Gerard Houllier To Stay At Aston Villa Despite Club Being In The Relegation Zone

Gerard Houllier will continue to be given time to turn around the struggling Villa, although how much time he has will likely remain to be seen. Our Villa have lost six out of their last eight matches and have won just three games under Houllier. Putting the numbers out there is rather rattling--yet the performance of the team often does not seem to match its position in the table.

We'll probably go round and round the Houllier debate in these parts, especially if Villa's league position does not change any time soon. In fact, if Villa lose their FA Cup tie to Championship side Sheffield United, and then (perish the thought) lose at St. Andrews, we might not even have time to examine all the nuances of the need to keep Houllier at Villa Park. It's quite probable that Gerard will lose the backing of Randy Lerner and Paul Falkner if those things happen.

But for now, just a question: would you rather have Gerard Houllier at the helm, or attempting to find yet another manager during January? Does Aston Villa really want Sam Allardyce? Of course, they could pick up another ex-Liverpool manager in Rafael Benitez, or, quite probably, Roy Hodgson. But Villa should stick with the devil they know. Houllier knows what he's doing--it's just going to take a little time, and probably a bit of maneuvering in January, for him to prove himself.

We knew the Villa weren't going to Europe this season. As long as the club finishes above the drop, does it really matter if that position is 17th or 8th? It's hard to say "give it time" when we're sitting below the scary dotted line, but that's really what we must do. Showing Houllier the door is only going to result in more upheaval, which could very well seal Villa's fate in next season's Championship.