Gerard Houllier

[Legion]

As is mine.

[mjlions]

Back him I've always said judge him on his squad not what he inherited

[Toronto Villa]

Hey pmk. You gone into hiding? Or are you just lining up your next salvo of anti-French and anti-Houllier slurs despite today's events?

i never doubted houlliers signings

i just dont like his management, his touchline commitment, his tactical knowledge....

so basically he signs a couple of players and he is the best manager we have ever had?

give it a rest you fool

Yes, that's it. Those that backed him called him the best manager we ever had. Off course we did.

sir, can I offer you some coffee with your humble pie tonight?

[Dave Cooper please]

Well, you can't knock the impact of his first signing (that has been able to play), and you can't knock the impact of his loanee (was Walker injured today?). You really can't start to judge a manager until he is playing with the players and the tactics he wants, today was a good start.

[dave.woodhall]

It seems to me that at some stage in the past couple of weeks Gezza's realised what sort of club he's at and how well he could do here.

[D.boy]

Back him I've always said judge him on his squad not what he inherited

This is my opinion as well. We have to give him a chance to put his team together and then its fair to judge.
There are signs things are turning round and I think he will do well for us.

[Ian.]

There has been a few Gloomy moments this season and it has been very easy to forget when MON left when he did, forget the injury crisis, forget players not willing to put a shift in for the new manager and its been too easy to blame Houllier. He even got blamed for the injuries!

I for one think who ever stepped in would have had a rough ride taking over when they had no chance to stamp their own mark on the squad.
Now he's made a few additions it has shown his and Randy's intent for the future.

[pauliewalnuts]

It seems to me that at some stage in the past couple of weeks Gezza's realised what sort of club he's at and how well he could do here.

That's good, but it is going to take much more than one good result today for people to start believe in him.

Build on today's result, create a platform, that's what the best managers would do, and that is what he's got to do. If we go to Wigan in the week and put in a performance like the Sunderland home game after the Chelsea display, with Man United away up next, it will all be wasted.

[ozzjim]

I think we have to get a positive result at Wigan. They will be scrapping and fighting as much as us though, so it won't be easy.

I hope he has a good night tonight though. I like him, and continue to like him. Despite his fettish for Stewart Downing.

[KevinGage]

It seems to me that at some stage in the past couple of weeks Gezza's realised what sort of club he's at and how well he could do here.

He should have known that from the outset.


I also got the feeling that he bought into the mindset and philosophy most Villa fans had this season post- August.  That is, this season doesn't really matter. It's one of transition, and even if we lose a few we've got plenty in the tank to comfortably finish mid table this year. Just potter about with team selection and experiment a bit.

Only problem with that is when you go on a not winning streak (starting with not closing those games out v Fulham and Man U) that then turns into a losing streak, it's very hard to arrest that. As we've seen.

Injuries haven't helped him at times this season, of course. But there have still been some questionable selection policies and teams.

Lets put all that behind us though.

He'll have hopefully learnt (if he was ever in any doubt) that if you gain an advantage in a match you do all you can to hold onto it. This is one of the toughest leagues in the world -and has probably became a good deal harder since he's been away.

When he was last in England, top 4 was generally relatively easy to secure for a side with Liverpool's budget. And even a team like ours finishing around 6th-8th, as we often did during that era, would have enough winnable games in the season to be comfortable. Unless we were chronically underperforming ourselves.

Now there are no gimmie's. Sides like the Olbiyun and Blackpool can go to Arsenal and Liverpool respectively and roll them over.

[pauliewalnuts]

I hope he pulls his socks up, otherwise we mayhave this waiting for us:

Benitez wants Prem return - and could walk into Villa post

Rafa Benitez would like to ­return to the Premier League – and he could end up replacing under-fire Gerard Houllier at Aston Villa.

Former Liverpool boss ­Benitez is out of work after losing his job at Italian giants Inter Milan after seven months.

Benitez said: “The ­priority is the ­Premier League. To have a project, a ­business plan of what you want to do and how to improve a club. It must be a good club.”

Benitez also backed Kenny Dalglish’s return to Anfield.

He added: “It will be much better with Kenny because he knows the club and what the fans want. He can talk with the players and they will feel and understand what it means to be a Liverpool player.

“Kenny has been a very good appointment and, hopefully, it will be ­a successful one.”

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Former-Liverpool-boss-Rafa-Benitez-has-Aston-Villa-post-in-his-sights-after-admitting-he-wants-a-return-to-the-Premier-League-article679729.html

Quite incredible, extrapolating that headline from those quotes.

[dave.woodhall]

I also got the feeling that he bought into the mindset and philosophy most Villa fans had this season post- August.  That is, this season doesn't really matter. It's one of transition, and even if we lose a few we've got plenty in the tank to comfortably finish mid table this year. Just potter about with team selection and experiment a bit.

Only problem with that is when you go on a not winning streak (starting with not closing those games out v Fulham and Man U) that then turns into a losing streak, it's very hard to arrest that. As we've seen.

That's interesting, as one reporter told me that during the depths of the injury crisis he seemed totally unconcerned about it. Maybe he did think we could busk through, forget about the harder games then pick up enough points in the 'easier' ones towards the end of the season to finish reasonably safely. Then maybe some of the appalling displays over Christmas made him change his mind.

[KevinGage]

West Ham would be perfect for him.

Edit: Rafa that is, not GH.

[TheSandman]

It seems to me that at some stage in the past couple of weeks Gezza's realised what sort of club he's at and how well he could do here.

That's good, but it is going to take much more than one good result today for people to start believe in him.

Build on today's result, create a platform, that's what the best managers would do, and that is what he's got to do. If we go to Wigan in the week and put in a performance like the Sunderland home game after the Chelsea display, with Man United away up next, it will all be wasted.

Absolutely. One swallow doesn't make a summer. We need to get a run and pull away from the others. Get nothing from Wigan and things look bleak again.

IF we get that run then things will look up and we can build for next season under Hotlips.

Benitez? So when he gets sacked inside a few months do we employ Uncle Woy and then King Kenny?

[koreanmeatballs]

Good result but if we don't get a result at Wigan it will be completely worthless. We need to do a lot more before he convinces me he is the right man for the club, his start was abysmal. However as I said before Randy has backed him so we have to.

Benitez? Please for fuck sake no, I read RAWK regularly and can't comprehend how big the 'love-in' would be if he returned.