Best yet to come, says Houllier
The Anfield chief celebrates four years in sole charge of Liverpool with a make-or-break Champions League clash with Swiss double winners Basle, knowing only a victory will see them safely through to the last 16.
It is a huge task for a side who have enjoyed their best opening run since they last won the championship 12 years ago.
But their 11-month unbeaten home record was smashed by Valencia, while Middlesbrough ended the unbeaten domestic run at the weekend.
''The best way to celebrate the anniversary for everyone at the club is to get the result we need to get through to the next stage of the Champions League.
"We are still the best side in the Premiership and have won five trophies over recent seasons. We are on the right track and ahead of schedule.
''The players are still young and the best is yet to come. There are great things ahead for this club.''
And he added: ''We will win the title at some stage, and the players want that the earlier the better. And then we want to win the Champions League.
"It will take time. In football you don't win things just like that, but after four years we are getting there. We are improving, there will be fits and starts, but we will do it.
''We will give our all against Basle, and we have a motto that a good team never loses twice in a row.''
Houllier views his four years in charge with pride and expectation. He said: ''I'm happy with the progress the players have made - the majority have improved a lot.
''We have more English internationals too. And in Michael Owen we have a player who has achieved one of the highest accolades possible in winning the European Footballer of the Year award - and at 21.
''It's because of talent, determination and the fact that he has a good team around him it doesn't come alone. It was recognition to be shared with his team-mates.
''We have made progress in terms of points, year on year, we have always achieved more points than the previous season.
''We have made progress in our league position. In my first season we were seventh, every year we have improved on that. From fourth, third and then second.''
Liverpool have no injury problems and are expected to field the side that lost against Middlesbrough, but with Emile Heskey in a more advanced role.
But Houllier is just as willing to discuss the achievements of the past few years as he is to be defiant about the outcome here.
He said: ''We have made progress in terms of strength and depth in the squad. To me winning the treble and finishing third in the league was the real achievement. Last season we finished second and got to the last eight of Europe at the first attempt.
''In any other season we would have won the title with the number of points we had, but we had to acknowledge that Arsenal were outstanding to beat us.
''This season we went 13 games unbeaten, which was the best start for Liverpool ever in the Premiership. This is reality and I want to give recognition to my players for that.
''The defeat at Middlesbrough doesn't hide the fact that we have had a great start, one of the club's best ever, and it has equalled the run of opening games undefeated in the Premier League. But we are here to break records because of the history of this club.''
Houllier has dragged Liverpool into the real world of top European football. From serial failures to group stage participants in the Champions League...it has been a dramatic and hugely expensive ride.
His restructuring of the club has been as swift as it has been savage, and now in his third full season in command, he knows the expectancy levels have risen with every passing month.
Second in the Premiership last season, third the season before and fourth the one before that.
Houllier knows Liverpool's fans expect the title after finishing seven points adrift of double winners Arsenal last term and three points ahead of Manchester United.
The Frenchman also accepts that talk of his young side learning and Liverpool being way behind the others, is now just that. Talk. He knows he is expected to deliver every season.
The reality is that £105million has been spent by Houllier since he assumed full control in November 1998 after the failed partnership with Roy Evans.
He has clawed back £62million in that time which makes the outlay on Liverpool's revival an acceptable £43million, with 34 players bought and 46 shown the door by Houllier.
He says: ''There's no doubt we can win the Premiership if we are injury-free. The players have a great belief in themselves.''
He says: ''We've increased expectation in the squad - and with our fans - that we can win the title, because when you finish fourth, then third, then second, everybody is looking for what comes next.
''But winning the Premiership will be a hallmark of our success and give us a launchpad for the Champions League.''
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