New boss Gerard Houllier today revealed the secret behind his perfect start to life at Villa – taking risks.

Houllier has delivered back-to-back wins from his first two games in charge, however, neither have been straightforward with Villa coming from behind to beat Blackburn 3-1 in the

Carling Cup and needing an 88th-minute winner from Emile Heskey to see off Wolves on Sunday.

The Frenchman, whose team head to Tottenham on Saturday, puts his early success down to being brave with his tactics and a demand that his team show “bottle”.

“It’s a game,” said Houllier. “If you want to win you need to take risks. To take risks you need to be fit physically, mentally and be prepared. They are in charge of the game, I am in charge of the result. The one who will be blamed for the result is me, not them.

“When there’s three minutes to play, you don’t sit there and try to withstand the pressure.

“To win away from home is very good. I don’t want teams that bottle out. Maybe you can hit the opposition on the break.”

And Houllier has hailed Carlos Cuellar as Villa’s very own Jamie Carragher.

Cuellar delivered one of his best displays in a Villa shirt in Sunday’s derby win over Wolves when he stepped in for the injured Richard Dunne at the heart of the claret and blue defence.

“He looked strong and solid,” Houllier added. “He reminded me of Jamie Carragher. He goes for everything in the air — brave is the word to describe him.”

The Spaniard often found himself used as a right-back by Houllier’s predecessor Martin O’Neill last term and has refused to rule out using the Spaniard there.

He added: “I haven’t seen him play at right-back and if one day he has to play right-back he’ll play right-back.”

Meanwhile, Marc Albrighton today backed miniature midfield maestro Barry Bannan to follow him into Villa’s first team, declaring: ‘He’s the best technical player at the club’.

Bannan, 20, thrilled the Villa Park masses in last Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Blackburn and earned praise from boss Houllier, who called him a player of “skill and intelligence”.

“I’ve been playing with him a long time and you can see he’s an unbelievable footballer,” said Albrighton.

“He’s probably the best technical player at the club. It’s good that he’s finally getting the chance to prove that to all the fans and all the people out there.”

“Some of the things he does in training you look at and think ‘wow’. When he gets the ball he can do anything with it. He’ll always create something. He can see passes that other players can’t.

“I love playing with him because he knows I’m going to be out wide and I know when he gets the ball he’s going to be able to find me.

“He’s an unbelievable prospect for the future and a really exciting player. If he keeps getting his chance he’ll keep proving what a good job he can do for the club.”

Bannan has already made his mark at Villa this term, scoring his first senior goal in the 1-1 draw with Rapid Vienna in their Europa League first leg.

He also scored a hat-trick for the reserves against Manchester United earlier this month and Albrighton has scotched suggestions he is too small to make it.