HOULLIER FURIOUS WITH SOUNESS

Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier believes Graeme Souness should have apologised more promptly for the tackle by Lucas Neill which left Jamie Carragher with a broken leg.

Neill was given a straight red card for the challenge during Saturday's encounter, which will keep the England defender out of action until next year.

And Houllier has revealed his anger that Rovers boss Souness waited until Monday to offer his sympathy to Carragher.

"When the game had finished I wish Graeme Souness had come up to me and said 'sorry, it was a bad tackle'," Houllier told the Liverpool Echo.

"But he did nothing. That really made me furious.

"I am extremely unhappy with their behaviour during the incident, during the game and after the game.

"I think Neill's attitude was out of order. The first thing he should have done was go to the player and see how he was but he didn't."

Houllier, who also saw Milan Baros stretchered off in the same game with a broken ankle, believes Neill should serve more than a standard three-match suspension for what he labelled a "coward's" challenge.

"In France there was a case where a player injured another with a bad tackle, which forced him out of the game for two months. The French FA banned the player responsible for the same length of time.

"I think Neill deserves more than three games for the way he behaved. To break a leg when a player is wearing shinpads takes something.

"To me, it was a coward's challenge and the player's reaction was appalling. He was complaining about being sent off as he left the pitch."

BBC Sport