Houllier frustrated with draw

Gerard Houllier felt his Aston Villa side should have secured all three points despite watching his ten men hold on for a 1-1 draw at Blackpool.

Jean Makoun was shown a straight red card midway through the second half for a challenge on DJ Campbell and Villa held on for a point after putting in a solid defensive display at Bloomfield Road.

Gabriel Agbonlahor opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a wonderful solo effort, but Elliot Grandin equalised four minutes later for the Seasiders.

But Houllier claims his side should have sewn up the points by the end of the first half.

Chances

He told Sky Sports: "I think we should have won it in the first half because maybe after 20 minutes, we had enough chances.

"Blackpool are a difficult side to play because they play in a certain style which is very offensive. They overload people up front and obviously when they equalised I knew it would be a difficult job.

"I still think at half-time we should have done better but second half obviously when we went down to ten men, it was a different game."

The Frenchman had no complaints about the red card shown by referee Howard Webb to midfielder Makoun.

Reckless

He said: "Well, to me, the rules are simple. Once you have both feet off the ground it's a red card.

"I don't think it was a malicious tackle but it was a reckless tackle and I understand the referee's decision.

"I was pleased with the attitude of the players. I was very proud of them because they worked so hard for a point. I thought we defended with quality, resilience and mental strength."

Regarding the absense of Stiliyan Petrov from the Villa squad, Houllier explained: "Stiliyan was deliberately rested because he had to play for his 99th cap for Bulgaria in midweek and it was a long trip to Turkey and back. He played the full game and that's why I decided to rest him."