Gerrard leans on his fatherly figurehead

The Red retaliation: Houllier says his troubled talisman is hungry again as he rounds on accusations of negativity

If you notice Gérard Houllier smiling a lot today, do not worry. It is not that he has gone soft, or even less that he no longer cares, but rather that he is relishing another battle with his old adversary, Sir Alex Ferguson. Twelve months ago, the odds were heavily stacked against them managing such a high-profile occasion. With one of them barely out of hospital, and the other well on his way to retirement, few would have predicted that these two men would ever cross swords again. And yet, typically, Houllier never had any doubts.

"We're football addicts," the Liverpool manager says ahead of the high-noon confrontation with Manchester United at Anfield. "We love it. It's like a passion. It's very difficult to give up. When people said, after my heart operation last October, you have to stop the job, I told them I'd rather stop breathing.

"This is a part of my life. I'm taking some risks, I know that, but I've taken risks all my life. Life is only interesting if you live on the edge. This job we're doing is a crazy job, so you need to have a good bunch of players, a good staff and a good sense of humour."

You can take the teacher out of the school but you cannot take the teacher out of the man. It has been a long time since Houllier stood in a classroom, but the Frenchman retains that professorial aura. The final exams are yet to come but, as his pupils prepare for their most serious test so far this season, the Liverpool manager has chosen to draw up an early half-term report. It makes for interesting listening, not least because Houllier remains so candid about his players and, most refreshingly, himself.

Top of the list of concerns is the gradual decline in form of Steven Gerrard over the last 12 months. The midfielder had a better game against Vitesse Arnhem in the 1-0 Uefa Cup win on Thursday, but is clearly not in the best frame of mind. Houllier agrees that his player is lacking in confidence, but is at pains to point out that it has nothing to do with his lifestyle.

"I perhaps should have been clearer before," the Frenchman says, "but when I explained that there was something wrong with Stevie's environment, I didn't mean that it had anything to do with the way he's behaving. He wouldn't be playing at this level if he wasn't behaving. He does have the right attitude, but sometimes you can be having problems in your private life which you never fully sort. Steven, though, is coming to terms with them."

Houllier, ever the father figure to his younger players, also reveals that the England international "was spending a lot of time with me before my operation because of his personal problems and injuries" – a further sign of the seriousness of his plight.

The Frenchman may be a considerate soul but he is no soft touch. "Sometimes you need a wake-up call," he says, when explaining why Gerrard has been on the bench of late. "Maybe in a way the hype around him has done that. He said himself that when Phil [Thompson, the assistant manager, who took charge in Houllier's absence] left him out last season it gave him a good kick up the arse. I can feel he's back and hungry now."

Like Gerrard, Liverpool have suffered a dip in form recently. Since the disappointing 3-3 draw with FC Basle a fortnight ago, Houllier's men have won just one of their last five games. The Swiss setback led to their elimination from the lucrative Champions' League, but it is in the Premiership that the Reds have suffered most.

Houllier, though, remains unconcerned. "I can see that we're going somewhere," he says. "The team have made huge improvements in passing, construction, tactics, and technique. These are facts, which is why it makes me laugh when people say we are one-dimensional. If you look at our stats for the season so far, you will see that we have had more shots on goal than any other team in the Premiership. We are going in the right direction."

He adds: "Having said that, I agree that what we need now is a bit more composure around the box. We're a lot better at building up attacks, but we don't always kill off teams. That's why I want my players to have a go. But people need to be patient and remember the lack of age of my strikers. If you look at my four forwards, none of them is over 24, so these guys have time."

Why, then, this on-going perception that Liverpool are a negative team? "I don't know," Houllier admits. "All I can say is that someone who used to be at the club, and is probably disappointed that he left, has labelled us as a counter-attacking team. But when we won the three Cups [Uefa, FA and Worthington] in 2001, and finished third in the League, we were the fourth highest-scoring Liverpool team of all time. We found the net 127 times. Sometimes we counter-attack, yes, but tell me, aren't Arsenal also a counter-attacking team?

"And what's wrong with counterattacking? If we really could just sit back every game and then hit teams on the break, then that would be great. But it's not possible, especially as you become more respected. The great teams of Liverpool used to scare the opposition, so they were the ones taking the game forward and having to try to find a way through. We hope to be at that level one day, but we're not yet. We're still learning."

Criticised when they were heading the League by seven points, and criticised now that they are struggling for results, Houllier must be amused. "No, not really," he retorts, "because no one likes to be criticised. But we are going through a difficult period at the moment so we have to be strong and overcome this. If we could address our problems ourselves and not listen to anybody, then we'd be awesome. But it's not that easy. I'm not going to impose a siege mentality or try to stop the players reading the papers, but the press can affect them.

"That's why you have to get inside their shells. We've talked a lot and had, what I like to call, a team-building process. What I mean by that is that if your son does something wrong, then you wouldn't be a good father if you didn't address the issue. In the same way, I wouldn't be a good manager if I didn't raise these matters. I prefer to take this as an opportunity – a gift – to improve and learn."

While Houllier does not consider his team to be "in crisis", the mere fact that he took training earlier last week suggests that he is conscious of the current problems. "I'm not often out there," he admits, "so what I do in these situations is talk about the errors for 10 per cent of the time, and then spend the other 90 putting things right. By doing this, I know that we will come out of this tricky period. As I have been telling them, failure is an integral part of your route to success. You need sometimes to be down because it sharpens your mind. If you could see the players in training, you'd realise they are going to be OK. There's such quality."

None more so than the talismanic Gerrard, who will be central to Liverpool's tactics today. United may not be at their scintillating best themselves, but will test Liverpool's title ambitions. Houllier's men know a win would help them make a point at this crucial stage. "I think it would be too early to draw any conclusions from this match," the Frenchman says, "but you can send a statement. Yes it's a big game, but we beat them twice two seasons ago and yet they won the title. I'm quite prepared to lose on Sunday if we win the League this time."

'People are desperate for Kirkland to have a go. His time will come'

Houllier's appraisal on the class of 2002

Jerzy Dudek
In 50 League games, he's kept 26 clean sheets. That's a Liverpool record by the way. It's more than Ray Clemence, more than Bruce Grobbelaar. All great goalkeepers make mistakes. So I now have to weigh up whether leaving him in is better for him than leaving him out. That is the decision to take, and I haven't made it yet.

Chris Kirkland
As a manager, I'm in a no-win situation with regards to playing Chris. I also understand that because he is a huge English prospect, people are desperate for me to give him a go. His time will come. We'll just have to wait and see.

Stéphane Henchoz and Sami Hyypia
We've missed Stéphane for the last few games. Before the Basle match, we'd conceded only two goals in the Premier League, but now we've let in eight in the last five games. So, yes, we need him back alongside Sami. It's a partnership that he's got with Sami and that's very hard to build. It takes time. I mean, don't forget they've played over 100 games together. If you have two players in the same mould, it doesn't always function, but they complement each other so well because they are very different.

Danny Murphy
He's definitely not the sitting midfielder, but otherwise he can play anywhere across the midfield. He's been playing very well this season, creating chances and scoring, too. What I like most about him is the fact that he shows for the ball, asks for the ball, and always wants to be involved. I don't like players who bottle out, and Danny is a fighter.

Bernard Diomède
He's been very unlucky. I brought him here to give us some width, but then he got injured and, by the time he'd got himself back to fitness, the team had moved on. I still want us to get out wide more, which is why I was keen to sign Damien Duff [from Blackburn] last summer. But I don't think it's just a case of sticking two wingers on the flanks. It's a team thing.

Michael Owen
The Michael against West Ham [in the 2-0 win thanks to two goals from Owen] is the Michael that I like, because he decides to go and then goes. The referee told me after that game that Michael could have gone down [under a wild lunge from the Hammers defender Tomas Repka] but he took the initiative and scored. You need players who have this spark, because they can produce an individual moment of brilliance.

Milan Baros
If you look at the number of goals he scores for every minute he's been on the pitch, then phew! Seriously, his ratio is fantastic. Nobody knew, but I was sure that he would come here and do that. He's really coming on strong now.

El Hadji Diouf
I explained to him the other day that a poor player gets the ball and passes it back, an average player gets the ball and passes it across, but a very good player gets the ball, dummies, and then gets forward. As I told him, "You're a striker, so choose what you can do".

Emile Heskey
Emile is someone who needs his own confidence to be up, and at the moment it is suffering a bit. But you have to accept that the players are human beings. I know he does not always like being on the left, but people know how to defend against him now when he's up front. He's very good for us on the left wing. The best of Emile will come after Christmas. I'm sure of that. Emile has played in practically all the games for two seasons and then the World Cup took a toll on him. But I've spoken to Arsène [Wenger at Arsenal] because he had the same experience with his players after France 98, and he's told me that the best will come in the second half of the season.