GERARD Houllier has defended his tactics and choice of substitutions that left Villa fans calling for his head.

Large sections of the support chanting: “You don’t know what you’re doing” when Houllier hauled off Nigel Reo-Coker and Marc Albrighton in place of Gabby Agbonlahor and Robert Pires.

The majority of the crowd wanted Albrighton to stay on and Agbonlahor to be paired with Darren Bent up front. However, Houllier decided to play the England striker out wide and stick with just one up front.

“They said that (I don’t know what I’m doing) because I substituted Marc Albrighton with Gabby Agbonlahor,” he said.

“He was the main scorer last season as far as I know.

“He was on the bench and I just put him on to try and score a goal.

“We knew we’d be attacking and pushing and that’s why I tried offensive options.