Tyrone Mings is eyeing improvements at both ends of the pitch when Aston Villa return to action against Leicester City on Saturday.
The club captain admits there’s been some soul searching at Bodymoor Heath during a two-week break in fixtures, with the squad eager to put things right after losing four Premier League games on the spin.
And ahead of a trip to the King Power Stadium, Mings says the team must learn from their recent displays as they bid to get back to winning ways.
He said: “As a defence, we have to look at not conceding such poor goals. The league is hard enough and unforgiving enough without us giving the opposition a leg up or a goal advantage.
“We want to be better in both boxes. Both attacking-wise and defending, we have to be more ruthless and more clinical.
“I don’t say that to single out the attackers, I say that as a team we need to serve the attackers better and get them some good goalscoring opportunities.
“As defenders, we need to keep the ball out of our net way more than we have been doing.”
With ninth-place Leicester only five points ahead of Villa and games in hand on the teams above them, a top-half finish remains a possibility for Steven Gerrard’s side.
Seven matches will determine whether that scenario becomes a reality for Villa and Mings, who remains motivated to finish as high as possible.
“There has to be a personal pride, especially for the players who were here last season when we finished 11th.
“We want to finish higher than that, and any steps towards improvement up the table aren’t to be sniffed at.
“If we finish above that this season, that represents progress again.”
Saturday’s opponents were beaten 2-1 in a hard-fought encounter at Villa Park back in December, and Mings is keen to do the double over the Foxes.
He said: “When you’re talking about these local games, while it’s not a direct derby, it’s certainly one that we want to win.
“It’s certainly one that’s important to the fans; it’s certainly one that if we want to be the team right at the forefront of setting the standards in the Midlands, these are the games that we need to win and take seriously.
“We’re coming off the back of a really poor result in the Wolves game – I know it wasn’t the last match but it’s recent enough for us to still be hurting from it.
“The performance wasn’t anywhere near where it should have been; the level of fight and desire was nowhere near where it should have been.
“The players have a level of pride in playing for this club and have to be hurt by that. The only way to put that right is to go out and put in a good performance at Leicester.”
