Now Houllier insists his side can pick up their second domestic trophy of the season by beating Arsenal in the final.

"We are getting more composed and more mature," said Houllier.

"If we perform as we can do we have a chance. On our day we can beat a lot of teams. Arsene knows that, but they are also a strong side on the verge of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League."

Even so Houllier believes the tactical discipline his team displayed in last week's goalless draw with Barcelona with Spain, rather than their laboured efforts at Villa Park, showed how far they have come in the past two years. That showed the progress we are making gradually," said Houllier.

"To be in the final of the FA Cup I would say we are ahead of schedule."

Houllier also praised Wycombe for their battling spirit in a match during which goalkeeper Martin Taylor made three vital saves to deny Michael Owen.

Such was Liverpool's frustration that Owen was replaced in the second half by Heskey, and Steven Gerrard came on for Christian Ziege in a bid to add some extra bite to break the Wanderers' defiance.

Houllier sees such substitutions as the core of his footballing philosophy. Indeed, he claims that out of the last 98 goals scored by Liverpool one tenth have come from substitutes.

"I'm a great believer in them," he said.

"If they score a tenth of our goals it shows how important they are at this level. Ten per cent at the top level is a lot when usually you are dealing with margins of one or two per cent.

"Emile scored a fantastic header, and the cross came from Gerrard - two of our subs."