Hodgson added: “I came to the job knowing the situation, and the important thing is to put together a team that can match the expectation that surrounds this club.

“You learn a lot about your team every time they play, and there were a lot of players out there who I need to learn about. Some of them I’ve hardly worked with. It was a very good exercise for me in that respect.”

While Hodgson was pleased with Liverpool’s display, he admitted the team will bear little resemblance to the one expected to start the Premier League opener against Arsenal on August 15.

“We’ve had 13 players at the World Cup,” he said. “We have got two World Cup winners coming back and two players who were in the final.

“We’ve got four England players coming back so I’m not going to say how good this team is when we know the quality of the players we have to come back.

“If we are going to have a good season in the Premier League, we will need the stars back in our midst, but I can also say that we’ve got players who are maybe not as well known who have done a good job who have stepped in and got a great result in conditions that were not easy.”

Hodgson has also reiterated he wants to further bolster his squad in the coming weeks.

“I don’t think I’ve ever said the squad is in need of a major overhaul,” he said. “What I want to do is add one or two players to the team, which is what Rafa Benitez wanted to do. I’ve talked about adding a few players because like every Premier League club with big ambitions you have to do that. I feel I need to keep the players in the first team and also the players on the fringe of the first team.

“I don’t think I’m up and running because it has been running for a month without me, and if I had been here alone, then I think I would have done it very differently.

“If they turn out positive for me then no harm will have been done.”