Luke Young on Villa boss' approach

Luke Young has revealed Villa manager Alex McLeish has told the club's defenders to go back to basics as they bid improve on last season's defensive woes.

McLeish, a former defender during his playing days with Aberdeen, has been working hard in Hong Kong on a Villa defence that shipped 58 goals last season.

And Young said: "He's eager for us not to overcomplicate things and just keep it simple.

"It's key not to make it difficult for ourselves. If there's not a ball to play, don't play it. Keep it simple.

"Hopefully as a team we will be a little bit more defensive now too. That's been one of my bugbears over the years while I've been here that we've been perhaps a little gung-ho at times and not as solid as an 11.

"We've got a back four but you also need to protect your back four. I'm not sure we've done that enough over the past few years. But we have been playing with two sitters.

"We'll see how that goes but it might help the expansive players go up the other end and do what they do best.

"Hopefully that will benefit everybody."