Houllier said: "I'm a great believer that everything starts at the back. I like defenders who can pass the ball well from the back. You will notice we are not using so many long ball anymore. I told the players we have the technical ability to play our way out. Providing we have the pace, movement and tempo in our game we don't need to use long balls.
"Don't get me wrong, sometimes there is a place for the long ball during the course of a match. But it's got to be accurate and at the right time. What I don't want to see is long aimless balls to the strikers.
"I think we played a lot of good stuff last year and in terms of the number of shots we are having this year it's the same trend. We had 20 attempts at goal on Saturday. Last year we created lot of chances as well.
"But there has been a tactical shift in the way we're playing. There are a couple of things we need to improve. A more clinical edge is one of them, but I'm not too worried about that because it will come with more games."