We had too much respect for Gunners - Houllier

Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier claimed his side showed Arsenal “too much respect” in their 1-0 Community Shield defeat in Cardiff this afternoon.

The Anfield outfit had goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek to thank for keeping them in the game during a sluggish opening period and though they improved after the break, they were unable to respond once Gilberto Silva had put the double winners in front.

Houllier blamed full-backs Abel Xavier and Djimi Traore for not pushing forward often enough and although he insisted his side should have been awarded a late penalty when new signing El-Hadji Diouf was felled in the area by Patrick Vieira, admitted anything other than an Arsenal win would have been an injustice.

“We gave them too much respect,” said the Frenchman.

“It took us half an hour just to get into the game. We started to get into it more after that but on the whole Arsenal deserved their win.

“When you are playing Arsenal, the first job is to defend well, then you have to attack.

“But our full-backs didn’t give us enough width when we had possession and we need to get more flow to our game.”

Houllier remained “unconcerned” about the deficiency, even though the Premiership opener with Aston Villa is just seven days away.

“If we were in the same situation in two or three months’ time I would have a problem but in football things can change very quickly,” he said.

“We still have the strength and solidity we had last year and we still have the same team spirit but we need to get more speed into our passing.

“Arsenal are ahead of us at the moment and they showed that today – but they are the benchmark for the rest of us.”

Houllier experimented by naming Diouf alongside Emile Heskey and Michael Owen in a three-man strikeforce, altering the formation which has brought him five trophies in the past two season.

With Owen managing his first 90-minute outing since returning from a shortened summer break and Diouf still adjusting to the pace of the English game, Houllier felt the move went well, even if he has already decided it will not be used in every match.

“El-Hadji Diouf can play four different positions, behind the strikers, up front, or wide on either side,” said Houllier.

“He covers a lot of ground, has good skill and doesn’t give the ball away.

“I wanted to give him a feel for the game because with foreign forwards in particular, English football can be something of a culture shock.

“He won’t get too much time to put his foot on the ball but he is physically quite strong so hopefully it won’t take him too long to adapt.”