Steve Bruce on Wolves defeat: Aston Villa 'simply not good enough'
Steve Bruce blasted Villa as "simply not good enough" after they fell to derby defeat at Wolves.
Joe Mason's 15th minute strike earned Wolves the win in a game where Villa failed to register a shot on target.
Bruce's men have now lost their last three games and sit ten points behind the top six.
The manager did not mince his words when assessing their latest sorry away day performance.
"If that's as good as we've got then it's going to be a long and difficult winter," he said.
"We haven't done enough and we're going to have to question ourselves.
"We've created very little and showed no cutting edge in the last three or four weeks if I'm being honest.
"It's a bit of a problem. We've got one or two players away but we've got to have a little bit more quality than what we've shown because that wasn't good enough."
Wolves went ahead when Villa's on loan Manchester United keeper Sam Johnstone, in just his second start for the club, palmed Nouha Dicko's cross into the path of Mason.
Ross McCormack missed a glorious chance to level when he headed over Jordan Amavi's cross but it was Wolves who looked more like scoring during a poor second half.
Villa have now netted just seven goals in 14 league games this season but Bruce believes their problems lie far deeper.
"It concerns me all round, not just a lack of goals," he said. "The initial honeymoon period of three or four months is over. We've got a big job on our hands to turn it around.
"We thought there were shoots of recovery but there's been too many bad performances now. I can't accept it."
Bruce remains hopeful of adding several new faces before the end of the transfer window but added: "We can't keep adding surgery because that is what we've done in the past. We'll work with what we've got, try to make us better and get away from this mentality.
"We need to be bigger and better and it's my job to breathe a bit of confidence back, but as soon as we lose a goal it changes.
"The goal sums us up. It was so sloppy.
"For 25 minutes it was far too easy down our left in particular. It was an awful goal to concede.
"Individually, collectively and as a team if we think that is going to be acceptable it is going to be a long, tough season. Eventually I will get a team which will be what we are looking for and produce better performances than what we have just seen."
