Gérard Houllier and Gary McAllister watched their new charges labour to a disappointing draw from the stands today and will know that they have an awful lot of talent at their disposal, but also have their work cut out for them.

It started extremely brightly with Villa absolutely dominating the opening 30 minutes or so, much like the first game of the season against West Ham. Marc Albrighton was having a field day down the right flank and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before he’d be a provider or scorer himself.

Ash opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a well struck free kick and I fully expected the floodgates to open. In fairness to Bolton, although a little overly physical at times, they fought well and clung on long enough to impose themselves on the game during the final 15 minutes of the half.

Bolton had two decent penalty shouts turned down during the first period. Warnock with the first one, turned inside out by Chung-Yong’s deft touch and left an inviting leg out as the Korean dashed into the box. Richard Dunne also made his own life difficult by failing to clear his lines and left himself little option but to dive in, the small amount of contact may have been enough to concede a penalty on another day.

Kevin Davies equalised in the 35th minute, the result once again of shambolic defending, blasting in from close range past a hapless Brad Friedel.

KMac brought Cuellar on in place of Richard Dunne for the second half, but without any real protection, Bolton continued to push for a second goal and the back line were frequently on the scramble to keep the scoreline level.

At the other end, Stephen Ireland went close with a delicately placed shot that ran just wide. Ireland struggled to impose himself on the game, frequently showing that he has a great eye for a pass, the execution is just lacking at the moment. He needs some time to settle and to gel with his new team, but I was concerned before kick off that he and Petrov would struggle in the centre against Muamba & Holden and once Bolton began taking care of Albrighton and Downing with some of the physical stuff, our midfield failed to function.

KMac brought Carew on in place of Ireland in the 73rd minute, shifting Ashley Young into the middle, which was an odd decision for me. Personally, I would have made a double change, Reo-Coker on for Ireland and Carew in for either Downing or Albrighton.

Carew’s best contribution, perhaps, was nodding Cuellar’s left sided cross down for Gabby, whose first touch let him down as he attempted to turn and fire in what would surely have been nailed on goal. But that was a sign of what we were missing, as was the case at Stoke, Gabby really has struggled to lead the attack on his own so far this season.

And so the game just dwindled away into another scrappy, uninspiring affair that either side could easily have stolen, but neither really deserved to win, aside from Villa’s bright opening spell. Over the course of the last two games, based on the performances, that’s five points dropped I’m afraid.

Now the Houllier era begins with an intriguing first game at home to Blackburn on Wednesday in the Carling Cup. After that, it’s a little trip to Molineux and then White Hart Lane. I hope he likes a challenge.