Gerard Houllier may still be confined to watching his side's European games on television in hospital but the Liverpool manager is already taking his first tentative steps from sick bed to dugout. The Frenchman's assistant and caretaker manager Phil Thompson telephoned him yesterday afternoon to outline the team for this evening's crucial Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund.
Liverpool return to Anfield for the first time since Houllier was taken ill 17 days ago, and know anything other than a defeat will guarantee their passage into the second phase.
"You can tell Gerard's itching to be back already," said Thompson. "I've got my idea of the team and I know when I talk to him he'll ask me about it. I won't tell him he can't, but he knows he shouldn't go into the ins and outs of the side just yet. Anyway, I dare say I'm picking the same sort of side he would.
"He's making great strides, but we'll try and ease him back gradually in the right manner. He's a clever man and he'll know when he can give his input into the side, but his concentration is there now and he's watching football. He's certainly found a phone, which he's using regularly. We have been told things like that help his motivation, getting him back involved. If it helps we'll feed him things. I want to go on to the next stage for him."
Thompson received six telephone calls from his manager prior to Saturday's game at Charlton but he has done little wrong in Houllier's absence. That win elevated the club to fourth in the table - success in their game in hand would take them a point clear at the top - and it seems perverse that England's only unbeaten performers in the Champions League will, if they stay unbeaten, be the last of the trio of clubs to seal qualification to the second phase.
The assistant manager has relished his extra responsibilities, defying those who had painted him as a crude touchline earbasher. "A lot of people have that vision of me," he said. "I'm passionate, but they think I just stand there ranting and raving. I'm very good at my job and take great pride in what I do, but I've had to take a step back because I need to be a bit more controlled.
"I've enjoyed doing this and I think I've handled it quite well, but I'm not a manager. I'm a caretaker."
The loss of the hamstrung Sami Hyypia is a setback, although it is balanced by Michael Owen's return. The shockwaves from September's hat-trick for England in Munich are still shivering down German spines. "When Michael's fit and free from any worries, most defences in the world would struggle to keep up with him," said Liverpool's former Bayern Munich midfielder Dietmar Hamann.
"Maybe there is still a hangover from what he did to us in Munich. Dortmund will have that game on their minds still and that's to our advantage. Personally I would normally sympathise with a German club but this time I will enjoy putting them out."
That task may be made easier because Borussia are robbed of five players through injury, including defender Jurgen Kohler, and Brazilian striker Marcio Amoroso is suspended.
LIVERPOOL (4-4-2, probable): Dudek; Wright, Carragher, Henchoz, Riise; Gerrard, McAllister, Hamann, Murphy; Heskey, Owen.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (3-4-3, probable): Lehmann; Evanilson, Worns, Metzelder; Ricken, Dede, Reuter, Stevic; Sorensen, Koller, Rosicky. Referee: K Nielsen (Denmark).
