Robert Pires lifts the lid on Gerard Houllier’s regime at Aston Villa

All is not well at Villa Park. Martin O’Neill resigned as manager right at the start of the season and Randy Lerner must be wondering whether he appointed the right replacement in Gerard Houllier, with the Villans currently sitting in the bottom three of the Premier League after Wednesday’s home defeat against Sunderland.

The pressure is on Gerard Houllier, who is not proving at all popular with the Aston Villa supporters and the Frenchman appears to be making enemies in the dressing room, the latest of whom is Robert Pires.

Pires is clearly unhappy at the fact that he has started just one match since arriving at Aston Villa and claims that the atmosphere at the club is not a good one.

“With some players, the atmosphere is tense and electric. Not with the whole group, but with some,” Pires told the French radio station, RMC.

“Houllier, has brought a new culture, another way of working. When you’re in a routine and it all changes in a flash, you can find it hard to accept.

“On top of that, we are not winning. So it’s complicated for everyone and I have arrived in the middle of all that.”