Steve Bruce: Tammy Abraham alone won’t be Aston Villa saviour
Steve Bruce has backed Tammy Abraham to shine for Villa – but warned they cannot depend on the striker alone to be their saviour.
The 20-year-old last week became Bruce’s seventh and final signing of the summer when he joined on a season-loan from Chelsea.
Abraham, who netted 26 times during his last season in the Championship with Bristol City, will add more firepower to a Villa team now winless in four league games.
Yet Bruce, under rising pressure following Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Sheffield United, has warned the striker cannot do it all by himself.
“Tammy is one to excite the fans. He will be a very good player for us – I have no doubt about that,” he said.
“But we can’t look and think ‘he’s going to be the saviour’. You play football as a team. You have to win as a team – it’s not an individual game.
“He will make us better individually but we have to play better as a team for him to gain the necessary momentum.”
Saturday’s defeat was Villa’s heaviest since May 2016 and saw them fall to 12th in the table. Former midfielder Lee Hendrie believes Bruce must aim to go on the offensive in order to turn the team’s fortunes around.
“I would like to see him chuck two up top and really ask questions,” said Hendrie
“With the attacking forces he has got I think he would be stupid not to really try and be a little bit more attack-minded.”
