Three trophies for Houllier , but it could have been even better
Liverpool legend writing exclusively for Mirror Sport
IF there’s one thing about that magical 2000-01 season that I could change, it would be that I knew then what I know now.
Stupid, I know, because I can’t change history – and who would want to anyway after winning three cups – but I realise now there is far more to football than just turning up, pulling your boots on, and playing.
I was forever knocking on manager Gerard Houllier’s door that season, even though we got to three finals and had a chance in the Premier League until late in the campaign. It was simple. I wanted to play. Every damn game.
I had to check how many games I actually played that campaign and the number surprised me – 48. But a third of those were off the bench. I know it sounds crazy now but I was driven mad because I wanted to start every single one of the 61 games we played. Another regret is that we started the season so slowly in the league. Because of the treble, people tend to forget that we finished third, just a point behind Arsenal in second. What they also forget is that in four weeks between November and December we lost four games. That killed our league bid – we had too much ground to make up on Manchester United, despite losing only two more games in the final five months of the season. Maybe we were just a little too negative at times. That may sound crazy given that we scored 127 goals, which was the second- highest total in Liverpool history. I scored 17...and was only third-highest scorer!
We had Michael Owen and Emile Heskey, and here’s another thing I reckon people will forget too – Jari Litmanen was signed in the January, just in case we lacked firepower!
We actually beat United home and away that season, but we lost twice to Leeds and couldn’t put away some of the smaller teams. Sound familiar?
We had a team to win the league because we were tight in defence, had depth in midfield – we got 42 goals from five midfielders that season – and boasted four top-class strikers.
Maybe we needed a bit more adventure against some of the less ambitious teams, though – playing centre-halves at full-back meant we were solid as hell but sometimes didn’t break defensive teams down so easily.
Would I swap the memories of those three cup finals for a title? Probably not, though I’d be greedy and have them all.
I realise now that the rotation that used to drive me mad at the time kept us fresher so we didn’t struggle in the league even with all those cup matches.
If we hadn’t started the league so
slowly, I’m convinced it would have been a quadruple. But again I can’t change history, except in my head.
And all three of those finals were special, even if it didn’t always work out quite such a fairytale for me. My volley in the League Cup was one of the best I ever scored and would have been the winner but for a soft late penalty.
Same in the UEFA Cup final – another of my best goals, and it really should have been the winner, but Sander Westerveld chucked one in late on and Gary McAllister got his moment of glory. Bless him!
Actually, he figures in one of my abiding memories from that season, in the UEFA Cup final, in fact. I was warming up to come on just as he was taking a corner, and this massive missile flew from the stands and nearly took our heads off.
We both looked down...to see what can only be described as a huge dildo! So I smiled at the crowd, flicked it up with my right foot and volleyed it back with my left, the sweetest connection I made all season.