Gerard Houllier has moved to clarify comments he made following Aston Villa's loss at Liverpool on Monday, insisting they were "misconstrued".
The Frenchman, who enjoyed a largely successful spell at the helm of Liverpool between 1998 and 2004, suffered a 3-0 defeat on his return to Anfield to leave Villa down in 16th place in the Premier League table.
Houllier enraged Villa supporters with his post-match comments, reportedly remarking that: "If I have got to lose 3-0, I would prefer it to be to them as I like Liverpool."
However Houllier, who took over at Villa Park in September, insists the comments were taken out of context.
Houllier told Villa's official website: "To the fans who travelled to Liverpool and to all Villa supporters, let me assure you that we are working as hard as we possibly can to achieve the level of success which this great club aspires to.
"No-one likes to lose 3-0 against any team and, if comments I made in the immediate aftermath of our defeat by Liverpool have been misconstrued - comments which were intended to be humorous, by the way - let me put them into context.
"The experiences I enjoyed with Liverpool some years ago will always stay with me, as will many experiences I have had in football both before and since, and I have taken all these experiences into my job as manager of Aston Villa.
"I understand the fans' feelings of hurt and disappointment at the moment - I am hurting as much as anybody, believe me - and I say emphatically that we will battle through.
"Building lasting success at Aston Villa is my focus and my commitment to this challenge is resolute."
Houllier went on to hail the club's fans, and called on them to put their full support behind Villa when they take on West Brom at home on Saturday.
"It is down to us collectively as a club to work hard to bring joy and success to the fans because the fans are the most important," he said.
"They are passionate, vocal and fantastic, which I stated when I first came here.
"They know we are in this together and their support will be vital on Saturday for our game against West Bromwich Albion."
