WHEN recalling that glorious treble year of 2001 under Gerard Houllier, few voices will celebrate the contribution of Emile Heskey, who signed for the Reds from Leicester City for a record £11 million 17 years ago this week. Instead, the successive League, FA and UEFA...
DURING Liverpool’s halcyon days, when league titles were ten-a-penny, shocking defeats – akin to last week’s numbing loss to Bournemouth – had the media pitying the fate of our next opponents. It seemed inevitable that the affronted Reds animal would unleash fearful...
BEFORE a ball was kicked, I said Liverpool will win the league this season. As each game has passed — and Liverpool have responded to every obstacle put in front of them (Burnley aside) — I’m merely becoming more and more convinced. There are a number of...
IN the days after Johan Cruyff’s death, many of the obituaries were decorated with some of his most famous quotes about football. “Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong ones,” he said. “In my teams, the...
THE first time Liverpool’s board floated the idea of appointing a director of football, Roy Evans was in charge and John Toshack — being a mate of his — was the target because it was believed they could work together. There was a feeling inside the...
FROM a position of weakness, the first thing a manager usually tries to do is help the side he has inherited become tougher to beat than it was before. Brendan Rodgers attempted to make Liverpool more attractive to watch, so when the criticisms came — that...
AHEAD of Liverpool’s trip to Wembley to play Manchester City in the Capital One Cup we wondered what Liverpool needed to do to bring the trophy back to Merseyside. So we asked a fella who won two. Gerard Houllier was manager of Liverpool when we won the League...
I’VE always been more of an ambitions man than a resolution man. I like to sit down and contemplate what would be good to do in any 12-month period. What would you fancy over the next 12 months? Try to keep them plausible and reasonable. Actionable. This year I...
IN among the bluster of the story, perhaps the defining moment of an entire era was buried last week when Alex Teixeira gave an exclusive interview, detailing precisely why he wanted to leave Shakhtar Donetsk while wearing a polo shirt issued by the club that pays his...
IN a new regular TAW feature we ask: “What if…”. So many things in football hinge on moments, on split-second decisions and on judgement calls, including buying and selling players and appointing certain managers (or not). To kick things off, David...
