Steve Bruce not afraid to wield axe at Aston Villa
Steve Bruce has warned Villa's players he is not afraid to be brutal and will wield the axe if they fail to cut out costly mistakes.
Despite Villa having enjoyed a resurgence since his appointment in October, Bruce has expressed concern at a number of defensive lapses and believes individual error was to blame for last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Leeds, the first of his reign.
With the January transfer window fast approaching, the manager is already lining up his targets and on Friday claimed to have already verbally agreed a deal with one player, with another in the pipeline.
But he warned players will always find their places at risk, no matter the time of year, if they keep costing the team points.
"Individual error is something you have to eradicate," said Bruce.
"If you keep making individual errors then unfortunately you are not going to be good enough to play for Aston Villa.
"That is the simple, brutal truth of it. That is how horrible it is. Everyone makes mistakes but you can't keep repeatedly making mistakes, otherwise I have to change. The players have been terrific for me in the last eight to ten weeks but if you keep making individual errors you get replaced. That is how brutal this game is."
Bruce believes his team "got away" with errors in victories against Blackburn and Cardiff, prior to last weekend's trip to Elland Road.
He continued: "We gave a bad goal away against Blackburn, in my opinion. We gave a bad goal away against Cardiff and recovered.
"Last week we couldn't recover. In those games you can't make the mistakes we did last week."
The manager is eager to strengthen in a number of areas, including goalkeeper, where he wants experienced competition for current No.1 Pierluigi Gollini.
But he claims to only be in the market for players who can provide a significant improvement to the current squad.
He said: "In the past, if I am going to be critical, I don't think that has been the case here. I think that is a mistake. If you only bring in numbers to fill up the squad you don't become better."
Villa, who host Wigan on Saturday, have meanwhile confirmed the top tier of the Trinity Road Stand will be open for the first time this season at the Boxing Day home game with Burton.
