Liverpool look to the future

13 April 2012

Six months after almost dying on an operating table, Gerard Houllier appears to be applying a new set of rules to managing Liverpool as well as life.

With a more cautious approach comes a sharper focus on the future, and with it a reluctance to take what the Frenchman might now consider an unnecessary gamble.

Steven Gerrard wanted to play in a match that would decide if Liverpool retained a realistic chance of winning the Premiership title. The England midfielder had felt a twinge in his troublesome groin during training, but he was prepared to take a risk at White Hart Lane in pursuit of domestic glory.

Houllier, however, took the pragmatist's view. He feared a minor groin strain would turn into a major one, and a player sidelined for the remainder of the season would then miss this summer's World Cup.

He decided, therefore, to omit Gerrard from his plans - and then looked on as a 41st-minute Gus Poyet goal, scored after his team had failed to defend against a fine Darren Anderton cross, all but ended Liverpool's championship challenge.

'It would have been too big a risk to play Stevie,' said Houllier. 'Suppose he pulls his groin and he's out for six weeks. I would have lost him for the rest of the season and he would not have gone to the World Cup.

'Sometimes you have to look at the player's career, and look at how his personal development will be good for the club. It is important that a player goes to a World Cup. It is a good experience. Stevie wanted to play, but then some of my lads will try and play on with a broken leg.'

A decision the watching England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, doubtless appreciated should indeed prove beneficial to Liverpool, even if a season that promised so much is likely to end in disappointment.

Houllier refused to share such sentiment, especially when his players spent five months without their manager and also had to cope with Markus Babbel's serious health problems. The Germany defender has Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which attacks the body's nervous system.

'You have to give credit to a young team and take into account what has happened this season,' said Houllier.

'We finished third in the League last year with 69 points. We already have 74 points, we reched the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and it is our target to finish second. That is progress and that is what we are looking for.

'This season has told me a lot in terms of the mental strength my players possess. It tells me they can deal with what the future will bring, when they try to take the next step, the one that is the most exciting to play for. If they keep working and maintain the same attitude, it will bring results. If they believe in themselves as much as I believe in them, they will go further.'

What Houllier described as a 'bad day for Liverpool' was rather more encouraging for a Tottenham team that managed to complete 90 minutes of compelling football without making a substitution.

Glenn Hoddle was suitably delighted, reflecting with considerable satisfaction on the fashion in which they defeated a Liverpool team chasing a seventh consecutive away victory.

He might have assisted Arsenal in their quest for the Premiership crown, but that was of no concern to a Tottenham manager whose side were extremely well organised in denying Michael Owen and Co the goal they so desired.

'At times our football was exquisite in the second half,' he said.

'You don't see many weaknesses in that Liverpool side, but the difference was the fact that we took our chance and they did not.

'I'm positive about our future, and I ' m sure, because of the way football is changing, that we will have the money available to build on what we are trying to do. With the uncertainty surrounding future television revenue, I think we will see transfer fees come down, wages come down and perhaps even loan deals between Premiership clubs. That, I believe, is something that could be introduced.

'Those changes could work in Tottenham's favour, because we have not mortgaged the house. Our finances are healthy.

'Manchester United, and possibly Arsenal, will probably remain apart from the rest, but they can't hold on to all the best players.'

Indeed they cannot. Not when Liverpool are striving to assemble a championshipwinning squad of their own.

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Liverpool look to the future

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