Aston Villa drew 1-1 with their West Midlands rivals on Saturday.
Steve Bruce has told Aston Villa’s official website that he made a mistake by playing Mile Jedinak in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Bruce’s coronation as Aston Villa manager ended in a stalemate at the weekend as Jonathan Kodjia’s penalty was cancelled out by Helder Costa on 34 minutes.
The Villans have still only won once from 12 Championship games, despite axed manager Roberto Di Matteo spending over £50 million in the summer transfer window.
One of those pre-season recruits, Mile Jedinak, was withdrawn after just 55 minutes and replaced by Ashley Westwood.
The 32-year-old midfielder had started Australia’s World Cup qualifiers away to Saudi Arabia and home to Japan over the past 10 days, however.
And Bruce concedes that he made an error in judgement by expecting the former Crystal Palace man – a £4 million signing – to be at his combative best.
“Maybe I should have left him alone,” he told the club’s official website.
“I wanted his experience. It’s fair to say it’s tough to fly back from Australia and perform in a big football match. It was a mistake from me.”
Bruce will hope to pick up his first win on Tuesday when Aston Villa visit Reading in the Championship.
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