GERARD Houllier has vowed to address the defensive system that has made Villa a set-piece soft touch – but not until the end of the season.

Two of the three goals his side conceded in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Bolton came from corners, with former Villa defender Gary Cahill grabbing both.

On both occasions the England international found a seam in Villa’s zonal marking system to negate strikes from Darren Bent and Marc Albrighton.

The first came at the end of the opening period when he beat Nathan Baker to Martin Petrov’s flag-kick, while the second came with just a quarter-of-an-hour to go as he headed straight at Brad Friedel then volleyed home the rebound.

Ivan Klasnic added insult to injury four minutes from time when he latched on to Kyle Walker’s failure to clear another cross into the Villa box.

The incidents were just the latest entries in a catalogue of problems Villa have suffered at corners and free-kicks this season.

And Houllier, who used a man-marking strategy during his time at Liverpool, was clearly irritated by the failing when asked to comment on the matter.

“This will be dealt with internally but it is through that we have conceded too many goals on set-pieces and we need to address that,” he admitted.

“I came to this club on September 18, they had their habits for four years and I am not going to change it in the middle of the season but next year it is something I will address. I will probably stick with it for the rest of the season.”

Clearly Villa’s resources to cope with Bolton’s bombardment are a mitigating factor. With James Collins, Richard Dunne and Carlos Cuellar all absent through injury, the Frenchman was forced to field a makeshift partnership at the heart of his defence.