Tuesday 13 December 2016 23:33, UK
Steve Bruce described Aston Villa's performance against Norwich as "pretty pathetic" and apologised to fans for the 1-0 loss.
Villa were second-best at Carrow Road as Nelson Oliveira's strike sealed a valuable victory for the Canaries in the Sky Bet Championship.
The defeat was only Villa's second since Bruce took charge in October but the manner of Tuesday night's loss left the 55-year-old bitterly disappointed.
After being asked if it was fair to say that Villa never really got going, Bruce responded: "I think that's putting it kindly to us.
"We've got no excuses. We're desperately disappointed with a performance like that after getting out of jail on the weekend.
"We certainly didn't take part in the game. On days like today you apologise to the people who have travelled all this way, because it was pretty pathetic stuff.
"We didn't do the basics. We never got hold of the ball, we gave it away. We didn't do enough in all aspects of the game and that's terribly disappointing."
Villa's first shot on target came with the last kick of the game, as Jonathan Kodjia saw his attempt blocked following a failed penalty appeal.
"I think it would've been a bit harsh if we had got it [the penalty]," Bruce added. "We needed something like that to get us out of trouble. Let's make no mistake, we were very poor and there's a lot of work to be done.
"It's a mentality [issue]. If that's the way we're going to play away from home then we're not going to turn it around.
"We can't be any worse than that. In the 10 games I've been here that's easily the worst we've played.
"So we'll dust ourselves down and go again at the weekend."
In contrast to Villa's form going into this match, Norwich had suffered six defeats in seven league games.
The Canaries had topped the table before their slip in form, but victory over Villa was their second win in three. They now sit eighth in the table and manager Alex Neil feels his side have the quality to push for promotion this season.
"I think we deserved to win the game. The expectation on this group is so much because they can play as well as that - and there's plenty more to come," Neil told Sky Sports.
"We have been questioning the players in terms of appetite and desire and doing the ugly stuff, and we did that in spades tonight.
"We knew we were getting a quality player, it was just going to take him some time to settle in, and that's three goals in three games now."
