Houllier finally gets Villa ticking

Gerard Houllier is starting to show the doubters that he has lost none of his abilities when it comes to managing a Premier League club. Since his return to England, after leaving Liverpool in 2004 and subsequently taking up the reins at Lyon, there have been many who have suggested that his time away from the most competitive league in the world has been showing, but recent positive results go a long way to disproving that theory.

In their last four games they have comfortably progressed through to the fourth round of the FA Cup, managed a spirited draw against bitter rivals Birmingham, and then achieved back-to-back victories against Manchester City and Wigan Athletic: it would be safe to say that despite their league position, things are looking up at Villa Park. The good news for Houllier is that once their results start to improve, their league position will take care of itself – something he knows too well after a number of disappointing runs in his time at Merseyside.



Having brought in Darren Bent – a player he has admired for a long time – and sending out the seemingly disruptive John Carew on loan, it would seem that the mood around the stadium and training ground have improved greatly in recent days. Back in November, Villa travelled to Ewood Park and were physically played off the park against a Blackburn side which made the match-up seem like a case of boys against men. But since then, Houllier has managed to instil his preferred manner of play within his team to the point where on Tuesday against Wigan their midfield were finally playing with a directness that has been sadly lacking this campaign.



That result means that Villa have achieved consecutive Premier League victories for the first time this season, and their league position now looks far healthier than it did this time last week. Although their fans will be hoping for a far better finish than the thirteenth-place they currently occupy, they only need to look at their most recent opponents to realise that life could be far worse.