Frozen out towards the end of Martin O’Neill’s reign at Aston Villa one man who would have been delighted to see Gerard Houllier return to the Premier League is former England international Emile Heskey.

The Frenchman took Heskey to Merseyside back in 2000 for £11 million where the powerful striker enjoyed some of the best times of his career forging a good partnership with Michael Owen and breaking into the national side. While at Anfield his goalscoring wasn’t prolific but he played a big part in a successful Liverpool side and Houllier certainly appreciated that.

Since arriving at Villa the Frenchman has stuck with what he knows and brought Heskey straight back into the side in place of Norwegian John Carew. Heskey repaid this faith with the winner away at Wolves last week with a fantastic header. He will not go on and score fifteen goals this season but his game is about more than that. He will hold the ball up, win headers and prove an outlet for Villa when they have been under pressure. Houllier got the best out of Heskey at Anfield and if he manages to do so again at Villa he could just prove a very shrewd appointment. Even if the Villa fans still need to be convinced about both of the men in question it could prove to be a match made in heaven.

Gerard Houllier has Emile Heskey to thank for making his first Premier League game in charge of Aston Villa a memorable one. In a match which was very much a game of two half’s, Houllier’s side showed that they do still have plenty of quality with the powerful striker netting a late winner. But what should we be expecting from Houllier’s tenure at Villa Park?

In truth it was Wolves who had edged the second half, Villa had been on top for long periods before the break. They took the lead through Stewart Downing after excellent work from young Marc Albrighton.

The young winger is certainly making a name for himself this season, and his performance will have certainly given Houllier hope that he could have a rising star amongst his squad. Albrighton is determined and intelligent and while he has burst on to the scene out of nowhere, he has certainly made an impression.

Albrighton is very much a part of a good Villa squad, and to be honest I think it is the strength in the squad that saw Houllier leave the comfort of a job with the French Football Federation for a role at Villa Park.

The job at Villa was very much continuing somebody else’s good work. It’s not as if Martin O’Neill had left the Frenchmen with a squad that needed a lot of work. Yes they had lost James Milner to Manchester City, but with players like Gabby Agbonlahor and Ashley Young there was still plenty of quality for Houllier to work with.

The reason why O’Neill left was because he felt he had taken the club as far as he could, but Houllier obviously feels he can take the club to the next level. While I can’t see Villa charging in to the Champions League places, I can’t see them tumbling down the league either.

I think to maintain Villa’s recent success would be an acceptable achievement for Houllier, although Villa fans might not see it that way. The fact of the matter is that while they have a good squad, to get in to the next level of clubs would take a massive investment, something that looks highly unlikely with the steady approach of club owner Randy Lerner.

Heskey did net a winner late on for Villa, but in truth a draw would have been the fair result. The two sides drew 1-1 last year at Molineux, and should have probably drawn again today. That result would have set the tone for Houllier’s tenure, which I expect to be very similar to O’Neill’s with the Villa Park pushing for a finish in the higher reaches of the league, but just coming up short.

So after a somewhat belated start to his managerial career at Villa Park, Gerard Houllier will need little time to assimilate himself back in to the rigours of English football. His six year stint at Liverpool is still fresh in the memory for many, especially for landing us with El Hadj Diouf for the last six years. Despite that, Houllier has managed to keep himself involved in football in France but it was still something of a left field appointment for Villa to turn to the Frenchman.

His time at Anfield was something of a continual failure to turn potential in to real league success, culminating in his final season, 2003-2004, seeing them finish in 4th but 30 points behind Premiership winners Arsenal. 6 trophies in his time there perhaps gave something of rose tinted view to his tenure at the helm, but trophies are trophies. Similarly to Benitez, Houllier managed to get Liverpool to finish as runners up but failed to build on that good work with some unusual and ultimately unsuccessful transfers.

He inherits a side that have continually challenged for European places over the last 3 seasons but a fractious relationship between the previous manager and owner has left a side in a state of limbo. Aston Villa have so far been a Jekyll and Hyde side in this campaign, the 6-0 hammering at Newcastle clearly a low point in the clubs start to the season. Yet the transfer kitty was boosted by the sale of James Milner, so at least there is the option of strengthening in January but the loss of European revenue is a bitter pill to swallow for the Villa faithful.

It’s the lack of options up front for me that holds Villa back from pushing on from where O’Neill kept them. With 3 main strikers, the lack of a 4th option of proven quality has been there undoing in the last couple of seasons. Heskey’s work rate is unquestionable, but his dreadful goal return well documented. Carew is still so widely inconsistent, a trait he has never been able to shift from bursting on to the scene with Rosenburg and then Valencia 10 years ago. Of course, Houllier signed and then sold the striker during his spell at Lyon. How that relationship starts could be crucial for both sides.

Gabriel Agbonlahor is another one who’s potential has yet to be completely tapped into and Houllier often likes to build his sides around pacey strikers. The striker certainly falls in to that category but seems to still snatch at chances when it seems easier to score. Villa also have the option of using Ashley Young in a striking role, but he often drifts out of games, a frustrating side of his game with his quality of passing and blistering pace.

Villa have not had the worst start to the season, the hammering at Newcastle aside and against Stoke City were the better side for almost an hour but still contrived to lose the game to an injury time Robert Huth winner. What is crucial that Houllier can try and move on from the defensive counter attacking tactics that began to unravel his relationship with the Liverpool faithful. Perhaps somewhat, his spell at Lyon is sometimes overlooked, due to the squad he inherited and the financial strength the club had when he joined them.

As is often the case with these things, Houllier may be viewing the fixture list through gritted teeth, with derbies against Birmingham City and Wolves, trips to Tottenham and Sunderland and the chance to try and stifle free scoring Chelsea in October too making up his first 5 league fixtures. A tough Carling Cup tie at home to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday is not the easiest game to make your managerial bow at your new club either. At least he’s been through it all before and forewarned is forearmed.

What would you do if you had 15 minutes with Gerard Houllier and you had the opportunity to ask the world-class manager any questions you’d like?

If you’re a reporter for Soccer America, you won’t believe what they asked and how out of touch they are with the world of soccer. Let me explain.

On Friday evening, three Soccer America reporters and I had an opportunity to interview Houllier after his coaching workshop at the NSCAA event in Baltimore. The three Soccer America reporters — Mike Woitalla, Paul Gardner and Paul Kennedy — encircled the former Liverpool and French national team manager.

What questions did they ask him?

• His insight into whether he was considered for the Newcastle, England or Republic of Ireland manager positions?
• As a former Liverpool manager, his opinion about the way that Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has been treated by American co-owners Hicks or Gillette?
• Or, why Lyon was unable to translate their success in France to Europe under Houllier’s guidance?

No, instead they spent 15 minutes asking basic questions about the French system for coaching young children soccer. Some of the questions included how important dribbling was, how many French youth national coaches there are, how coaches are judged and whether the children in the French academies are allowed home each weekend to spend time with their family.

Ridiculous.

What a waste of an opportunity to speak to a masterful manager such as Houllier. If the reporters from Soccer America had done their research before the interview, they would have discovered the answers to those questions and wouldn’t have needed to waste monsieur Houllier’s time. Heck, they could have watched a few episodes of the “Soccer Academy” TV show on GolTV, or interviewed someone from one of the academies in France.

To me, this is a perfect example of the ineptitude of Soccer America and what a disservice they’re doing to readers of Soccer America and the general soccer public at large.

In those 15 minutes, I only had the opportunity to squeeze in two questions while Soccer America monopolized the conversation (whether France had anything like the NSCAA event, which Houllier answered no and shared how impressed he was with the American event, and whether the rumors were true that he was in the running for the Republic of Ireland position).