Houllier bullish despite defeat

Gerard Houllier felt the lash of the phone-in tongues again after an opening-day defeat but insisted his Liverpool can live with the best.

The Anfield boss hates the tirades of abuse when fans are given a radio platform, but the critics were at it again in the wake of Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea.

But Houllier was quick to point out that Liverpool were without the suspended Steven Gerrard, who will be back for Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa.

Houllier said: “We were missing Steven Gerrard and Didi Hamann too, but there’s no point in talking too much about the lads who were not playing. But they were missed.”

Houllier knows Liverpool had enough chances to have ruined Roman Abramovich’s first Premiership game as Chelsea owner and he pointed the finger at those responsible for the misses.

He said: “We were disappointed by the result but not the performance. The display was a lot better quality than the result shows, but we sometimes have games like that and when we have the opportunities we should have taken them.

“We created half a dozen chances and they had just two, we equalised but we had a lot of chances and things didn’t go our way.

“But what you need in the Premiership is mental stamina over finishing.

“We had a great Liverpool performance in terms of effort and running and a lot of the ball, but they were very compact at the back and it was always going to be difficult when they scored. John Terry was their best player and that tells you everything.”

Houllier will soon have to address the goalkeeping position, having given Jerzy Dudek the nod to start the season because he did not want to expose Chris Kirkland in such a high-profile match for his first senior outing since February.

Kirkland had been named in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England squad for the friendly with Croatia on Saturday but had to watch from the stands as Dudek performed solidly, saving brilliantly from Eidur Gudjohnsen just before half-time.

Kirkland told Liverpool’s official website, www.liverpoolfc.tv: “It’s a great boost for my confidence to know the England manager hasn’t forgotten about me while I’ve been out injured.

“I can’t deny it does give you a huge lift when you see your name in the squad alongside lots of great players.

“I’ll just go down there this week and enjoy the experience. I don’t know if I’ll be involved in the match or not but I’m sure I’ll learn a lot just by being around the squad. I can’t wait.”

But Kirkland insists his first job this season is to break back into the Liverpool team.

He said: “First and foremost I want to be playing for Liverpool. England comes after that in my thoughts.

“Everyone knows what a great goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek is and I know it’s going to be hard to break into the team, but I’ll continue to do my best and see what happens.

“The important thing at the moment for me is that I’m fully fit again. I haven’t missed a training session since recovering from my knee injury and I feel great.

“I haven’t had any side-effects from the injury this season and the medical staff at Liverpool deserve a lot of credit for getting me back to full fitness so quickly.”

Kirkland claims he was shocked to see his name in Eriksson’s squad, saying: “It was a real surprise to see my name.

“I really didn’t expect it. I’ve only just come back from a serious injury and I thought it would be a while before I was in with a chance of being named in the England squad again.”