Judge me in February - Houllier

02 January 2011 08:00

Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier insists he is at "the wrong club" if his job is already on the line.

Houllier believes February would be a fairer time to judge him when the senior players returning to action after lengthy lay-offs are back to full fitness and sharpness. Villa have slipped too close to the bottom three for comfort after Tuesday's 4-0 mauling at Manchester City - and on Sunday have to visit champions Chelsea.

"Am I fighting for my job? If I have to do that, then I am in the wrong club. I don't think so," said Houllier.

"I know that at some stage you go through difficult times. In difficult times you see the people around you - and they have been top class.

"Mr Lerner knows we are going through a difficult period. Even with Martin (O'Neill) there was a period when they weren't winning games."

Houllier added: "What's a fair timescale for me to be judged fairly? Well I didn't expect to go that down (the table).

"But at the same time I think it's an exciting challenge, even more so. What I need is to get some players fighting together to get some results and see where we are in February."

Houllier's revised training methods have not been popular with some players but he will not change his beliefs.

He said: "We train more. When there is a change, there is always resistance to change.

"There have been a lot of headlines about double training sessions but we only had one such session - and that was during an international break. But, if you say 'would you go back to training less and having a different style of play' I would say no."

Source: PA