A WASTE OF A GOOD FIN

TWO years ago, following the debacle that was Kevin Keegan’s reign as England manager, Howard Wilkinson took a shattered, demoralised national team to Helsinki to face Finland in their second qualifier for the 2002 World Cup. The game was an absolute shocker. England wee expected to win comfortably but instead decided to play some of the worst football ever seen, no doubt inspired by Wilkinson’s not entirely continental approach to management.

There was however, one bright spark visible, despite the terrible feed from Scandinavia via Channel 5’s 1950’s transmitters. There was this guy up front for the Fin’s. Sporting a kind of proto-mullet, this man single handedly carried the attacking momentum of the Finnish team. This man was Jari Litmanen.

It was displays of this type, which saw Litmanen joins his compatriot Sami Hyypia at Anfield not long after. Liverpool, then as now, were screaming out for an attacking player in the Sheringham mould, to try and instil some attacking joie de vivre following the departure of Titi Camara to West Ham. And indeed he did, to such an extent he became a crowd favourite at Anfield.

But whilst he was gaining the respect and the love of the faithful, he clearly wasn’t receiving it from Mr Thompson and Ms. Houllier. Two years on and following fewer games than he should have had, Jari has returned to his first love, Ajax, in search of first team football.

Now, far be it from me to criticise Gerard Houllier. He is without doubt one of the greatest Frenchmen in history (although his only real competition comes from Napoleon Bonaparte). But I cannot help thinking that letting Jari go was what Gerard may consider a faux pas. On Wednesday against Blackburn, Liverpool made a double substitution in the second half. Off go Diouf and Owen, fair enough, they played somewhat poorly. On comes big Emile, a great player, and Vladimir Smicer, not a great player.

Now, Vladimir Smicer is, in my humble opinion, crap. Yet he is rewarded for his appalling performances over the last few years by a new contract in the summer. How? Why? When it was reported he was stalling signing in case we signed Lee Bowyer in the summer, I almost drove to Melwood and offered to pay the signing on fee myself from my meagre journalist wages (and they are meagre). Then we don’t bother and I hold my head in my hands. Three more years of Smicer at Liverpool. Surely this is a bad dream?

So the question has to be asked: Why has Smicer been retained over Jari in the pecking order when he is so inferior to the Fin that he isn’t even on the same pitch in terms of genius? The figures pertaining to Litmanen’s appearances for Liverpool show that we have overwhelmingly won most of the games he has played in.

The same cannot however be said for the man who currently holds the hallowed number seven shirt. Yet he persists in getting picked for games, granted the bench mostly but he does regularly appear. Does the madness of this not appear as clear to those in charge?

A friend of mine adheres to the theory that Vlad is Houllier’s lovechild. That is the only reason he can see for keeping him on. I cannot see any reason at all.

I believe it is a travesty that a player of Jari Litmanen’s obvious quality has been wasted and ultimately lost to Liverpool Football Club when there is still dead wood (Smicer, Biscan, Diomede etc) kicking around in the reserves and on the edges of the first team. I would therefore like to thank Jari for his contribution to the club and wish him good luck and good health at Ajax in the future.