Houllier said: "We should have sealed things a lot earlier, but we played well, created lots of chances and fully deserved the victory.
"It was a good response from the lads following that defeat last weekend at Manchester United. But I still feel people didn't get that game into perspective.
"It was over in four minutes when we were down to 10 men. It's hard to play against United with 11 men - as Newcastle have found - let alone with one less.
"But this performance was excellent. The passing and movement were first class and Milan Baros and Michael Owen had enough chances to have settled things much earlier had it not been for Maik Taylor, who was outstanding.''