da luck： Aston Villa currently lie 13th in the Premier League and only 3 points off the drop zone. It is too early to say yet whether Houllier is better or worse than Martin O’Neill but considering that a few fans are starting to get on Gerard’s back already its worth taking a look at the French mans credentials.
da esoccer bet： If we take a look at the stats, Martin O’Neill had a slightly superior record in his first 14 games of the season, in that he had won 6, drawn 6 and only lost twice. Houllier currently stands with a record of won 5, drawn 4 and lost 5 times. It must be said Kevin MacDonald, former acting manager took charge of some of these games, however, the facts remain Martin O’Neill’s Villa reign started more convincingly.
This said, “Under O’Neill, by this stage of the season Villa were already out of the Carling Cup and had only won 1 more game than Villa have this year despite the fixtures this year being more challenging than the start of the 2006/2007 season, not to mention the league has generally become a lot stronger since 2006.” This alludes to the idea that at these early stages of Houllier’s Villa career he is showing that he has the potential to emulate O’Neill.
We must also remember that this is Villa’s third manager of the year, adjusting to a new style is always a transitional period. Villa still have a lightweight squad, and some would argue that Houllier is currently on par with O’Neill when looking at the early stages of both their stints at the club.
“This is where it gets really interesting, after the first 14 games O’Neill then went on a terrible period with Villa where his squad picked up just 3 wins in the next 21 games!” I would be extremely shocked if Houllier did not ‘emulate’ this poor record and subsequently place himself in a stronger position with the fans than O’Neill had done previously.
It is evident that O’Neills first season in charge was one he would probably want to forget, it also shows that miracles will not happen overnight. Whatever your opinion of Houllier is at the moment, the man deserves time to transform the club back into a force to be reckoned with. Houllier has a very decent managerial record and I am confident he can enjoy some success at Aston Villa…after his transitional period
What do you think? Can Houllier emulate Martin O’Neill’s efforts at Villa?
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