Hong Kong, July 27: Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier was purring with pleasure after watching his wide wrap up their two-match Asian tour with a 6-0 thrashing of Hong Kong here today. Goals from Vladimir Smicer, Milan Baros (2), Emile Heskey (2) and promising French teenager Anthony Le Tallec handed the English Premiership giants a comfortable win in searing heat at the Hong Kong stadium. "I'm very proud of my players," Houllier said. "When you add everything up -- the training, the travel and the conditions, they deserve a lot of accolades. "They played some great football today and created a lot of chances. We're not there yet but we're on our way."
Houllier said his team was desperate to get their league campaign off to a strong start next month when they kick off against Chelsea.

"We know the importance of starting well," the French coach said. "Starting well gives confidence to the squad and takes the expectations of the fans to a higher level.

"We are building for the future. The next two or three years will be very exciting for Liverpool."

Both of Liverpool's high-profile summer signings -- Leeds' Harry Kewell and Fulham's Steve Finnan -- did not take part in the Asian tour, which also saw the club defeat Thailand 3-1 in Bangkok.

Liverpool opened the scoring on 15 minutes after slick movement down the left flank between Senegal's African footballer of the year El-Hadji Diouf and French teenager Florent Sinama-Pongolle.

Bureau Report.