[not3bad]

lerner is on the wind up

Houllier???  bloody has been!!!

You only just heard that Houllier is linked with the job?

[hartman_1982]

The general Liverpool opinion seems to be this....

"Behave, the UEFA cup and the FA Cup are both major honours.  Leading a team that had not won had won a two cups in the previous decade and leading them to three cups in one season was a great achievement.  He dragged the club into the modern age of football.  He instilled discipline.  He made the City Arms, Cardiff our second local and you ask any of the lads bevvied in Dortmund or who sang his name non-stop for the entire second half at Boavista and you'll get the same answer.

He made us proud to be reds again."

However, a lot do acknowledge that he wasn't the same man after his heart attack. If he is back to full health, Randy may well have pulled a masterstroke!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Let's see what some Liverpool fans think...

Link

I wish you hadn't posted that link:

I know loads of Reds who hated Houllier before he left and that had nothing to do with Rafa. Loads of Reds still hate him now, which I find sad. When you ask why it’s partly because of his style of football and tactics, partly because of his lack of success post-2002, partly because of the awful signings he signed in the summer before the 2002-03 season which obviously played a big part in that and partly because of his pathetic excuses, his perceived arrogance and spiral into paranoia. He was a Liverpool manager who the vast majority of Reds wanted gone by 2004, far more so than Rafa, in fact far more so than any manager since Souness. By the end of his reign very few thought his firing was a bad move. Many wanted him gone the year before.

However, I hold no ill will towards him, despite his character flaws, his bitterness towards Rafa’s success, his questionable treatment of certain players (Fowler, Litmanen, Heskey, Gary Mac etc), his attempt to claim credit for Istanbul and his bizarre spats with players such as Ginola, which are irrelevant to us. I hope he does well at Villa, and I wish him well generally. Just wish he had a bit more class.

But he was not a great Liverpool manager, not by a long stretch, and any attempt to portray him so is simply wrong. Managers like Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish etc were amazing managers, great managers. Rafa was arguably a great manager, for his European Cup triumph, taking us to another CL final, his title challenge, his league finishes and two record point hauls. Ged? He was a good Liverpool manager who enjoyed very good early success, then lost the plot. 2000-2002 was very good, we looked a force again. But we never reached the summit of either domestic or European football during his time here, and never really looked like doing so. Maybe we expected too much after 2001. His health problems certainly affected him. But he never delivered a title challenge, and never delivered success in the European Cup, bar one good run when he wasn’t in direct charge. He was far from great.

[hawkeye]

some of the comments about him at lpool, lyon and france  being timid and conservative when under pressure in terms of tactics and substitutions are very worrying.
i also have a problem with his affinity with liverpool , i have serious reservations but beggars cant be choosers we are stuck with a limited selection, it could have been a lot worse but if MON had gone at the end of last season it might have been better

[JUAN PABLO]

Anyone who can get Heskey to score 22 goals in a season , is  a genius in my book..   

If MON was in charge this season the whole team might have struggled to score  22 goals...

[Jimbo]

OK we've finished 6th for the last three years. if we finish lower let agree that I'm right and if we finish higher I agree that you're right.

Taking into account the loss of our best player and the close-season strengthening of our rivals I doubt even Martin would have matched last years finish so its probably not a fair benchmark.

And in all likelihood, MON knew it too, which is one of the reasons he ducked the challenge. He was going to get found out, good and proper.

GH isn't the manager we all thought we had the power to attract, but he's certainly no mug, he has trophies to his name and a wide network of contacts in Europe and beyond. I'd hope he will be an improvement on the former incumbent.

If his appointment is confirmed, it's time to get behind him 100 percent, because we have a tough season ahead of us, largely thanks to Martin O'Weasel's poor timing and, it has to be said, piss, piss-poor regard for our club and its fans.

 

[ROBBO]

You have to have some sympathy for Lerner stuck between a rock and a hard place, lets face it whoever he appoints it will not make eveyone happy.

[atomicjam]

From the Express:-

GERARD HOULLIER WILL CONSIDER PHIL THOMPSON REUNION

GERARD Houllier will consider reuniting with former Liverpool assistant Phil Thompson when he completes his return to English football with Aston Villa in the next 48 hours.

Thompson was Houllier’s No2 at Anfield during his six-year reign and is set to move to the Midlands club with the Frenchman. Villa are on the verge of appointing Houllier as Martin O’Neill’s permanent replacement.

He is expected to be offered a traditional managerial type of role, but caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald, who is popular with the players and has chairman Randy Lerner’s support, is likely to stay at the club and could still have a role with the first team. Houllier, who turned 63 last week, refused to be drawn on the subject of the Villa job when questioned after attending Jamie Carragher’s testimonial at Anfield on Saturday.

He left Liverpool six years ago and has been employed as his country’s technical director since parting company with Lyon in 2007, but he has come under fire after France’s disappointing World Cup.

[Monty]

God it really is mental season. Phil Thompson was a decent coach with deep connections to his club. Kevin MacDonald is an excellent coach with deep connections to his club. It is totally illogical just to think that, because Houllier once had Thompson as number 2, that he automatically takes him everywhere with him like MON and Robertson. I didn't see 'Thommo' rolling up in Lyon.

[Dante Lavelli]

Let's see what some Liverpool fans think...

Link

I wish you hadn't posted that link:

I know loads of Reds who hated Houllier before he left and that had nothing to do with Rafa. Loads of Reds still hate him now, which I find sad. When you ask why it’s partly because of his style of football and tactics, partly because of his lack of success post-2002, partly because of the awful signings he signed in the summer before the 2002-03 season which obviously played a big part in that and partly because of his pathetic excuses, his perceived arrogance and spiral into paranoia. He was a Liverpool manager who the vast majority of Reds wanted gone by 2004, far more so than Rafa, in fact far more so than any manager since Souness. By the end of his reign very few thought his firing was a bad move. Many wanted him gone the year before.

However, I hold no ill will towards him, despite his character flaws, his bitterness towards Rafa’s success, his questionable treatment of certain players (Fowler, Litmanen, Heskey, Gary Mac etc), his attempt to claim credit for Istanbul and his bizarre spats with players such as Ginola, which are irrelevant to us. I hope he does well at Villa, and I wish him well generally. Just wish he had a bit more class.

But he was not a great Liverpool manager, not by a long stretch, and any attempt to portray him so is simply wrong. Managers like Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish etc were amazing managers, great managers. Rafa was arguably a great manager, for his European Cup triumph, taking us to another CL final, his title challenge, his league finishes and two record point hauls. Ged? He was a good Liverpool manager who enjoyed very good early success, then lost the plot. 2000-2002 was very good, we looked a force again. But we never reached the summit of either domestic or European football during his time here, and never really looked like doing so. Maybe we expected too much after 2001. His health problems certainly affected him. But he never delivered a title challenge, and never delivered success in the European Cup, bar one good run when he wasn’t in direct charge. He was far from great.

Errr, isn't that your opinion rather than what s said on the link?  I read the same link and I was actually more confident as I thought the majority held him in pretty decent regard.  Certainly better than most ex villa mangers.  I'd compare him to maybe Little in the sense that most (imo) still liked the bloke.

[eamonn]

If we get him does it mean we're stuck with Heskey?

My Liverpool supporting mate said he he had a very good relationship with certain key players - Carragher, Fowler and Gerrard for example. Apparently in some of those players auto-biogs they say maybe he was too friendly to them when at times they needed more of a disciplinarian. Also, it's said he came into the dressing room after the game in Istanbul to congratulate the players? Don't know if that's true but I can't imagine how Rafa would have reacted to that.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Let's see what some Liverpool fans think...

Link

I wish you hadn't posted that link:

I know loads of Reds who hated Houllier before he left and that had nothing to do with Rafa. Loads of Reds still hate him now, which I find sad. When you ask why it’s partly because of his style of football and tactics, partly because of his lack of success post-2002, partly because of the awful signings he signed in the summer before the 2002-03 season which obviously played a big part in that and partly because of his pathetic excuses, his perceived arrogance and spiral into paranoia. He was a Liverpool manager who the vast majority of Reds wanted gone by 2004, far more so than Rafa, in fact far more so than any manager since Souness. By the end of his reign very few thought his firing was a bad move. Many wanted him gone the year before.

However, I hold no ill will towards him, despite his character flaws, his bitterness towards Rafa’s success, his questionable treatment of certain players (Fowler, Litmanen, Heskey, Gary Mac etc), his attempt to claim credit for Istanbul and his bizarre spats with players such as Ginola, which are irrelevant to us. I hope he does well at Villa, and I wish him well generally. Just wish he had a bit more class.

But he was not a great Liverpool manager, not by a long stretch, and any attempt to portray him so is simply wrong. Managers like Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish etc were amazing managers, great managers. Rafa was arguably a great manager, for his European Cup triumph, taking us to another CL final, his title challenge, his league finishes and two record point hauls. Ged? He was a good Liverpool manager who enjoyed very good early success, then lost the plot. 2000-2002 was very good, we looked a force again. But we never reached the summit of either domestic or European football during his time here, and never really looked like doing so. Maybe we expected too much after 2001. His health problems certainly affected him. But he never delivered a title challenge, and never delivered success in the European Cup, bar one good run when he wasn’t in direct charge. He was far from great.

Errr, isn't that your opinion rather than what s said on the link?  I read the same link and I was actually more confident as I thought the majority held him in pretty decent regard.  Certainly better than most ex villa mangers.  I'd compare him to maybe Little in the sense that most (imo) still liked the bloke.

No, that was the most comprehensive comment on there (Page 3). Lot's of one line comments saying they hate him, mainly due to some comment he made about Benitez, a few grateful for what he did in getting the side whereby they could move on to greater things, almost all agreeing he was never the same and seemed to lose it after his heart attack.

[Dante Lavelli]

Strange, I read it differently.  However, I'll concede that a lot hated him due to his Benitez comments, (which seemed foolish/bitter to say the least) however I ignored them as I considered the reaction was a political thing (see Cahill on H&V for similar...) rather than an objective opinion.

I must admit that I hope that his appointment is a short term thing.  Not entirely sure why, however I just cannot see him hanging around long.  The "match" does seem right for me, whereas ironically, I thought MON and Villa seemed to work.