Effort and endeavour the ONLY way out of here – boss
ASTON VILLA’S time as a topperforming club has ended and the sooner the players realise it the better, boss Steve Bruce has claimed.
After Monday’s defeat at Cardiff, the angry boss laid into his team, insisting they can no longer expect to see off lower-placed opponents unless they match their workrate.
Bruce has called on his side to ‘start winning the fight’ as Villa dropped down to 12th place in the Championship and now sit seven points off the play-off places.
“We haven’t got really top footballers who can pass it square and pass it backwards and keep possession,” he said.
“We haven’t got top players so we have to match the effort and endeavour of everyone else.
“You have to be honest and genuine in the Championship because that’s what this league is all about.”
Asked whether his side could afford any more slip-ups of such an alarming nature, Bruce responded: “We’ve still got half a season to go.
“Our home form has been excellent. That needs to stay intact.
“We’ve got every one of the bottom clubs in the Championship to play away from home.
“But we can’t just show the mentality that we turn up and roll teams over because we’re Aston Villa. That doesn’t happen any more.”
Villa have a weekend away from league action as they travel to inform Tottenham in the FA Cup third round on Sunday. The manager is expected to shuffle his pack and experiment with a line-up after another dismal day on the road in Wales.
“You need a big mentality to play here,” he added. “I have the right to question (the mentality) because it wasn’t there.
“At Cardiff we were so slow in the first half that we stopped.
“I could say that about Norwich as well because that is twice in six weeks when we have not done enough.”
The only people to emerge with any credit from the dismal defeat to Cardiff were Villa’s loyal away supporters, who drew praise from Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock.
The claret and blue faithful packed out the away end at the Cardiff City Stadium – contributing to the second-biggest attendance of the season for the home side.
Warnock said the 3,258 visiting fans were a credit to their club.
“The Villa fans were fantastic and they contributed to a really good atmosphere,” he said. “They certainly got the best out of our fans.”
Warnock wasn’t the only Cardiff representative to comment on the noise inside the ground.
Former Villa defender Joe Bennett tweeted: “Fans were the best I’ve seen. Thanks for the support.”
Warnock added: “It was like a cup tie, it had that feeling to it.
“No-one pulled out of tackles, there was lots going on. It had everything, didn’t it?”
Villa have lodged a £3million bid for Nottingham Forest’s Henri Lansbury as Bruce steps up his search for a new midfielder.
Bruce has been scouring the market to find the appropriate fit for Villa and appears to have found it in the form of the Forest captain.
Lansbury, who came through Arsenal’s youth system, has six months remaining on his deal at the City Ground. Derby County made a £2.5million bid over the weekend that was rejected by Forest and Villa have upped the stakes by £500,000. Birmingham City held an interest in Lansbury but have now dropped out of the race to land the 26-year-old.