Gerard Houllier wants Aston Villa to emerge from their comfort zone and start winning trophies.

Houllier will be in charge of his first Villa match tonight in the home Carling Cup encounter with Blackburn.

The same competition brought Houllier his first trophy when manager of Liverpool in 2001, the Reds defeating Villa’s local rivals Birmingham in the final in Cardiff.

Houllier believes that success gave the Reds the confidence to enjoy a successful spell under him.

And the 63-year-old is aware just what ending a 14-year trophy drought would mean to the Villa supporters.

Houllier said: “Winning a trophy would be fantastic for the club and a huge reward for the fans. It will come.

“Maybe what the club needs is more ambition and to show its fighting teeth. Sometimes when you are a good club, everything is fine and the comfort is there.

“Maybe what we need is to get out of this comfort zone and get results a bit more.

“The passion is there but the ambition to win things would do well at this club.

“The image is a nice club. We want to be a winning club, and a nice winning club.”

Houllier continued: “Winning that first trophy with Liverpool was crucial. It took a lot of pressure off the team. It came as a relief. We had actually won something.

“Even Chelsea lifted their first league title after winning the League Cup. I remember speaking to Jose Mourinho and saying, ‘Don’t neglect this cup because, if you win it, on the back of that, confidence grows’.

“That is exactly what happened. After that we practically won everything at Liverpool and we want to win something at Villa.”

By John Curtis