Steve Bruce: Aston Villa's Henri Lansbury must ride the Newcastle storm tonight
Villa boss Steve Bruce has told Henri Lansbury to take any stick from the stands in his stride as the midfielder prepares to run the gauntlet at Newcastle tonight.
The 26-year-old is in line for a hostile reception at St James's Park from home supporters still fuming at the part he played in their team's 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forst in early December.
Lansbury, who joined Villa from Forest last month, was involved in the controversial first-half dismissals of Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett and later accused of "acting" by Magpies boss Rafa Benitez.
Bruce said: "Henri has to handle that and enjoy the stick. If you get stick, I take it as a back-handed compliment.
"He has to handle the pressure because that is what playing for this club is.
"If he runs the gauntlet he has to handle that. He's a very decent player."
Bruce, however, is eager for Lansbury to curb the mean streak which has left him just one booking short of a two-match ban and led to him being substituted during last week's 3-1 defeat to Barnsley.
"The reason I have taken him off the last couple of games is because he has to curb this excitability," he said. "I have done it twice now because he is on nine bookings and I want him in the team. He gets a bit excitable – that's a good word – when things aren't going his way."
