Aston Villa boss pleased with Emile Heskey's performance
Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier has revealed that he was delighted with Emile Heskey’s performance in the Carling Cup third-round victory over Blackburn Rovers.
The former England international, who played under Houllier at Liverpool, put Villa on their way to recording a 3-1 win on Wednesday after coming off the bench in the place of John Carew, and scoring in less than a minute to cancel out Gael Givet’s first-half
strike. That strike spurred on Villa, who wrapped up a victory with a quick-fire double from winger Ashley Young.
Houllier, who was taking charge of Villa for the first time, was more than pleased with the contribution from the 32-year-old forward.
He told reporters that, "I know what Emile can do. He showed me a few things in training that indicated to me he was in good form, but with him it is always a matter of confidence. John Carew had done a lot to tire out their defenders, but it is a game of 13
players now."
Singing a song
Heskey helped Villa to turn around their fortunes after a poor showing in the first half, which led to the side’s players being booed off the pitch by supporters. But after the turnaround, the fans began to get behind the team again and even began singing
a song about their new boss.
Houllier revealed that he was coaxed into acknowledging the supporters by a member of his back-room staff. He said that, “I didn’t hear the fans singing my name in the second half – one of my staff said 'you have to wave at them'. When you are on the bench
you are so focused.”
Villa will be hoping to build on the good result when they take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League on Sunday.
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