Thursday, February 4, 2010

Houllier and I, part one

Actually, I personally do not rate Gerard Houllier. To me, he is a coach associated with failures. Really. I remember the tragedy at Parc des Princes in November 1993, when Emil Kostadinov's last-gasp winning goal crushed the hopes of a generation that boasted Jean-Pierre Papin, David Ginola and Eric Cantona - the latter two having never played in the World Cup. The coach - Houllier.

In Liverpool, most of Houllier's signings were basically nondescript.

But if one studies the factors leading to France's 1998 World Cup success and the concept of academy (centre-de-formation) which helped nurture hundreds of top-class footballers, Houllier's contribution cannot be denied.

Three times I have had the good fortune of coming face to face with the man.

In 1997, he brushed aside my question on the speculation linking him to the England FA job.

In 2005, he refused to mention any name when I asked him before the entire family of Asian coaches attending the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Symposium on who was the recently deceased French coach widely respected by the generation of Giresse, Tigana and Fernandez.

In 2010, however, I managed to leave a mark. In my desire to interview Houllier for the Kerusi VIP column for EPLx Kosmo! and obtain unanswered questions that harked back to 1997, I took the trouble to catch him on three occasions during the Asean Football Federation (AFF) seminar for technical directors. On the pitch, off the pitch and in between classes!

Apart from these glowing words for loose cannon, Monsieur Houllier gave me a FFF pen

That's France Under-21 coach Eric Mombaerts on the left, loose cannon and Monsieur Houllier.


6 comments:

Doctor Romario said...

Malaysia Super Tigers versus France....we are ready

And dont forget we have return away matches with Brazil and England...so far not played yet.


For the Game. For the World.

Ramli Ghouse said...

KERAGUAN mengenai status penyertaan Harimau Muda pada Liga 1 Slovakia mula diperkatakan oleh akhabr-akhbar arus perdana.

Kosmo:
KELAB-KELAB dalam saingan Liga Divisyen Dua Slovakia, Liga 1 mungkin menganggap perlawanan menentang skuad bawah 21 tahun (B-21) negara atau Harimau Muda A seka- dar aksi pemanas badan.

Utusan:
Teka-teki sama ada Harimau Muda A cuma selaku rakan sepelatih, pelengkap jadual perlawanan 'olok-olok' kerana sebuah kelab menarik diri atau benar-benar bersaing sebagai pasukan Liga Slovakia, bakal terjawab pertengahan bulan ini

Jika diamati jadual perlawanan dalam www.futbalsfz.sk, kedua-dua andaian di atas boleh diterima pakai.

Kita bersetuju bahawa, walau apa jua status liga tersebut, pasukan HM TETAP akan mendapat faedah dan ilmu yang berguna. Cuma sebanyak mana faedah dan setinggi mana ilmu yang bakal diperolehi kelak masih menjadi persoalan.

Pastinya 14 baki perlawanan yang bakal menunggu HM akan diharungi dengan penuh komitmen dan sepenuh hati. Cuma apa yang dibimbangi, pasukan lawan tidak akan turun sebagai sebuah pasukan yang menyertai pertandingan sebenar kelak.

Tidak dapat tidak, kita harus akur bahawa, tidak ada mana-mana jurulatih yang mahukan pemain-pemain mereka bermain bermati-matian dalam perlawanan persahabatan yang tidak membawa sebarang mata kepada mereka.

Kita agak ragu bila membaca kenyataan bahawa, " status skuad Harimau Muda A yang tampil beraksi pada pertengahan saingan Liga 1 itu tidak harus diperlekehkan kerana apa yang penting mereka mendapat perlawanan kompetitif serta pendedahan terbaik"

Jika benar andaian awal ini, secara peribadi saya berpendapat bahawa, pemergian ke Slovakia ini masih belum boleh dianggap oleh sesetengah pihak sebagai 'PENDEDAHAN TERBAIK'.

Saya cuba mencari jawapan atau makna yang tepat mengenai perkataan 'kompetitif'. Dalam e-kamus yang dilayari, saya mendapat jawapan seperti beriktu:-

competitive - bersaing, bersaingan, pertandingan, suka bersaing.

Apakah pasukan HM benar-benar mendapat perlawanan kompetitif di Slovakia kelak?

Ramli Ghouse,
Kuala Linggi

Anonymous said...

and he did win a world cup winners' medal in 1998 ... but can't forgive him for selling God

Fowler is God but Torres is the new Almighty

Anonymous said...

LC, France will not win the World Cup in South Africa. They will need a rugby player to score for them.

Anonymous said...

Agak-agak saudara ada tak orang besar FAM bincang dengan Gerrard Houlier ni pasal struktur bolasepak Malaysia dan tahap teknikal pemain kita?

- x-fam -

Anonymous said...

x-fam, kalau ada pun maybe sampai kpd dia shj x perlu nak 'melalak' pada mesyuarat fam, sbb pastinya ramai ahlil mesyuarat tu cakap, 'ala kita pun boleh buat'. so elok kalau simpan sndiri je...drp membazior ayor lior..

x-nat youth