Houllier needs to stop blaming others for Villa problems

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier decided to blame Aston Villa’s defensive problems this season on former-boss Martin O’Neill.

Villa have struggled at the back this season and the Villa boss has laid the blame squarely at O’Neill’s door.

Habits

The Frenchman referring to Villa’s 3-2 defeat at Bolton told the Guardian:  “We were a bit naive,”

“We have conceded too many goals at set pieces. We have to address that. I came to this club on 18th September. They had their habits, they have them for four years and I am not going to change them in the middle of the season but next year it is something I’ll address.”

That’s a poor excuse to use that he only arrived in September. I’m no mathematics genius but by my calculations he had has nearly six months to sort out his defence and he still hasn’t managed it.

Record

To say his squad had bad habits when he arrived is just wrong. Under Martin O’Neill Aston Villa had a good defensive record I read somewhere that last season under O’Neill they had the fourth best defensive record in the Premier League.

They were always hard to beat and usually well organised. However since Houllier took over their defence has looked a shambles. They just looked like they have no organization at the back at all.

In the O’Neill days they were very good at defending set pieces but a lot of the goals Villa have conceded this season have came from set piece situations and that shows that Houllier doesn’t even have them as organised as the former-boss.

Blame

I think that Houllier needs to look a little closer to home to explain his side’s poor recent defensive displays. He has the same players available to him that Martin O’Neill had, yet they are conceding far more goals. Houllier and his coaching staff have to take a large slice of the blame.

He has to start facing up to some of the blame. He has always been a manager who has liked to blame others for his own problems and it seems like he is trying to divert the blame yet again.

Unpopular

From some of the comments and views I have read on various websites Gerard Houllier isn’t exactly the most popular man in Birmingham. In fact it seems that a number of Villa fans would like to see the Frenchman leave their club.

You can’t really blame them when he is making statements blaming the previous regime when he has been in charge for awhile now. That sort of comment wouldn’t fill me with confidence if I was an Aston Villa fan.

Dinosaur

I have to admit I’m not the greatest fan of Gerard Houllier. I saw it as a backwards step for Villa to appoint him as their manager. I also know that he wasn’t the Villa fans first choice. To me he strikes me as a football dinosaur.

His methods seem old and stale. I just don’t understand why Villa appointed him as their boss in the first place. Maybe he was an easy option for the board after Martin O’Neill, who allegedly quit due to lack of transfer funds.

Money

I find it quite ironic that Martin O’Neill was denied transfer funds to take the club forward, yet owner Randy Lerner decided to give Houllier a minor fortune to spend on the likes of Darren Bent and Jean Makoun in the January transfer window.

I believe if O’Neill would have been given the same funds to spend then Aston Villa would be in a far better position than the one they find themselves in under Houllier. I like Aston Villa but they will never be successful under the management of Gerard Houllier.

Is Martin O’Neill responsible for Villa’s poor season?