Aston Villa news: Steve Bruce explains why his squad is 'far, far better' than before
ASTON VILLA manager Steve Bruce hailed his squad’s “desire to achieve” after coming from behind to beat QPR at Loftus Road.
GETTY
Jamie Mackie fired the hosts ahead before Albert Adomah struck twice to secure all three points for Villa, who are up to fifth in the Championship table.
Bruce has turned the Villans’ fortunes around in the space of a year and he said: “I think we’re far better. There’s a better spirit, a better attitude amongst them, we’ve got a bigger hunger and a bigger desire to achieve. The squad is far, far better in my opinion than it was 12 months ago.
“We’ve got a lot of young players busting a gut and we’ve seen that today.
“When we [Bruce and his team] started here, we’d go away from home and pack in. I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I think there’s a bit of resilience and know-how which is good.”
Villa have won seven of their last 10 games to climb the Championship table, and are starting to justify their pre-season hype.
Bruce snapped up a number of experienced players in the summer transfer window such as John Terry, Glenn Whelan and Christopher Samba, and he believes the recruitment has prompted their good form.
GETTY
There’s a better spirit, a better attitude amongst them, we’ve got a bigger hunger and a bigger desire to achieve
“We’ve got some really good pros in Glenn Whelan, Snodgrass and John Terry, the loan signings have certainly helped us and of course the emergence of the young players has put everybody on their toes,” he said.
“[Callum] O’Hare has not been unleashed just yet but he’s knocking on the door.
“People like [Jack] Grealish and [Henri] Lansbury can’t get in the team at the minute.”
Villa’s win at QPR was even more impressive given the number of players sidelined by injury.
And despite solidifying their place in the play-off spots, Bruce admits there is still a long way to go.
He said: “It’s just starting for me, there’s 30 games to play, big winter ahead, lots of games in December and January.
“We’re still a long way behind the people at the top but we’ve made good progress and hopefully there’s an improvement to it.
“We don’t want anymore weeks like we’ve just had because we can’t afford too many more injuries but we’ve coped so far without four or five big players at the minute and I hope that continues.”
