Patience the key for Villa

Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier hailed his side’s patience as they beat Blackburn 4-1 at Villa Park on Saturday.

The Villans were out of luck in the first half as Rovers kept their sheet clean, before an early second-half penalty taken by Ashley Young triggered a barrage of goals for the hosts.

The win moves Villa to 12th on the Premier League table, and Houllier said he was impressed with how his side responded in the second half.

“We tried to be too quickly decisive, but once we were patient, as we were in the second half, I think at some stage we began to break them down,” Houllier told Sky Sports.

“They spread out well to defend. We just had to pass the ball, keep passing and keep trying to be patient. We passed the ball well.”

“In the first half I was not displeased by the performance of the players. Obviously after the penalty it was a different ball game, but I still think we kept passing the ball well.”

Blackburn boss Steve Kean wrote the loss off as a “bad day” for Rovers, who slipped to 13th on the English Premier League table with the result and had captain Ryan Nelsen sent off during injury time.

“I think the thing that killed us was the penalty,” Kean told Sky Sports.

“We set out of the stalls to try and get a clean sheet. I thought in the end we should try and bounce back a little bit, but we let that goal affect us.”

“It’s a bad day in the office but we’ll look forward to the Fulham game and work hard in the training ground again this week.”