Another game, another defeat for Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa who slumped to their seventh loss of the year against Barnsley on Tuesday.
Despite frenzied activity in the January transfer window by Villa, which ironically included the signings of Conor Hourihane and James Bree from Barnsley, Bruce’s side suffered successive losses at Villa Park following on from a 1-0 defeat by Ipswich on Saturday.
Languishing in 16th place in the Championship, the Midlands outfit have not won in the league since Boxing Day; a 2-1 victory over fellow strugglers Burton Albion.
Villa are 33/1 for relegation highlighting the slim chances bookmakers deem of the club suffering back-to-back relegations. However, Bruce’s side must halt this dreadful run of form which eight January transfer signings have been unable to stop.
Bruce speaking to BBC West Midlands following the Barnsley defeat commented:
The buck stops with me. It’s my responsibility. But we must roll our sleeves up and get back that pride which has eroded over the last six weeks. If we don’t, we’re going to get swallowed into it and we can’t allow that to happen. Am I worried? I think I’ve got to be worried, given how we’re performing at the moment.
Bruce’s honesty didn’t stop there with his open evaluation of Villa’s run of form leaving the manager to call a potential relegation dogfight ‘the biggest challenge I’ve ever had’ with Bruce continuing:
This is the best club I’ve ever had in 20 years management and I’m determined to turn it round. Given time, I know for a fact I’ll do it.
In a game where Villa had a whole host of chances, Barnsley took the lead through an Adam Armstrong penalty before Tom Bradshaw scored the first of his brace to put the Tykes 2-0 up. Villa immediately responded with star striker Jonathan Kodjia scoring just before half-time.
However, the home side were wasteful in front of goal and were made to pay when Bradshaw scored his second in the 58th minute.
Villa are seven points above the relegation zone but need to re-find the winning thread. Bruce knows that.
