Cautious Houllier leaves locals cold and Villa limping

GERARD HOULLIER’S arrival at Villa Park generated a wave of antipathy among Aston Villa devotees, who were concerned about his perceived negative tactics.

So far the French manager is living up to their low expectations. The vast majority of claret and blue wearers streamed out of Villa Park muttering in frustration, bordering on disgust, at the insipid end to the domination they had previously enjoyed over their fierce rivals.

Houllier may well have extended an incredible derby record as a manager to 14 games without defeat, but he will take little pleasure from losing a 100 per cent record against their sworn enemies.

Unbeaten in his last nine Merseyside arguments as manager of Liverpool, Houllier also avoided losing any of his four encounters against St Etienne whilst manager of Lyon. He added another success to that statistic in his first taste of this local Birmingham argument, but there can be very little for him to be satisfied about.

Villa have now limped to almost six hours without a Premier League goal and Houllier’s failure to extend a run of six successive wins over Birmingham in this spiteful affair means he has won just one of his five league matches.

That is a worse record than his predecessor, caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald, and the team that have finished sixth in the last three seasons under previous manager Martin O’Neill lie three points above the relegation zone, short on creativity, numbers and a genuine goalscoring threat.

Little wonder that Houllier is already looking towards the January transfer window and what he hopes will be backing from the club’s American owner to improve a squad that is so thin on quality and depth.

“If some players are injured we will be in real trouble because we are looking short of players in certain areas,” he said.

Houllier’s squad is so lightweight, even in a derby game of such significance when he was expected to be on the front foot, the 63-year-old felt obliged to play with Ciaran Clark supplementing his two usual holding midfielders Nigel Reo-Coker and Steve Sidwell.

“They played two hours in midweek and we were tired.

“We did not have the inspiration on the field and we did not have the physical qualities for the game. We lacked stamina. So if you cannot win, make sure you get a point,” argued Houllier.

The fact that he appeared to settle for the point in his formation before a ball had been kicked will not have done anything to shake his negative image.

On the previous six derby days Villa had been triumphant. There was no sign of such embarrassing dominance yesterday and for all the fanfares being blown by their American owner and influential figures on persuading Houllier to leave the French Football Federation a couple of months ago – there has been very little to point to to back up such excitement.

Indeed, things would have been worse if Howard Webb had got the game’s key issue correct as the first half drew towards a close.

The World Cup final referee’s failure to award a penalty for Reo-Coker’s handball was a major bone of contention.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish said: “We have not had much luck in that area over the last year. In fact over the last two years. I was not surprised that it was not given, but I was very pleased with the performance of the players.”

Last time at Villa Park, Birmingham were fined by the FA and censored for their reaction to a late penalty for the home side which gave Villa victory.

Even in the face of extreme provocation, mostly from Reo-Coker, who seemed intent on a fight and determined to get former team-mate Craig Gardner sent off. The Villa captain was fortunate to remain on the field himself, after aiming a kick at the Birmingham midfielder as the pair were on the floor.

“Nigel Reo-Coker does not seem to like Gardner,’ said McLeish. “I used my Sherlock Holmes powers to deduce that one. It was the same as Nasri kicking out at Arsenal the other week. Some referees will give that as a red card.

“Gardner was walking on eggshells from very early after his booking, but he handled it superbly. His discipline and the discipline of all the players was superb.”

Gardner was desperate to make a point against his former club and came close with one first-half effort after Nikola Zigic mis-kicked.

Villa’s chances were limited because of their over-cautious approach.

It was only in the final ten minutes, when John Carew joined Emile Heskey, that they carried a threat as first Clark missed with one brave header and then Ashley Young fizzed a shot over at the near post.

It was all too little too late.