Aston Villa blogger Matthew Turvey brings you Part One of his annual review covering the first half of 2011 – where the reign of Gerard Houllier drew to a close.

It’s perhaps appropriate that as, Villa play Liverpool this weekend, I will be doing my first half of the review of 2011, focusing specifically on Gerard Houllier.

Houllier’s tenure at Villa will probably be best remembered for his purchase of Darren Bent and his scrape with relegation. Depending on who you talk to, both will create controversy for different reasons.

With regard to Bent, fans are split over his purchase. For every fan who sees him a prolific goalscorer, there are those who see him as overpaid and lazy.

There’s no doubt his goals last season contributed to wins, but this season shows that he is nothing without supply.

Stewart Downing and Ashley Young were both sold and Bent seems a pale imitation of last year.

Many would say this was because of the fact both Downing, Young, and Nigel Reo-Coker are no longer in the team.

Some would say it is because a player who plays in such an forward position will fail to link up unless others do it for him. I would say he is lazy, but he’s always been lazy.

Whatever your opinion, the fact is that Bent hasn’t been as prolific as expected this season, and has the lowest amount of touches of all Premier League strikers shows he still doesn’t drop deep.

Getting back to the Houllier era, here was a time where the football was being attempted to be played better.

I say ‘attempted’ rather than actually being played better, because being mathematically able to go down with two games is not indicative of good football. Pretty football is a bonus, but winning comes first.

Houllier was also able to add Jean Makoun to the Villa ranks. During his time at the club, Makoun was certainly illustrated to be a good passer of the ball in midfield.

However, he wasn’t without his faults, being sent off for rash tackling and seemingly unable to find the defensive midfielder partnership that he had with Jeremy Toulalan whilst at Lyon.

Makoun has since been sent out on loan to Olympiakos, seemingly unable to fit into the current plan under McLeish. Will he return? We’ll find out at the end of the season.

With regard to Houllier’s time at the club, I personally think he was starting off a transition that was enacted too fast.

I understand the sentiments of why Gerard wanted to move things on, as many of the players in the Villa squad didn’t suit his style. The mistake that he made was doing things too quickly.

It’s great wanting to put your stamp on the team with style, but any good manager would realise that you have to make do in the interim – “you can’t always get what you want” as the Rolling Stones once sang.

This stress that Houllier put himself under was a contributor to health issues that led him to leave the club following heart problems.

Had Houllier been 10 years younger, I would have considered him a great man for a long term future at the club.

The fact remains that, in the eyes of many, Houllier was past it and his appointment made the board look like it was short term plan after short term plan.

Appointing a man who hadn’t had a managerial job since his first heart scare was a risk too far for Villa. Still, Villa managed to secure a ninth place finish and deliver a good return on a transitional season.

The first half of 2011 turned out fairly well considering but, sadly, it was to get far more complicated and frustating in the close season and the start of the 2011-12 season.

Many couldn’t have predicted McLeish’s appointment. I wil cover that part of the review next week.

Until next time Villa fans.