Steve Bruce has come out to defend his signings as the team’s woeful performance continues.
The Villa boss has supervised five losses in the last nine games despite starting with a stellar record of seven games undefeated. The coach defended his signings, saying any that joined the club and prospective ones were capable of handling the pressure at a club like Aston Villa before they were signed.
Three straight losses without any goal is threatening the fine start of the manager. The FA Cup exit, the 13th spot on the current Championship log and 10 points off the play-off spot is a bad omen for Bruce who might also get evicted from his seat as Villa are desperate for the quickest return to top flight English football.
“If there’s been a falling, we’ve just bought and bought and bought. It’s just piled and piled and piled that has not improved. But we are a big scalp. Everyone wants to beat us in this division. I have to be 100% right that the people who we are bringing to the club can handle playing for Aston Villa, Bruce was quoted to have said.
This window, Bruce has sent off Pierluigi Gollini to Atalanta, Rudy Gestede to Middlesbrough but has introduced to the team setup Sam Johnstone from Manchester United on a loan deal.
Despite the loss in a local derby to Wolves, Bruce said that the team are “never going to give it up.”
“We will keep working away to find the formula and eventually get a team which can mount that challenge,” he added. However, he admitted that at the moment the team was “short” and things seem not to be working as expected. He promised to keep on working until things get better.