Houllier said: "The first half was not good enough. We didn't start to play until 10 minutes before the break. It was almost as if my team was not there.
"I spoke to them at half-time and asked them for a reaction and a response. At that stage I could have taken practically any one of them off.
"We reorganised ourselves and did far better after half-time. But while we could have won, if Manchester City had been more clinical we would have lost.''
