Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce comments on the toughest decision he has made this season.
Aston Villa are on a roll at the moment, and their 2-0 win over derby rivals Birmingham City last week was their seventh consecutive victory in the Championship.
In that match, Steve Bruce made some strong decisions, and one of them was dropping midfielder Birkir Bjarnason.
The Iceland midfielder, who has 63 caps for his country, has been brilliant this season for Villa, but Bruce decided to drop him purely based on tactical grounds.
Mile Jedinak replaced the 29-year-old and was superb in the defensive midfield role. In the end, Bruce got his tactics spot on as Villa ended up winning the match comfortably.
Bruce has revealed that picking a team is the hardest task for him, and certainly dropping Bjarnason was the most difficult decision he has made all season.
The versatile midfielder has started in five Championship games this season, but has impressed in recent games. Bruce has hailed him as an “excellent” player and says that he didn’t deserve the drop.
“I’ve been in management for 20 years and the hardest time is still picking a team,” Bruce said, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail.
“To leave Birkir out was the most difficult decision I’ve had to make all season because of his performances.
“He didn’t deserve it. He’s been excellent. But I thought in a big derby game, the physicality of Birmingham, they will try and go from back to front and test us out in that respect. I have to say Jedinak was outstanding.”
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