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Was Roy Evans That Bad A Manager?


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The more i think about it getting rid of roy evans was a mistake.By the time houllier was done we were even further away from winning the premiership and he did have a vindictive agenda against robbie fowler.Surely im not the only one who feels this way.

 

Our brand of football under Evans was superb.

 

Very attacking, helped by some promising local lads in Fowler and Mcmanaman.

 

Yet he had to go, can you remember how poor we were defensively? Back then we were big spenders, breaking transfer records on Babb. How many times did he try to solve our ability to not defend crosses? Ruddock, Song, Wright, Kvarme (shudders).

 

Houiller came and started the revolution and I don't think he gets enough praise because of it. He made the club far more professional, getting rid of the 'spice boy' era. He also brought back success to the club by winning trophies. We went from being one of the weakest teams defensively to the strongest by getting Hamann, Westerweld, Hyypia and Henchoz.

 

I think we were too naive as a team under Evans, despite being incredibly entertaining and he had to go. Houiller started the revolution at the club and Benitez's period has been more of an evolution in my opinion.

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Yet he had to go, can you remember how poor we were defensively? Back then we were big spenders, breaking transfer records on Babb. How many times did he try to solve our ability to not defend crosses? Ruddock, Song, Wright, Kvarme (shudders).

 

While i agree it was time for a change, we weren't actually that bad defensively, it's a bit of a myth. And Evans didn't sign Ruddock or Song either.

 

The problem was more down to the mentality of the players and our inability to win games at home to Coventry and such like.

 

We still played some amazing football though.

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And Evans didn't sign Ruddock or Song either..

 

My god you're right. My memory must be fucked.

 

Here's a list of his signings:

 

Mark Gayle

Michael Stensgaard

Phil Babb

John Scales

Mark Kennedy

Stan Collymore

Stephen Pears

Jason McAteer

Patrik Berger

Nicky Rizzo

Bjørn Tore Kvarme

Øyvind Leonhardsen

Paul Ince

Danny Murphy

KarlHeinz Riedle

Jørgen Nielsen

Haukur I. Gudnason

Brad Friedel

Sean Dundee

Steve Staunton

Vegard Heggem

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To be fair , I don't think many Reds do think that Roy was a bad manager , and we did play some brilliant stuff.

 

I just think he was undermined by being too close to the guys who he'd known for a long time & they tended to take liberties. While they liked Roy , I don't feel they respected him quite enough.

 

He does leave behind one of my favourite quotes by a Liverpool manager however.

 

When woken up in the early hours , with a reporter on the phone telling tales on Fowler & Macca who were on holiday , he responded ' I can hardly tell them to stop shagging can I ? '

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Roy Evans was too soft, otherwise we might've fared better under him than we did. I think if pre-heart attack Houllier was in charge we'd have won the league.

Pre heart attack Houllier we were brilliant.But then he lost the plot by sogning Diouf over Anelka.He went too defensive aswell.

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It wasn't, it was one sided and he lacked the talent to address the other side of our game.

 

If he improved our defence even a little we'd have won more under him.

 

I thought we were great to watch, attacking-wise.

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He wasnt a bad manager and should have been sacked the summer before joint managers were appointed, Another season wasted by that twat Moores. Moores and Evans were made for each others lovely blokes but far too soft to be the best in their professions.

 

If you want to look at a really bad manager look no further than Souness,

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That doesn't make the brand of football great, that makes our attacking play great. Their are two elements to football and the winners tend to get the balance between the two right.

 

I think a good brand of football is the style of play. We were great to watch and I agree that the balance wasn't right. Maybe we didn't have good enough defenders to play such an expansive game. But as fans we were entertained going forward with Evans.

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He was completely out of his depth as a manager.

 

At that time we had comparable gates & revenue to the Mancs & larger than anyone else, in marked contrast to today.

In '95 Collymore was the British transfer record at £8.5m: it is inconceivable that we could break that now.

This makes his record even worse.

 

Most of his signings were disappointing (see the list above- do any of them compare to Sami or 7/8 Rafa buys (Pepe,Agger,Skrtel,Masch,Xabi,Torres at least)?)

 

He never addressed chronic problem in GK & centre half, which led to us repeatedly conceeding important goals from corners.

 

We were regularly humiliated in Europe, losing to Danish part-timers or getting thrashed in Paris & this was not even in the CL which he never managed to qualify for (remember the Mancs banner "4th in a 2-horse race" after '97?)

Again, compares v badly to GH & obviously Rafa.

 

The players were completely out of control: Spice Boys drinking, the "coin game" for who bought the drinks.

 

Very nice guy & a good coach but never a #1, the Mancs & Arse pulled further & further away under his reign.

He actually gets off pretty lightly becuase he is a good guy & obviously such a great Red, but his managerial record was very poor.

 

GH then came in & did at least sort out the defence, discipline the Spice Bouys, qualify for the CL & win the Uefa Cup...

(As written above, we will never know what would have happened without his surgery)

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We played good footy under Evans but he found himself tactically out-thought at virtually every turn, especially against the mancs and in Europe.

 

He benefitted from the fact the Premiership back then was pretty poor in comparison, if we'd had that team and Evans in charge now we'b be mid-table at the very best.

 

Some awesome games though and a thoroughly decent bloke who will go down in bootroom lore.

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We were regularly humiliated in Europe, losing to Danish part-timers or getting thrashed in Paris & this was not even in the CL which he never managed to qualify for (remember the Mancs banner "4th in a 2-horse race" after '97?)

Again, compares v badly to GH & obviously Rafa.

 

True, but it was only in his final 2 seasons (96/97 and 97/98) when the top 2 qualified for the champions league. It was incredible we didn't even finish at least 2nd in 97 though. He never had the luxury of being able to finish 4th and it still be classed as a success.

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We played some turgid stuff under Evans too. Games where the players didn't give a flying fuck.

 

What do you expect, they had more important things to be doing like passing a pound coin around during a match to see who ends up with it at the final whistle and has to get the drinks in that night.

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True, but it was only in his final 2 seasons (96/97 and 97/98) when the top 2 qualified for the champions league. It was incredible we didn't even finish at least 2nd in 97 though. He never had the luxury of being able to finish 4th and it still be classed as a success.

Blame Colliemore.He missed a few sitters in the last game at Hillsborough when he knew he was on his way out so he didnt give a fuck.

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He was completely out of his depth as a manager.

 

At that time we had comparable gates & revenue to the Mancs & larger than anyone else, in marked contrast to today.

In '95 Collymore was the British transfer record at £8.5m: it is inconceivable that we could break that now.

This makes his record even worse.

 

Most of his signings were disappointing (see the list above- do any of them compare to Sami or 7/8 Rafa buys (Pepe,Agger,Skrtel,Masch,Xabi,Torres at least)?)

 

He never addressed chronic problem in GK & centre half, which led to us repeatedly conceeding important goals from corners.

 

We were regularly humiliated in Europe, losing to Danish part-timers or getting thrashed in Paris & this was not even in the CL which he never managed to qualify for (remember the Mancs banner "4th in a 2-horse race" after '97?)

Again, compares v badly to GH & obviously Rafa.

 

The players were completely out of control: Spice Boys drinking, the "coin game" for who bought the drinks.

 

Very nice guy & a good coach but never a #1, the Mancs & Arse pulled further & further away under his reign.He actually gets off pretty lightly becuase he is a good guy & obviously such a great Red, but his managerial record was very poor.

 

GH then came in & did at least sort out the defence, discipline the Spice Bouys, qualify for the CL & win the Uefa Cup...

(As written above, we will never know what would have happened without his surgery)

 

In fairness i think by the time houlier was finished we were even further away from winning the league.

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My god you're right. My memory must be fucked.

 

Here's a list of his signings:

 

Mark Gayle

Michael Stensgaard

Phil Babb

John Scales

Mark Kennedy

Stan Collymore

Stephen Pears

Jason McAteer

Patrik Berger

Nicky Rizzo

Bjørn Tore Kvarme

Øyvind Leonhardsen

Paul Ince

Danny Murphy

KarlHeinz Riedle

Jørgen Nielsen

Haukur I. Gudnason

Brad Friedel

Sean Dundee

Steve Staunton

Vegard Heggem

 

There are some very good players there. Murphy and Berger gave us great service. I think if you look at it alot of those players let him down.

 

Friedel was fucking shite for us yet since moving on he's shown he is a class act.

 

Leohnardsen was good and then we signed him.

 

Babb was...well actually no Babb was always shite and was signed on the strength of a decent World Cup.

 

Also I'd like to know how many times he signed Staunton? 6?

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There are some very good players there. Murphy and Berger gave us great service. I think if you look at it alot of those players let him down.

 

Friedel was fucking shite for us yet since moving on he's shown he is a class act.

 

Leohnardsen was good and then we signed him.

 

Babb was...well actually no Babb was always shite and was signed on the strength of a decent World Cup.

 

Also I'd like to know how many times he signed Staunton? 6?

 

Does anyone think getting rid of danny murphy was a mistake?

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