Steve Bruce has called on his Aston Villa players to roll their sleeves up and cut out their mistakes as they aim to end their five-game losing streak.
Delivering a frank assessment in his pre-match press conference, the Villans’ boss says his players need to start giving themselves a chance in games by defending their own penalty box better.
Without a win since Boxing Day, Bruce also feels that just one win will ‘change everything’ for his side.
There was also a debate about Villa’s formations and tactics ahead of Derby County’s short trip to B6 this Saturday (25 February).
Traditionally a 4-4-2 man, Bruce has admitted that the Villa squad at his disposal is best equipped to be deployed in a 4-3-3 system, but he feels that will count for very little if his players cannot defend their 18-yard box better.
The 56-year-old told the media:
“In the Championship I have always played two up top and that will not change with me.
“However, when we arrived and we had the results that we had and have the squad that we have now, we’re better equipped to play 4-3-3.
“The results proved that when we first arrived. Now, I have never played 4-3-3 in the 20 years I have had of managing, but with what we have got, that might be the way forward.
“We can look at it tactically, we can look at all sorts, but we have got to roll our sleeves up and try to find a result - no matter if we are playing two up top, three up top, or one up top.
“There’s big raging debates on it, there always is when you get beat and don’t get a result, because people analyse everything.
“The simple statistic for the last four or five weeks is that we haven’t been good enough. We have made mistakes and when you do that it doesn’t matter what formation you are playing.
“We have to defend better, we have to defend our box better, and we have to give ourselves a chance in games.” On the importance of getting a win under their belts, Bruce added:
“We need a result to change everything and it really does.
“We scrambled a result in my second game, against Reading, which was only 16 weeks ago. The relief for everybody was there to see.
“It breathed a bit of confidence and we have to focus on that. The only way to do that is to get out on the pitch – we have two wonderful opportunities with back-to-back home games – and let’s see if we can pull it off.”
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