Houllier brings clarity to title vision

Defeat in Cardiff showpiece has helped manager shape new model Liverpool into Premiership contenders

The first match of the English season rarely has a significance beyond the charitable work it funds. Only once in the last dozen years has the Charity (now Community) Shield been won by the subsequent league champions. This year is expected to be different – but Arsenal's victory in Cardiff may prove not a harbinger but a catalyst.

Less than two months after brushing aside Liverpool with a goal from Gilberto Silva, Arsenal are being acclaimed as champions-elect and the Brazilian the signing of the season. Yet amid the eulogies, and the eager consideration of Manchester United's early season troubles, few observers appear to have noticed that Liverpool are two points behind the Gunners. But for twice letting two-goal leads slip, they would be Premiership leaders. Moreover, there has been a revolution in Gérard Houllier's philosophy. This week, the Liverpool manager explained, it was down to the Millennium experience.

"The Community Shield was a vital day in our season," Houllier told me as he reflected on the 5-0 midweek drubbing of Spartak Moscow in the Champions' League. "On that day I knew we would not play that [style of] football anymore. Since then we have scored almost two goals every game."

Liverpool play host to Chelsea tomorrow having scored 24 goals in 11 matches since that game in Cardiff, but it is not just about the number of goals Liverpool have scored, it is the style. Instead of hoofing the ball over the top for Michael Owen and Emile Heskey to chase, while the rest of the team soak up pressure, Houllier has encouraged his team to mix up their game, to pass through the midfield and exploit the flanks. This switch is partly because most defences sit deep to deny Owen space to attack. It is also because Houllier, like Arsène Wenger before him, has realised that the game is now weighted towards attacking sides.

Houllier began formulating what he calls his "vision" while recuperating from a heart operation last year. Watching videos of his team he began to believe they were ready to become more expansive. The core of the side had been together long enough to take more of an initiative in games, "to create more chances". "It is about getting more fluency and fluidity into our game," Houllier added. "We will be the richer for it."

This is the final stage in the evolution of a team Houllier took sole charge of almost four years ago. The Liverpool he had watched as a Merseyside schoolteacher three decades earlier, which went on the dominate Europe, was no longer ruling even the domestic roost. No one had imagined when Liverpool won their 10th title in 15 seasons in 1990 that a dozen barren years would follow. After the traumatic reign of Graeme Souness, Roy Evans restored stability but was unable to persuade a talented team to concentrate on football alone. He and Houllier worked in tandem but it was a doomed experiment. When Evans departed, Houllier got to work.

A squad which cost £35m to construct has been ruthlessly broken up, with only four players surviving the cull. Three were teenaged graduates of Steve Heighway's youth system: Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. Danny Murphy was loaned out and put on the transfer list before making his mark.

Paul Ince, David James, Jason McAteer and Neil Ruddock headed for the exit and Houllier embarked on a spending programme which has now topped £100m. The first wave of signings were largely duds but, in his second season, Houllier began constructing the framework of a side which would be hard to beat. Dietmar Hamann, Sami Hyypia and Stéphane Henchoz came in quick succession to form the bedrock. That was a vintage buying season. Houllier's subsequent transfer record has been mixed. For every John Arne Riise, there has been a Bernard Diomède. Of 33 players signed, a dozen have moved on. The net deficit is more than £80m, a loss offset by £35m raised by selling players he inherited, notably the £11m Leeds paid for Robbie Fowler.

Although that transfer upset many Liverpool followers Houllier is, to quote one fanzine, "revered" by the supporters. They appreciate his desire and recognise his empathy with them. Yet he will need to deliver a championship eventually. Any listener to radio phone-ins will know Liverpool fans, especially the armchair variety, are impatient.

It is to that end the Frenchman has sought to enlarge the team's attacking repertoire by signing El Hadji Diouf, who can run with the ball, and the quick-footed Bruno Cheyrou. The midfield has been told to push on more and even Hamann is getting forward.

Like a golfer rebuilding his swing, there have been setbacks. Striking the balance between attack and defence has been problematic. In Valencia two weeks ago Liverpool reverted to defensive type and were cut to ribbons. They failed to close up Premiership games with Newcastle and Birmingham, both of whom recovered from 0-2 down at Anfield. Houllier, asked about Riise this week, pointed out that Liverpool still needed to balance attacking brio with tactical discipline.

"It is early days," Houllier said. "At the beginning of a season everything is not perfect but it is a good start. We are second. We have not been defeated at home since Arsenal beat us in December. In the last few games we have shown championship form. At Manchester City it was a demonstration of character. It will be difficult to get points there this season and we showed the qualities you need to become a champion. Basle and Moscow [in the Champions' League] was good stuff."

Like Wenger at Arsenal and Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson, Houllier is obsessed. By football. By winning. "We want to be champions," Houllier declared. "Every player will tell you, every minute of their life, in training or outside training, they have a dream. They want to win the Premiership. If you want to make a dream happen, it happens. We will do our best."

Red parade: The signings made by Houllier who have made Liverpool the dark horses of the Premiership

1998-99

Titi Camara (from Marseilles) £2.6m

(sold on to West Ham, 2000, £2.2m)

Sean Dundee (Karlsruhe) £2m

(VfB Stuttgart, 1999, £1m)

Jean-Michel Ferri (Istanbulspor) £1.7m

(Sochaux, 1999, £1.5m)

Vegard Heggem (Rosenborg) £3.5m

Rigobert Song (Salernitana) £2.7m

(West Ham, 2000, £2.5m)

Steve Staunton (Aston Villa) free

(Aston Villa, 2000, free)

Frode Kippe (Lillestrom) £700,000

(Lillestrom 2001, free)

Djimi Traoré (Laval) £550,000

1999-2000

Dietmar Hamann (Newcastle) £8m

Stéphane Henchoz (Blackburn) £3.5m

Emile Heskey (Leicester) £11m

Sami Hyypia (Willem II) £2.6m

Erik Meijer (Bayer Leverkusen) free

(Hamburg, 2000, free)

Vladimir Smicer (Lens) £4.2m

Sander Westerveld (Vitesse Arnhem) £4m

(Real Sociedad, 2001, £3.49m)

2000-01

Pegguy Arphexad (Leicester) free

Markus Babbel (Bayern Munich) free

Nick Barmby (Everton) £6m

(Leeds, 2002, £2.75m)

Igor Biscan (Croatia Zagreb) £5.5m

Bernard Diomède (Auxerre) £3m

Jari Litmanen (Barcelona) free

(Ajax, 2002, free)

Gary McAllister (Coventry) free

(Coventry, 2002, free)

Daniel Sjolund (West Ham) £1m

Gregory Vignal (Montpellier) £0.5m

Christian Ziege (Middlesbrough) £5.5m

(Tottenham, £4m, 2001)

2001-02

Nicolas Anelka (Paris St-Germain) loan

(returned after loan, now Manchester City)

Milan Baros (Banik Ostrava) £3.4m

Jerzy Dudek (Feyenoord) £4.85m

Chris Kirkland (Coventry) £6m

John Arne Riise (Monaco) £4m

Abel Xavier (Everton) £0.8m

2002-03

Bruno Cheyrou (Lille) £4m

Salif Diao (Sedan) £5m

El Hadji Diouf (Lens) £10m

Houllier inherited Jamie Carragher, Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen from Roy Evans' stewardship. All players who made league appearances under Houllier included. youth-team players released without fee (eg, Cardiff's Leyton Maxwell) not included.