Hodgson expects fans to welcome Houllier

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson expects former Reds boss Gerard Houllier to receive a warm welcome on his competitive return to Anfield tomorrow.

But he hopes that is all he gets as the Englishman is keen for his side to continue their recent improvement, even taking into account last weekend’s injury-time defeat at Tottenham.

Houllier sat alongside the man who now has his old job in the Liverpool dugout for Jamie Carragher’s testimonial in September.

Tomorrow evening he will sit on the unfamiliar opposition bench where he will try to get one over on his former club, with whom he won the Carling Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2001.

Houllier and Hodgson share many similarities and are close friends but that will count for nothing as Liverpool look to extend a four-match winning run at Anfield in all competitions.

“I have known Gerard for many years, since I went to Switzerland in 1990,” said the current Liverpool manager.

“We have been friends for over 20 years, we’ve done a lot of work together in Europe for UEFA in the technical study groups and FIFA as well for that matter.

“I am delighted he is back in English football and I am certain he will get a very good reception when he comes back to Anfield because people appreciated the work he did for Liverpool.

“Like anyone in the Premier League, we all have difficult jobs on our hands and we know his team will be hard to beat, well organised and have some very good individual players.

“I am hoping we will carry on where we have left off in the last couple of games, particularly against West Ham (a 3-0 home win) and Tottenham (a 2-1 away defeat).

“If we can play at that level for the rest of the season I have high hopes we will do well.”

Hodgson is without the injured Steven Gerrard (hamstring) and Jamie Carragher (shoulder) but is at least able to call on a number of first team players who were spared the Europa League trip to Romania in midweek.

In defence, full-backs Glen Johnson and Paul Konchesky return, while in attacking areas Raul Meireles, Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez and Fernando Torres will all slot back in.

Hodgson hopes managing his key players in this way will allow the team to finish the season stronger, having struggled early on.

“We are going to have quite a few fresh legs seeing as we didn’t have to take everyone over to Bucharest,” he said.

“Players like Lucas, Fernando, Raul and Martin Skrtel have played international matches as well recently so they have got an awful lot of games behind them already and it was good to be able to spare them.

“The league is going to be close for a long time to come.

“The important thing for Liverpool is that when the league turns around, when we are about to approach the 20th game, we have repaired the damage our disastrous start to the season did to us.

“If we can do that I am fairly confident, with the work we are doing and the way the players are embracing the work we are trying to do, we will have a better second half of the season than the first.

“I am hoping we will have at least a platform to work from, which it didn’t look like we would have after seven games when we were propping up the league.”