Aston Villa new manager Steve Bruce has raised issues regarding fitness at the club.
Bruce was obviously not too happy as the players tired out easily during the 1-1 draw with Wolves at Villa Park. The coach was smart not to condemn the regime employed by the former coach, Roberto Di Matteo.
“We tired badly, which was alarming,” he said. When asked if it was a fitness concern, he said:
“I think that’s an easy one and Iwouldn’t like to say that against any other manager, but it’s fair to say that some can be in better condition and I think that’s only right. That’s the difficulty when you have to make two substitutions through injury,” he added.
Bruce admitted that losing a lead can be linked with the fitness concern of the players.
“I can understand now why they concede late. It’s blatantly obvious. We’ll go to work on that. It’s very difficult in this league as obviously we’re playing again on Tuesday. We’ll do eveythig we possibly can to make us better equipped to go and play in the Championship,” he added.
The boss, who has helped other teams get promotion, said there has to be intensity in the team’s play to succeed in the Championship.
“Because to play in the Championship now you have to have the intensity about your play, just as much as the big league. It didn’t used to be the case but it is now. With the statistics and the science we’ve got we’ve got all the evidence of that and we can prove that to them with where we need to be,” said Bruce.
The club’s owner Dr Tony Xia had dismissed a rumour that was linking the club with a move for Ched Evans. The Chesterfield player has been impressive for his club. Aside Hull and Cardiff, Villa were named as another top interested party until Xia quashed such links.