The former Nottingham Forest captain has had a tough start to life in an Aston Villa shirt.
It was arguably one of the best deals in January on paper. With just six months left on his contract, Nottingham Forest captain Henri Lansbury was a certainty to leave the City Ground last month, and with a number of clubs after his signature, Aston Villa did very well indeed to emerge with Lansbury in their squad.
Adding to other impressive signings such as Barnsley duo Conor Hourihane and James Bree, as well as Swansea City left-back Neil Taylor and Brentford striker Scott Hogan, Villa looked to have had an incredibly successful January transfer window.
But since arriving at Villa Park, the former Arsenal youth star has struggled to make an impact, often looking a little lost in games.
His recent own-goal against Newcastle United, a team he caused some controversy against when playing for Nottingham Forest earlier in the season, capped off what has been a nightmare start for Lansbury.
But why aren’t things clicking?
The answer is fairly simple, and one many Villa fans will be surprised has not been obvious to Steve Bruce over the last few weeks. Lansbury’s best football has been played when coming forward as an attacking midfielder, either playing as a number 10 or as a free-roaming central midfielder, often partnered by a more defensive minded player.
For Villa, Lansbury has been forced to sit a lot deeper, often covering the more defensive-minded role which does not really get the best out of the player.
He has also struggled to play further forward while Bruce works on trying to figure out how to fit both Scott Hogan and Jonathan Kodjia into his side.
To start getting the best of the former Forest captain, Bruce is going to need to start finding a way to play Lansbury further forward; a difficult task when you take into account the array of forward players Bruce is having to juggle right now.
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