Villa Fans Fury At Houllier

Gerrard Houllier has found himself in hot water with Villa fans after his "love in" at Anfield. They are outraged that the Frenchman applauded the Kop at full time in their 3-0 defeat but ignored the travelling fans completely. One of the other major complaints was that in his post match interview he said "If I have got to lose 3-0, I would prefer it to be to them as I like Liverpool".

Fans took to the official website to voice their displeasure to director Charles Krulak, who will no doubt inform Randy Lerner. Houllier has released a statement to the fans regarding his behaviour saying "Everybody is hurting because of recent results. No one likes to lose 3-0 against any team and if comments made in the aftermath of our defeat by Liverpool were misconstrued - comments which were intended to be humorous - then let me put them into context. The experiences I enjoyed at Liverpool some years ago will always stay with me. I understand the fans' feelings of hurt and disappointment at the moment - I am hurting as much as anyone, believe me. Building lasting success at Aston Villa is my focus and my commitment to the challenge is resolute. The fans are the most important, they are passionate, vocal and fantastic. They know we were in this together."

The defeat was just the latest in a long line of poor results which leaves Villa two points outside the relegation zone.