The starting XI, An Ode to Arne, winning the transfer window trophy and more… Part one

ARTICLE BY ALAN

Someone posted a picture the other day of the current squad at the end of the transfer window. It looked more like the work of Da Vinci than a list written down on a piece of paper. I then remembered a picture I had seen a couple of days earlier of THAT team under Roy Hodgson. It got me thinking about our managers over the last three decades and how did we get from that to this. From a current team of Galacticos as some are now describing it to a bunch of misfit players masquerading as a Liverpool team under unquestionably the worst manager in our illustrious history. The man was about as inspiring as a Carrot with the motivational skills to match and to top it off a Fergie lover to boot. Ive been told if I’ve got nothing good to say, than say nothing at all so I’ll move on with the trip down memory lane.

Gerard Houllier arrived at Liverpool in 1998 to work alongside Roy Evans in a joint management role. It seemed a strange appointment at the time and probably one of the first of its kind. Roy Evans was very fondly thought of by the club and fans and employed an entertaining style of attacking football with some very exciting young players. Ultimately he was unsuccessful and something had to change but the club decided they couldn’t part ways with Roy. I felt maybe a reluctance on the clubs part to let go of the old days. Roy was the last of the iconic boot room. It was doomed to failure from the start and Roy resigned halfway through the season leaving Houllier as manger.

Houllier had a great reputation in football previously winning the French league and managing the national team. He also nurtured some brilliant young talents such as Trezuget and Thierry Henry. He brought some steel to a team that had been missing a backbone. He seemed an intelligent decent man but my relationship with him was mixed and worsened over the years. The first couple of years didn’t see huge improvement on the pitch but he managed to stamp his own style on the team and introduced some great signings such as Hyppia, Henchoz and Hamann. The team was building nicely and the young talented Michael Owen and Steven Gerard became regulars in the team. Some of the old ” Spice Boys” were still part of the squad, namely Jamie Redknapp, Patrick Berger and a certain Robbie Fowler.

Further top tier German talents were added when Markus Babbel (are you watching Ataturk / Paul) and Christian Ziege arrived. Houllier had built a formidable side with a blend of the old guard younsters and players he had brought in. They went on to win an unprecedented treble and qualified for the European cup for the first time in years but that was as good as it got and just when we thought we were back things went backwards. Liverpool never kicked on from there and a string of terrible signings and failure to develop the style of football brought a gradual decline. Liverpool fans started to get restless and criticism followed for a lack of results and a playing style which basically consisted of a lump it up to Emile Heskey to knock down for Owen tactic. Results and the style of football continued to worsen and the majority of fans had turned on the manager. He continued to choose function over flair, players like Anelka who was on loan and looked very promising were let go in favour of more workmanlike ones.

Around that time we also signed Jari Litmanen probably the greatest player to never really play for Liverpool partly down to injury and partly down to Houlliers not choosing flair players. He grew increasingly agitated and bit back at any hint of any criticism from fans and the media and blamed everyone but himself. My opinion on Houllier had soured over the years to a point of resentment towards the man that I had once admired. It wasnt just the turgid football though that had me at breaking point with him. Houllier always had a preference for England’s golden boy Owen over Liverpools own mercurial Fowler. This was sacrilege to me as I worshiped Fowler and no matter how well he did it was never enough for Houllier. In the treble year Fowler scored in the league cup final, the Europa final and in the game that clinched European cup qualification. None of this was enough to convince Houllier that Fowler was more than a bit player and their relationship deteriorated further. From the outside to me at least it looked a clash of personalities clouded Houlliers judgement and I took it personally. Fowler may not have been the player he was in his youth with injuries partially curtailing him but was still an incredible finisher worthy of a place in the team The final straw for me with Houliier was the day he forced God out of the club and it wasn’t long before he was gone too. Fowler later in his autobiography described how badly he was treated by Houllier.

Next in the door was Rafael Benitez. A quiet unassuming Spaniard who took on the might of Real Madrid and Barcelona winning La Liga twice. What can I say about Rafa, a devisive figure amongst the fanbase but I loved Rafa . He just seemed to get the club, city and fans. Wether it was standing up to the media darling of the time Alex Ferguson or fighting the clubs corner under the miserly ownership of two Cowboy Yanks.

Rafa really should have ended our title drought the year we so narrowly lost out to the mancs only losing two games all season but a lack of depth in attack cost us dearly resulting in 12 draws. This was in part I felt down to Rafas reluctance to play Robbie Keane in a seeming power play against the owners who didn’t deliver the signings he wanted. An injury to Fernando Torres compounded the problem and left us with too much ground to make up. Ultimately he never delivered the Holy Grail. However he did gave me two of the best days of my life. Istanbul and the day Robbie came home. One manager got rid of him and Rafa brought him back. Robbie described coming home like being a kid on Christmas day and I reckon Lmust have looked the same for a few short magical days.

I remember seeing a video of Rafa on a stage during a play celebrating Istanbul dancing , laughing, having the time of his life. I thought Rafas the man, Rafa gets it.
However my overriding memory of Rafa was on that wonderful balmy night in the Ataturk stadium when at the final whistle he sat on the pitch like a Buddha contemplating the miracle that had just occurred while around him chaos ensued.
Rafa left the club in the summer of 2010.

A Mr Roy Hodgson managed Liverpool Football Club from July 2010 until January 2011.

The feelgood factor returned to Merseyside in January of 2011 when possibly the greatest man in the clubs history returned to the hotseat.King Kenny Dalgish regained his throne and the promise of better days lay ahead. Things immediately improved from the dark days of the previous regime. Then came a major bombshell when Torres one of the few bright sparks in the team alongside Stevie slapped in a transfer request. This was the first time I felt betrayed in football. Torres has since tried his best to mend bridges with the fans and plenty have forgiven him but there was no going back for me. I had Liverpool on a pedestal and naively expected the same from the players. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to leave, you didn’t even give Kenny a chance. I thought you loved everything about the club, surely you know who Kenny is/was. Even worse was his decision to move to a club who had become our bitterest rivals under Rafa. Torres later explained his decision to leave was because of broken promises by the board. A remarkably similar situation to the current transfer saga surrounding Isak. Football fans are the biggest hypocrites though and I absolved Isak of any blame for his switch. Torres was gone and as always Liverpool carried on, wasting no time bringing in 2 exciting strikers. Andy Carroll a Geordie who had an outstanding start to his career and probably the player that got me off my seat more than any other in a red shirt Luis Saurez. Saurez went on to become one of the most special players in Liverpools history but also brought a huge amount of baggage. Liverpool finished the season brilliantly moving from the bottom half of the table to qualifying for Europe. Kenny brought in a lot of new signings in the summer but none were an instant success and the season didn’t go to plan. The ill advised defence of Luis Saurez in a racism row didn’t help matters. Liverpool finished the season around mid table and it was decided Kenny would step down as manager once more.

Brendan Rodgers was the man chosen to take over from Kenny. A young manager with fresh ideas and had a good reputation of playing attractive football with Swansea. Things didn’t start well but the Liverpool side he inherited were a far cry from the legendary sides of the past. Performances were decent though and the players seemed to be on board and signs were promising .Once the fans can see things are moving in the right direction the Liverpool manager will always be afforded patience. Things picked up after Christmas and Liverpool managed to sign a couple of young exciting attackers in Philipe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge. I was delighted when we signed Studge as I was always a huge fan, the most natural goalsorer I had seen since God. Both settled well and in Coutinho it instantly looked like we had unearthed a gem.

No one could foresee the season that was about to unfold though. Liverpool had built quite the attack with Luis Saurez about to have one of the all time great pl seasons. His strike partner Sturridge also had an amazing campaign and with Coutinho and a young Raheem Sterling we hadnt seen such attacking verve since the 80s. Gerard was still at the Cub and he formed an excellent partnership in midfield with a young Jordan Henderson who was improving all the time. They started the season on fire and the momentum just grew and grew. Amazingly we were in a title race and the atmosphere around Anfield on match day looked fever pitch. When we beat City in a thrilling game at Anfield it looked odds on we would finally win the title again. Everyone knows what happened next. Mourinhos Chelsea turned up at Anfield determined to stop Liverpool from winning the title even though they were out of the race. Mourino set up a team to stifle and nick a goal on the counter, classic Mourinho. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened and even though there was a couple of games left we knew the dream had died and City went on to clinch the title. Ultimately despite the teams attacking flair, their Achilles heel, the defence proved their undoing. Saurez left the club a few weeks later and Rodgers team never looked the same again. Sturridge started to pick up a series of injuries which would plague him his whole career and the rest of the side started looking ordinary again and an ageing Gerard wasn’t even able to keep performing miracles.

Unfortunately Rodgers future signings were a complete disaster and this ultimately proved fatal for Rodgers and his Liverpool career. He had become a bit of a joke figure among a lot of Liverpool fans before and since his departure. His final game coming in the Merseyside Derby. It emerged afterwards the decision had been made before the draw with Everton and it soon became clear why. One of the most popular figures in Liverpools history was lined up to replace him.

Despite being inevitable I was a little sad to see Rodgers go as I liked him despite the David Brentisms and people pleasing he seemed a nice fella and that one season where we dared to dream was the finest display of football I had seen the days of Barnes and Beardsley & Co. I urge anyone to go back and watch the highlights of the 5 1 against Arsenal or the 5 0 away to a fine Spurs side at Christmas Even our next manager would have to go some to better any of those displays.

The club managed to strike gold with their next appointment. Gegenpressing was soon to become the newest addition to every Liverpool fans vocabulary when the news broke that the former Borussia Dortmund managerJurgen Klopp was to become the new boss. He would go on to become Liverpools longest serving manager since Bob Paisley. The charismatic, extroverted German turned up at Anfield to a warm welcome and huge expectation. He quickly declared himself The Normal One but exuded confidence at the same time declaring he would win the title within four years.

I remember his first game clearly, away to Spurs. There was an immediate improvement, klopp had set up an average team to be organised and compact coming away with a 0 0 draw with a much improved defensive performance. Results continued to improve with 2 stunning away wins at Chelsea and Manchester City quickly to follow. Within a few weeks Klopp had managed to cobble together a team of also rans to pulverise the all conquering City team with a display of pressing the English game had never seen before. The quartet of Firmino Can Coutinho Lallana had truly arrived and would go on to become cornerstones of Klopps early team.Klopps revolution had truly begun. It hadn’t taken long for Liverpool fans around the world to fall completely under his spell.

The next couple of years saw the side steadily improve with fantastic additions such as Mane. Gini, Salah, Robbo brought on board. After suffering a cruel loss to the Ruthless Madrid in the champions league final Klopp was starting to gain a reputation as a nearly man. The bond between Klopp, his players that would have run through brick walls for him and the fanbase would not be broken so easily though. Klopp vowed to come back stronger and success was just around the corner. Redemption followed the next year with Liverpool defeating spurs in the final .Klopp would go on to win everything in the game ending Liverpools 30 year league title drought and the club world Cup for the first time in the clubs history.

Over the years there was a lot of false claims regarding Klopps abilities as a manager. Mostly from retired footballers who made for lazy pundits. Sometimes I wonder do they even watch the matches. Some claimed he was just a cheerleader type without any great tactical knowledge or flexibility in his playing style. Early on in Klopps tenure John Giles described him as a one trick pony but with a very good trick. I think Giles must have been quite impressed with himself with that one as he would go on choose the same line for many years despite Klopps teams evolving. Others would only describe his style as Heavy Metal (Klopps own phrase). This was only the case in the first couple of years though. People forget the teams that won the champions league and league in consecutive years. This was a reserved passing style with Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dylk playing in slippers at the back rarely giving the opposition a sniff and often settling for winning 1 0 or 2 1.

Critics may also say that he didn’t win as many trophies as the performances and his status as a great manager deserved. This could be true for other glory hunting fanbases but Liverpool, A Club Apart are built differently. We value the journey, the memories and our heroes just as high as trophies. We loved the man as well as the manager who remarkably always had the right thing to say at the right time.

If I was to pick my favourite memories from Klopps time it would be:

1. the fabled front three. A remarkable blend of pace, clinical finishing and instinctively knowing where each other were on the pitch.

2. Jordan Henderson for his indomitable spirit and leadership and becoming a far better player and captain than many gave him credit for.

3. The flying full backs and their record breaking assists.

4. Trent actively running games from right back.

5. Bobby’s smiles

My favourite game was the 4 0 away to Leicester on St Stephens night ( boxing day in the UK) Liverpool looked every bit the best team on the planet. In reality they were, having just returned from the club world Cup victorious. I remember going into the game feeling nervous after the exertions of that tournament. I thought we would be jaded. They quickly put that notion to bed absolutely overwhelming a top Leicester side who could not cope with the relentless attacks. They still proved a tough nut to crack though and it took a while before the goals flowed. Bobby was majestic that night, at the peak of his powers and settled the nerves with a clinical brace. Trent finished the game off in style with an unerring drive into the far corner. Football romantics may remember the Carlos Alberto goal from Brazils winning world Cup team in 1970, widely regarded as the greatest goal of all time. My mind instantly ran back to that goal and how similar it was. I knew that night our long wait to be crowned champions had almost come to an end.

My biggest regret, none, absolutely none.

It sure was a wild ride under Jurgens helm. A voyage if you will. We hauled up the anchor determined not to fail , for treasure together we set sail , we sat out the doldrums with patience and hope, in troubled waters he kept us afloat until we arrived at our destination, back on our perch.

Before he sailed off into the sunset ,though he had one more trick up his sleeve. He left us with a parting gift and a rousing rendition of Arne Slot na na na na na
To be continued….