Flamboyance & flair may not be their usual brand of Football but the Liverpool team has been calling the shots in the English Premier League (EPL) with their uncanny ability to combine courage with confidence. Honestly- elegance & charisma have rarely been used to describe the Liverpool team of the recent past. But the hardy boys of English Football have certainly proved their worth in the big league with some gutsy performance against the top teams of Europe.
They may not be like Arsenal when it comes to ball artistry or like Manchester United when it comes to prowess but Liverpool- more than adequately have enclosed this gap with a solid defense, an indomitable fighting spirit & a cunning ability to score last minute goals. But very little has gone right for the young Liverpool team in 2002-2003 as seasoned players like Dietmar Hamman & Stephen Henchoz were out with serious injuries while players like Emiley Heskey & Vladimir Smicer were playing like school boys.
Under the immature coaching of Frenchman-Gerard Houllier, the Liverpool team has suffered many embarrassing defeats in recent past. Although he has inherited the 4-4-2 combination from other great coaches, he tends to invariably play defensive as soon as Liverpool takes the lead in the game (Hey Houllier!!! Remember the old saying: “Goals win matches”)
However, this should be his ideal combination throughout the next season (Provided no new quality player joins the team):
--------------- Dudek--------------
-Heggem -- Henchoz -- Hyppia -- Riise -
---------------- Hamman ---------------
----- Gerrard ------------ Murphy -----
---------------- Diouf ----------------
---------- Owen -------- Baros --------
About the players:- The Liverpool trio of Sami Hyppia, Stephen Henchoz & John Arne Riise- former French based striker El Hadji Diouf, Dietmar Hamman, Milan Baros & Steven Gerrard—to name but a few, are all players of proven quality. The jewel in the Liverpool side, though, remains playmaker Michael Owen. Owen appears to possess the sixth sense unique to great goal-scorers (Like Rudd Van Nisteroy & Theirry Henry) , which allows him to know where to position himself & to steal a vital few important seconds on his marker.
The main problem however with the present Liverpool team is with their bench strength. Gerard Houllier (Manager) will bless his angels if he is able to sell players like Vladimir Smicer, Jamie Carragher, Djimi Traore, Emiley Heskey, Salif Diao, Bruno Cheyrou and instead buy someone like Rivaldo, Hernan Crespo, Michael Ballack or Mark Viduka.
Ever wondered what Michael Owen supported by Hernan Crespo upfront, would do to rival defense? Picture this, watch El Hadji Diouf overlap the field & pass a superb one to Michael Owen or Crespo, who would take a perfect kick from inside the penalty area. Miss your heartbeat as Jerzy Dudek or Chris Kirkland execute perfect glove-work under the wood-work. Get mesmerized by defenders Sami Hyppia, Stephen Henchoz & John Arne Riise, who would make life difficult for opposition strikers (Too bad Gerard Houllier isn’t retiring this season……..Sigh!!!)
This season Liverpool finished fifth in the Premier league (Despite some very good performance…Including a 2-0 win against Manchester United in the Worthington Cup final) . Their memorable 1-1 draw with Arsenal was one of the highlights of last years English Premier League & although they failed to win a single game against the big teams, they were never disgraced.
“I’ve been on this planet for 20 odd years & have supported Liverpool for 17 of them.’’
--Azhar