Steve Bruce in desperate need of an Aston Villa win against Barnsley
What began as a blip has become a slump for Villa and the challenge facing boss Steve Bruce is to ensure it does not now develop into anything worse.
The big picture and the league table are in many senses irrelevant at this moment. What Villa need is a win, by any means and no matter the standard of performance, in order to ease the growing levels of dissatisfaction heard in the boos which greeted the final whistle of Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Ipswich.
The timing of Villa's first home loss in the Championship could not have been worse for Bruce, who will be desperate for his team to rectify matters when Barnsley visit Villa Park.
Another defeat is almost unthinkable, yet few teams will arrive in B6 with more motivation than Paul Heckingbottom's, after Villa's January raid for two of their brightest stars in Conor Hourihane and James Bree, the latter of whom appears likely to miss out against his former club with a knee injury.
Neither does Tom Bradshaw, the former Walsall striker who will lead the Tykes forward line, need any extra incentive to add to Bruce's woes.
The 24-year-old, who scored 40 goals in two seasons at the Banks's before moving to Yorkshire last summer, stands to upset a fair portion of his family should he find the net. "All my uncles are Villa fans," he revealed yesterday.
"Hopefully if I score I will be celebrating in front of them and with the Barnsley lads.
"I will give my uncles a bit of stick. If we could get a win at Villa Park it would be brilliant."
Hourihane was skipper at Barnsley yet his departure has not lessened the ambition at Oakwell. Heckingbottom's team currently sit ten points ahead of Villa, just six behind the play-off positions.
Bradshaw added: "We will say hello (to Conor) and have a bit of a chat but he is part of the opposition team now and we will be doing everything to exploit the few weaknesses he has.
"Villa have lost three out of the last three but it makes them dangerous as they will be hungry to put that right. We are just as hungry to get three points on the board."
Barnsley also lost Sam Winnall to Sheffield Wednesday last month but their quality was underlined by a 0-0 draw at Reading last weekend and they promise to be formidable opponents for a Villa team which has lately lacked cohesion, in large part due to the major squad changes during the transfer window.
Patience is required but at a club which demands far, far better than the current predicament, is never going to be in huge supply and the crowd reaction to Saurday's loss was the merest taste of what to expect should the slide continue much longer.
In Bruce, they have a manager who has vast experience and he will surely get it right if given time. A fifth Championship promotion is probably beyond him this term and a win would likely mean little in terms of the table. It would, however, do wonders for the mood.
