Express & Star

Marvelous Nakamba ‘feels pain’ of Aston Villa fans

Midfielder Marvelous Nakamba claims Villa’s players ‘share the pain’ of supporters after Monday’s nightmare performance at Leicester.

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The 4-0 defeat at the King Power Stadium left Villa rooted in the relegation zone and turned up the heat on boss Dean Smith and his coaching staff ahead of Saturday’s home match with Chelsea.

Villa, who sit 19th in the table, have now lost five consecutive matches in all competitions, with their next four matches all against teams in the top six.

Nakamba said: “We’re really disappointed, even more so for the fans, they are really disappointed also.

“We feel what they’re going through, we feel the pain.

“We can’t change what’s happened in the past now. As a group, we just need to give once more 100 per cent.”

Villa are two points adrift of safety with 10 matches left to play and are facing a three-week break after Saturday’s match. They are then due to face Wolves, Liverpool and Manchester United on consecutive weekends.

“We still have some games to play, some points to play for,” added Nakamba. “I believe inside the dressing room, I believe in the players.

“We just have to up our game, we just have to support each other and give 100 per cent – everyone.”

Boss Smith admitted his team must learn to cut out individual mistakes if they are to stand any chance of beating the drop.

Villa fell behind following an awful misjudgement by goalkeeper Pepe Reina and Smith said: “Pepe made a mistake for the first and we made a mistake for the third goal as well. These mistakes have to be eradicated.

“If they are not, it is going to be hard to win football games.

“We wanted to be harder to beat away from home and that was the thing set in our mind.

“You can’t afford to make individual mistakes. We ended up having to chase the game.”