Alex McLeish throws down the gauntlet
Wednesday 23rd November 2011, 10:58AM GMT.
Alex McLeish today sent a message to Villa’s senior players to stand up and be counted to ease the pressure on the club’s youngsters.
The Villa boss singled out the performance of young midfielder Chris Herd as one of the few positives he could take from Monday’s defeat to Tottenham.
But McLeish wants his experienced players to shoulder some of the responsibility ahead of the weekend’s trip to face Swansea City.
“Guys like Chris Herd are getting a crash-course in the Premier League. To rely on these kids for the whole season is putting a lot of pressure on them,” said McLeish.
“He’s certainly shown the mental toughness to handle it. He’s developing but let’s not put too much pressure on him.”
Read the full story in the Express & Star.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
