"With some players, the atmosphere is tense and electric. Not with the whole group, but with some.

"Houllier, has brought a new culture, another way of working. When you're in a routine and it all changes in a flash, you can find it hard to accept.

"On top of that, we are not winning. So it's complicated for everyone and I have arrived in the middle of all that.

"It's not easy, I'm on the bench and I can't help the team because I'm not playing.

"I don't have the trust of Gérard Houllier and I don't understand it. I think I will go and talk to him.

"However, I am still putting in a lot of effort. I don't have any regrets and I will keep waiting. I will carry on working.

"Even though I am a little disappointed, it's because I want to play and help my team-mates. It's frustrating."

Robert Pirès.



"I think the manager and [John Carew] need to sort that out between themselves.

”They are grown men and I think everything is about the club. If you want to have someone in the team you need to go and see what he can do. John has been a big figure here and we have missed him.

"Where we are at the moment I will take staying in the Premier League.

”I won't even care about the Cup. I am sorry to say that."

Stiliyan Petrov.



“I thought we had signed a specialist right back.

“I didn’t realise he can score goals of that quality as well, but what I like about him is that he can play. It was a fantastic debut. He showed great composure and it was really a goal of individual brilliance, just as our second was a wonderful team effort.

“We could probably have put the game to bed a little bit earlier, but when we went down to 10 men we just had to hang on to what we had.

“At times we could play football, at other times we just had to dig in and defend. The important thing is that we stuck together, kept a certain level, and put in a performance to please our fans, who I must say backed us magnificently.”

Gérard Houllier