Gerrard may face Veron

Liverpool were outplayed for 80 minutes by Arsenal, but two goals in an unstoppable burst of individual brilliance by Michael Owen gave Houllier's men the cup.

Houllier's main pre-season priority was to establish a platform for progress into the Champions League in the qualifying round against Finland's FC Haka.

He has achieved this with a 5-0 first leg win in Helsinki, including a Michael Owen hat-trick, and will now turn his attentions to the Charity Shield and the championship.

Robbie Fowler, a thorn in United's side in the past, is likely to start and powerhouse Emile Heskey will also hope for a place.

But Houllier knows Liverpool will face a different test this season after turning potential into trophies last season.

Houllier said: "We are going to have to learn to be more composed in our play.

"Opposing teams will approach us differently; at Anfield it is always difficult to break people down, and I expect that to become more difficult."

Powerhouse Heskey

And he believes Liverpool must learn from the way United handle the problem.

He added: "A good side, and that's why Manchester United are good, is one that must be able to manage the two kinds of offensive football.

"Either being able to break quickly, or sometimes have a rattlesnake strategy where you go forward, come back, go forward again, come back.

"Look at how many games that United have won in the last 15 minutes at Old Trafford where they eventually wear the opposition out and at some stage find the solution."

Says Houllier: "We will find that we will have to be the same, we will have to handle it as teams defend against us.

"But it pleases me that in that area we have done better in our games of late."

Fowler - threat

And he believes Liverpool are learning. "I am watching us in training and I am seeing skills and tactical awareness that weren't there two years ago.

"Last season we lost silly points early on. That was lack of mental strength.

"We would be on top of teams and then make a silly mistake, which is stupid at the highest level."

Liverpool will want to start as they mean to go on when facing their fiercest rivals - starting in Cardiff on Sunday.