The Reds face a trip to Macedonia or Armenia next month, and the boss believes his side have been handed a testing draw.
With the first leg scheduled for July 29, Hodgson accepts Liverpool face a race against time in order to ensure they are fully prepared, both physically and mentally.
Nonetheless, the Reds' World Cup finalists will be allowed extra time to recover before returning to action.
"It is every bit as difficult as I was expecting," the manager told reporters in Switzerland.
"At this stage of the qualifying round there are a lot of teams from countries you don't know too well and teams who probably will not make it to the latter stages of the competition.
"I know Rabotnicki are in Europe every year but I don't know much about Mika, although I know Armenia having been there as Finland manager.
"We know we will get two tough games and it is up to us to get as much information as we can in the limited period of time we have. That is what we will do.
"We also have to get as many of our players as fit as we can for the first leg, but we already know the four players involved in the World Cup final won't be involved in these games."
Rabotnicki currently lead Mika 1-0 following the first leg of their second round qualifier. They meet again in Armenia next Thursday.
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