What Ged Sez: Houllier on ESPN SportsCenter

By: Inara | February 14th, 2008

This interview is actually a couple of weeks old, and I kept on meaning to post it, but better late than never, right?

Janusz Michallik, who is quite possibly the only tolerable soccer analyst at ESPN, talked to Gerard Houllier about his time at Lyon (and Liverpool, but we don’t care about that over here). I posted the relevant excerpts of the interview below. What I like about this interview is that Michallik directly asks Houllier how Lyon expects to become a big club if they sell their major players. Houllier doesn’t shy away, and his answers make a lot of sense. Houllier also talks about the development of Jeremy Toulalan and Hatem Ben Arfa.

I know a lot of Lyon fans dislike Houllier, and I won’t deny I had my own issues with him, but for all his mistakes, he installed defensive discipline into the team (and boy do we miss that!) and a higher sense of expectation within the squad.

Michallik: The last time we spoke, you were on the way to win your second championship with Lyon, six consecutive for them, and I think things were going well for you. And obviously toward the end, you resigned. Do you care to say why? It seems to me that, you know, Olympique Lyon were just getting better and better?

Houllier: Well, thanks for saying that. That means we have improved. I resigned for personal reasons, that’s all. There’s nothing to do with the club.

Michallik: But I know there is a little bit of frustration when we spoke, in not so much with Jean-Michel Aulas, but I know that he wanted to be bigger and better in Europe. Now I think part of the reason, at least in my opinion, is that you lost so many players. Can you elaborate, how can you be great while losing the likes of Malouda, Abidal, even though they left after you, and Mahamadou Diarra and Essien. How can you be great if you have to get rid of these players?

Houllier: Well, it’s likely for a club to lose players at some stage, and to get players who can replace them, and then get even bigger [the club]. I mean, I personally think that we lost Djilla Diarra, who was a very good player when I was there, but we replaced him with Jeremy Toulalan, and Toulalan looks to have a very outstanding future in the game. So, as a manager, you’ve got to adapt.

Michallik: Does Olympique Lyon have to lose those players? I mean, obviously they’re in the Champions League. Not everyone can win the Champions League. That’s not easy regardless if you’re Lyon or Manchester United. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. Is there a stage, where obviously money is coming in for that, could they keep those players, and maybe, obviously…?

Houllier: First of all, you can’t keep the players against their will. Once a player decides he wants to go elsewhere and he wants a new challenge, whether it’s with Chelsea or Real Madrid, you’ve got to abide by that and try to make the best of the transfer, and get the best transfer fee which is valuable for the club. The second thing is I think sometimes it’s good when a player has reached a certain level to, you know, accept the fact that he’s going to go somewhere, and to develop new players behind. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to affect the team. I will say that I would have liked to keep Essien, Diarra, but I would not have been able to allow the blossoming of Jeremy Toulalan, for instance, and all the other players. I mean, Malouda has left, and now the young Ben Arfa s coming up, and Ben Arfa was not ready I would say one year ago, two years ago, but now he’s grown up into a more mature person, and he’s doing very well.

To watch the broadcast, go here. Find the video player on the right hand side of the page, and scroll through the list of available clips to find “Houllier on His Time With Lyon and Liverpool.” After the short commercial, the clip will play.