Thursday's 2-0 victory over Levski Sofia in the consolation prize that is the Uefa Cup earned a little breathing space, but only until lunchtime today and the Premiership game away to Leeds United. It is a fixture that in the years when Houllier stood on the Kop as an impressionable young school- teacher was one of those that determined who won the League championship. Today the scenario is rather different: the home club are playing for their very existence and Liverpool for fourth place in the table, a position that used to have Jack Charlton or Billy Bremner bemoaning the prospect of "the bloody Uefa Cup again" as Leeds blew another title.
For Houllier, finishing no lower than fourth, thereby earning a place in the Champions' League qualifying round, would be nirvana, almost certainly keeping him in employment. He is convinced that it will happen, insisting on Friday: "I believe we will achieve the target. You need to work with vision and have targets, so I'm not working for the next game, I'm working for next season."
That belief is bolstered by having a full-strength team available again, the benefit of which was seen in Thursday's game. Thanks to splendidly struck goals by Steven Gerrard and Harry Kewell in the second half, it all turned out rather well. For, as the manager's irredeemably insular assistant Phil Thompson put it beforehand: "They are never easy games against teams from Bulgaria, Romania or what have you." Levski Whathaveyou were frustrating enough opponents to have the Kop demanding: "Attack, attack, attack" after 35 minutes, but the goals improved their humour to the extent that later chants of "Allez, allez, Gérard Houllier" were a signal of appreciation rather than an invitation to take his leave.
In a local website poll taken after the Portsmouth déb cle the final score was: new manager now or at the end of the season, 84 per cent; give him more time, 16 per cent. And when the Liverpool Echo ran a double-page spread of letters last Tuesday, the sports editor, fair-minded man that he is, could not find a single supportive one in his postbag to set alongside 18 critical ones.
The morning after the Levski win, it was not only the Kop singing a different tune. "You people calling for boycotts and mass demonstrations hang your head in shame," one supporter wrote to the paper. "I am sick of all this sniping at GH," added another. A third picked up on the subtly changed nature of Thursday night's crowd, in which many disgruntled season-ticket holders had stayed at home, replaced by younger enthusiasts who can only obtain tickets for cup games.
Not that the manager has yet won over his critics, who continue to point to an incomplete transformation from counter-attacking football to something closer to the Liverpool tradition, and the undeniable failure of several players who seem to have been bought with only the longer term in mind. "The result against Levski changes nothing in the eyes of any fan who has watched us over the last few years," insisted Joe from Belfast. "Why oh why did they have to chant his name?" demanded Mick. "He will think that he is doing an all-right job now."
When the definitive story of Houllier's time with Liverpool comes to be written, it may be that the turning point is not a home win over modest Bulgarian opposition,but the first week of November last season, almost exactly four years after Roy Evans's departure following the ill-fated experiment with joint managers. Fourth, third and second in consecutive campaigns, Liverpool were apparently on course to continue the progression: a 2-0 win at home to West Ham left them unbeaten after 12 Premiership games and seven points clear at the top, with Michael Owen in unstoppable form.
From that day, Liverpool's season and Houllier's reign went into decline. It would be the middle of January before Owen scored another Premiership goal or the team took three points, by which time Arsenal were 14 ahead and even Everton were above them in the table. Going 3-0 down to Basle by half-time meant elimination from the Champions' League; later Crystal Palace knocked them out of the FA Cup 2-0 at Anfield, Celtic won there by the same score to end the Uefa Cup run, and a rare victory over Manchester United in the Worthington Cup final was poor consolation for a season of promise.
Worst of all, in the last Premiership match Jesper Gronkjaer's goal at Stamford Bridge meant that Chelsea, not Liverpool, took the fourth Champions' League spot. It was to be the "bloody Uefa Cup" again. In his annual report the club chairman, David Moores, lamented a "disappointing season" and insisted that finishing in the top four was the "minimum acceptable target", then took umbrage when this was understandably construed as a warning to the manager.
On Friday Houllier insisted again and again that what matters is his relationship with the board and the players, and that both are rock-solid. Managers from Shankly to Dalglish might have included the supporters in a holy trinity, but Souness seemed to break that bond, and it has never quite been repaired. "It's not been nice," the present incumbent says of recent criticism. "But I've got absolute belief in what we're doing. It's fight or it's flight, and we fight. When your house is attacked, you make sure youstay together and be strong. The main thing is whether you have faith or not in yourself and your players."
Having those players fit for the season's last lap removes one enduring excuse about injuries. The others, bad luck and refereeing decisions, Liverpool will have to live with like everyone else. (Leeds might even remind them today about Jeff Winter controversially allowing Danny Murphy's goal to stand at Anfield in September.) "It will be a good result," the ever-obliging Houllier promises of this afternoon's game. It needs to be. And only three days later comes a tricky second leg in Whathaveyou.