Steve Bruce urges Aston Villa fans to stick with the team
Villa boss Steve Bruce has urged supporters to stick with his team as he searches for a solution to their alarming slump.
Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Ipswich was Villa's third on the spin, their first at home this season and extended their winless run to eight matches.
The growing level of dissatisfaction of fans at recent performances was indicated by loud boos which greeted the final whistle, after a result which saw Bruce's men fall to 16th in the Championship table, now just seven points above the bottom three.
While acknowledging things must quickly improve, the manager called on supporters to stay behind the players.
"You have to stick with it and to be fair they do," he said. "We had another 30,000 there on Saturday which is why it is a big, huge club and why everyone wants to come and play here and play against us. We are all disappointed."
Bruce, whose team now host Barnsley tomorrow night, made wholesale changes to his squad during the January transfer window and Villa's team against Ipswich included four home debutants. But they were undone by Emyr Huws' strike seven minutes from time as the Tractor Boys escaped with all three points.
Asked specifically about the booing, Bruce replied: "I understand the frustration, I understand it totally. It is not just about Saturday. They want to see their team improve and Saturday was a backward step.
"We have to batten down the hatches, get ready for the flak and come out and show what we have got on Tuesday.
"In a way we were unfortunate. We should not have lost. However, we have got to improve on the performance because that is the expectation in the squad."
Villa are now 16 points adrift of the top six but Bruce insists his focus remains on what is above them, rather than below.
"We have got to. It's awful at the minute, there is no disputing that," he said. "It's the way it is. We have to improve, get better and stay with it."
"We have to believe. It is going to be very difficult. There is still a third of the season left so we have to go on some run. We understand that but it has to be the aim."
Bruce was, meanwhile, backed as the man to eventually take Villa back to the Premier League by Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy, who said: "He's a good manager. They'll start getting bored with him now and start getting upset with him. Of course they will because they've been beaten by us.
"But he's got to be given time for the process of making the team his. He's had four promotions. He'll have a fifth if they give him time."
