What might have been: No 5 - How Liverpool FC wasted the talent of a true footballing genius

In January 2001, Gerrard Houllier signed one of Europe's most renowned and exciting creative players. Liverpool fans everywhere rejoiced at the prospect of having such a rare talent in the team, the ideal player to complement Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. Joy quickly turned to frustration though as Houllier criminally underused the player and inexplicably wasted his considerable talent.

My excitement level went through the roof when it was revealed that Liverpool were trying to sign Jari Litmanen, one of Europe’s all-time great players. Finally, a skillful, creative player on the same level of John Barnes and Peter Beardsley was coming to the club.

I was also nervous – Litmanen was not a Houllier type player at all. Like Rafa Benitez, Houllier had a preference for physically strong players, and seemed to value stamina and graft above skill and creativity

My fears were well-founded – For some inexplicable reason, Houllier wasted Litmanen’s talent by repeatedly dropping him and never giving the Finn a proper run in the team?

Sound familiar?

With Houllier it was Litmanen, Anelka and latterly, Robbie Fowler; with Rafa Benitez, it was Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane and now, Ryan Babel and Albert Riera.

And like Benitez (who benched Ryan Babel 10 times after scoring goals in his debut season) Houllier had a habit of benching Litmanen after games in which he scored.

Examples:

22/9/01 - Scored a superb winning goal against Spurs at Anfield
26/9/01 – Scored the winner against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League
30/9/01 – Dumped on the bench against Newcastle

23/12/01 – Scored against Arsenal
26/12/01 – Scored against Aston Villa
29/12/01 – Dumped on the bench against West Ham

02/03/01 – Scored against Fulham
06/03/01 – Dumped on the bench against Newcastle

19/03/01 – Scored against Roma
24/03/01 – Dumped on the bench against Chelsea

These are just Litmanen’s goals – he also provided a number of assists in various games, but this was not good enough for Houllier, who seemed hell-bent on obstructing the player’s momentum at every opportunity.

Litmanen was restricted to a pathetic 19 starts (all competitions) in one and a half seasons, and he was substituted in 14 of those starts.

Total appearances: 43
Starts: 19
On the bench: On the bench 24
Subbed: 14
Goals: 9
Assists: 7

* Subbed in 74% of starts
* Subbed/on the bench in 88% of appearances

Basically, Litmanen was completely wasted by Houllier and never given a consistent chance in the team. Here was a player with fantastic European experience, yet he wasn't even granted a start in the Champions League quarter final first leg v Bayer Leverkusen.

Despite his momentum continually being disrupted, Litmanen still managed to score and create a number of important goals.

Who can forget his fantastic long range effort against Spurs, or - after coming on as a sub - his vital individual goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League quarter final second leg?

The most galling thing about the misuse of Litmanen is the fact that Liverpool had the players to accommodate him in the team. Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Nicolas Anelka were all at the club with Litmanen; just imagine the exciting possibilites!

And imagining ‘what might have been’ was what Liverpool fans had to do most of time, as Litmanen was often dumped in favour of the lumbering, technically inept Emile Heskey.

At one stage, there were rumours of a training ground bust-up between Litmanen and Houllier, which could account for the manager’s failure to play him regularly. But given the fact Litmanen was Liverpool’s highest paid player at the time (!), to not play him because of a personality clash was both childish and negligent.

Whenever I speak to Liverpool fans about Litmanen, I invariably hear the same response: he was a flop; he didn’t do the business; he didn’t fit in at the club.

Well, in my view, Litmanen was very far from a failure at Liverpool. He rarely, if ever, gave the ball away; he brought fluidity and real creativity to the team, and whenever he was given the chance, he contributed to the cause.

And let’s not forget, Litmanen’s time at Anfield coincided with club’s most successful period under Houllier: winning the treble and then finishing second in league in his only full season.

After the 2001-2002 season, it was clear that Litmanen was on his way out of the cub. Houllier also got rid of Nicolas Anelka, which was another hammer blow for the club.

Consequently, I predicted that Liverpool would finish outside the top four the following season, which seemed ridiculous to most people at the time considering the club had just finished second.

And what happened? Liverpool finished 5th in the 2002-2003 season.

I truly believe that if Houllier had not been so pigheaded and had kept Litmanen and Anelka, and actually allowed them to play together regularly (along with Michael Owen), that horrible season would have been much more successful than it was.

Looking back now, it was an exciting time to be a Liverpool fan in 2001-2002 season. Jari Litmanen, Nicolas Anelka , Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler in the same team; Steven Gerrard and jamie Carragher starting to show their worth; a fantastic defensive partnership of Sami Hyppia and Stephane Henchoz; steady, experience pros like Gary McAllister and Dietmar Hamann adding experience and strength to the team.

Alas, we’re left to ponder what might have been. And it could have been amazing.

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