Gerard Houllier

[villa1]

There is quite an obvious change in style of play. We've gone from conceding possession and hitting teams on the break, under MON, to possession football and trying to break teams down under GH.

In theory they are professional footballers and should be able to adapt to any style of play required, given time. In reality, it doesn't look that easy for them!

So are we keeping the ball more under Houllier ?
When we played well against Man U it was as a result of using Albrighton and Downing to great affect on the wings, which are our strengths I would say.

Yes, we are keeping the ball more. Unfortunately we just don't go anywhere with it. 

[Walmley_Villa]

The Board won't sack him. They have backed him in his staff appointments and scouting appointments so it makes no sense. Maybe the fact GH has tried to stamp his authority on the team has caused some of the issues and rubbed a few of the more 'senior' players up the wrong way like Dunne and Ireland? But, let's be honest do we want unprofessional tossers like this at our club? One of my criticisms of GH is that he has approached the job with a sledgehammer as opposed to changing things gradually. Unfotunately the O'Neill men are not adaptable as has been illustrated by their performances. GH deserves a transfer window (and I wish it was the Summer and not the Desparate Dan saloon that the January window has become). We need to get behind them as fans and after Sunday where none of us expect much that means Wednesday night is the start of the season for us. A 2 or 3 win run will get us top 10....

[jembob]

A team mirrors there manager...who would you rather have in the trenches with you?a placid nice g.h.?or a tough old jock in mcleish..with a never give up attitude installed in the current squad.....the thing is with villa if you go a goal behind i cant see you gettin one back......i know MON bought some junk but he had a sprit about him which mirrored your team....

I've been thinking something similar (don't you hate having to agree with a Bluenose!) but we haven't really showed any proper backbone since we got hammered 7-0 by Chelsea last season. That may well have broken the spirit of this group of players and perhaps nobody could fix things without wholesale changes. Clearly MON knew that he would not be able to bring in enough new faces to refresh the attitude and quit before he was made to look worse. That one result killed off an awful lot of self belief, and while it was largely down to MON's tactical ineptitude, it would have been the worst defeat suffered by most of our team and in my view they have never really recovered from it. Somebody of Houllier's style would never stand a chance in conditions like that, and while it's easy to make the observation now, the long term decline in the character of the players is becoming more evident by the game.

[Villa'Zawg]

Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor ignores Gerard Houllier's fitness advice
Gabby Agbonlahor has become the latest Aston Villa player to question Gerard Houllier’s wisdom.


Sandy Macaskill
By Sandy Macaskill 2:33PM GMT 30 Dec 2010

The striker – who signed a five-year contract last month – suggested that he is not interested in taking his manager’s advice to lose bulk in a bid to get his season up and running.

You have to feel for the 24 year-old, who probably feels like to be a Hollywood starlet so often has his size been analysed in recent seasons.

But it must also be confusing, as Houllier’s wisdom contradicts the advice given to him by Martin O’Neill, who encouraged him to add bulk so that he could hold off defenders. Agbonlahor was rewarded with 16 goals – his best season for the club.

Houllier was adamant at the beginning of the month when he told Agbonlahor to slim down. “The fact is I think he's too stocky,” Houllier said. “I have told him to lay off the weights. Sometimes the players do too much. The Gabby I saw when I was watching TV in France was different to what I see here. He was thinner, more wiry and, wow, quick."

Agbonlahor, though, is not convinced. He said: “I can see where the manager is coming from, of course, but I think I was the same last season and that was my best season at Villa. I think maybe if I trimmed down and became how I was when I first broke into the team then I might lose an element to my game.

The Telegraph - Clicky

Will we have to also place Gabby in the troublemaking camp now?

[PaulTheVillan]

Since Gabby has 'bulked up' he's been better at the 'Heskey' stuff in his game. His finishing is now like our Darius Vassells was.

[Willie Anderson]

Will we have to also place Gabby in the troublemaking camp now?

If Geddy stays Gabby goes I fear.

[hawkeye]

Most team play a deep defensive line against us which means they nuetralise the pace we have, one positive to hoof ball is that teams come on to you because they get posession which used to lead to us hitting on the break, now when teams come on to us they score.

[dave.woodhall]

Will we have to also place Gabby in the troublemaking camp now?

If Geddy stays Gabby goes I fear.

Is this the Gabby who signed a new contract six weeks ago, and said he wanted to stay at Villa for life?

[N'ZMAV]

Gabby isn't going anywhere.

[Willie Anderson]

Houllier was a terrible, terrible appointment. We all knew it, most of the pundits knew, but the board did not.

Include me out please.

And me please.

Include me in. The man is an old gallic DOL

[Eigentor]

Houllier was a terrible, terrible appointment. We all knew it, most of the pundits knew, but the board did not.

Include me out please.

And me please.

Include me in. The man is an old gallic DOL

It puzzles me that everyone could know that one of the most knowledgeable football men in Europe, who won five trophies as Liverpool manager and two chamipionships as coach of Lyon was a terrible, terrible appointment.

[Legion]

Brian Green's excellent post has really given me a lot to think about.

[hawkeye]

Brian Green's excellent post has really given me a lot to think about.

where?

[Willie Anderson]

Will we have to also place Gabby in the troublemaking camp now?

If Geddy stays Gabby goes I fear.

Is this the Gabby who signed a new contract six weeks ago, and said he wanted to stay at Villa for life?

He loves the club & the city, GH somewhat less so. I don't think he's ready to put in a transfer request or likely to. I fear GH will ship him out a la Paul Ince.

He's a mean spirited self serving grudge holder who will remove any perceived opposition.

Ashley, Carew, Dunne, & Gabby are the ones definately on his shitlist at the moment & will go eventually.

[Legion]

This one:

In my years of following Villa I have seen us relegated many times.  Every relegation we suffered had one thing and one thing only in common.  The correction of our faults was left too late.   The incumbent manager was always given too much time and necessary action was left too late to be effective.

Those of you calling people like Glasses and me idiots because we see the writing on the wall blatantly refuse to answer the single simple straightforward question - what single piece of evidence have you seen since Gerard Houllier was appointed our manager which shows him capable of having a better second half of the season than the first?  Has he showed one spark of effectiveness in team motivation? fitness? mental attitude? building team spirit? asserting psychological domination of our opponents? getting the crowd behind the team? team discipline? team tactics? match tactics? team selection? tapping up targeted players like we have to endure from others? instilling self belief into players? instilling a spirit of fighting for every ball right to the final whistle? making match turning substitutions?   There is no evidence of any kind whatsoever that Gerard Houllier, even if he is given the money, can buy his way out of the pit he has dug for himself.

When you can produce  some evidence that Houllier has the ability NOW not at Liverpool or in France when he was in his prime - NOW, to fight off relegation then you can call those of us who do not share your optimism idiots and compare us to Liverpool fans.