Gérard Houllier probably won’t mind the two week break in the domestic fixture schedule as he continues to settle in, but he will be without several key players:-

Ashley Young and Stephen Warnock were called up to the England squad for Tuesday’s European Qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley.

Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso are with England Under 21s ahead of the play-off against Romania for next year’s European Under 21 Championship in Denmark. The first leg is at Carrow Rd on Friday with the 2nd leg back in Romania on Tuesday.

Barry Bannan is with Scotland Under 21s as they face Iceland in the same competition. The Scots play the 1st leg away on Thursday and the return leg is at Easter Rd on Monday.

The other five ties are Holland vs Ukraine, Spain vs Croatia, Switzerland vs Sweden, Czech Republic vs Greece and Italy vs Belarus. The winners all head to Denmark next June.

Stiliyan Petrov heads to Cardiff to take on James Collins and Wales on Friday in new boss Lothar Matthäus’ first game in charge of Bulgaria, both teams currently without a point in Group G. Wales will then head off to play Switzerland on Tuesday in Basel.

I have absolutely no idea whether Moustapha Salifou has been called up, but Togo are playing Tunisia on Sunday in an African Cup of Nations Qualifier. I assume he is, it would be madness not to pick him. Obviously.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly, Brad Guzan and Eric Lichaj are both stateside with the US national team ahead of friendlies against Poland in Chicago on Saturday and Columbia in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Bob Bradley has called up a small squad of 20 and, with both Guzan and Lichaj being Chicago natives, and Lichaj born to Polish parents, there’s a very good chance that Eric will win his first senior cap during his first call up.

EDIT: Thanks to Kirsten at 7500 to Holte for pointing out that I’ve omitted Richard Dunne. No, it wasn’t intentional, although now I’ve read that he’s apparently persuaded “Clarky” to come over all Irish I may have to re-think that.

The Irish host Russia at the fantastic new Aviva Stadium on Friday before heading off to take on Slovakia on Tuesday. Ireland and Slovakia currently top Group B with six points apiece.