Houlier Blames Poor Show on Tiredness

By David Anderson
August 4 2002

Gerrard Houlier has said that his sides defeat against Spanish opponents Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu trophy was due to his players being tired.

Gerrard Houlier has said that his sides defeat against Spanish opponents Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu trophy was due to his players being tired.

Luis Figo scored the first when Javier Portillo added a deserved second.

"I was disappointed by what we showed, you know we are better than that but when you work hard there is always a dip before you advance," Houlier said.

"We paid for the efforts we made in training and against Lazio," he added.

"The team is not yet settled, we have rested players and the strikers are still not fresh."

When commenting on why Owen didnt play he said,"He is still slightly injured," added Houllier.