Houllier urges patience

Gerard Houllier has confidence in his Aston Villa side but claims it will take time for his promising young team to play his brand of football.

The Frenchman, whose side host Arsenal on Saturday, has been forced to rely on the products of Villa’s impressive youth academy so far this season as injuries have taken their toll.

But the Birmingham side have also dropped points late on in key games, notably in the 1-1 draw at Fulham and the 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Villa Park.

And Houllier admits that is inevitable when you put your faith in youngsters.

“We have dropped 12 points from leading positions,” Houllier explained.

“That is where we need to improve, definitely, in terms of maturity because being in a leading position to win, if you drop off those 12 points we would be on 23 points.”

“The second thing is we have been unlucky with sick and fit players. I know at some stage you have got to keep faith, keep belief in your team, and we work hard and I think we will make it.”

“To be fair, I think we have dropped too many points and maybe this is the right time to stop that.”

“But it is not that I’m not worried. I trust the team we have, they enjoy working with us, the new staff.”

“Give us some time. We know where we are heading up to. And also maybe I’m more experienced now.”

And Houllier looks forward to pitting his wits against old friend Arsene Wenger.

“Whatever happens on the field, we will remain friends. You have to give respect to what he has achieved at Arsenal in nearly 15 years,” he said.

“At a high level, you’ve got to win and he is a winner. You need to win in style and entertain. No-one will argue with that.”

“He has been a friend for nearly 30 years. We took our badges together, went to tournaments together, we laugh together but I’d love to beat him and he knows that.”

And new signing Robert Pires may be fit enough to face his old club

“His fitness is improving,” said Houllier. “He was fit before coming to us because he trained a lot with Arsenal. I put him on a bit against Blackburn.He has done the full week and looks OK.”

Gabriel Agbonlahor has been ill this week, missing training on Thursday and Friday and is doubtful to face Arsenal but Houllier is able to pick a fully fit Jon Carew. Marc Albrighton is ruled out for another two to three weeks.