Friedel rallies Villa stars

Friedel: Rallying call

Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel has called on the players to stand up and be counted to end their slump in form.

Villa boss Gerard Houllier has found himself under pressure after seeing his side slip down the table.

Houllier eased the pressure on him with a much-needed win over West Brom on Saturday and Friedel admits the players need to take responsibility for their recent performances.

"You have to get up for these games, if you don't you really will get found out," said Friedel.

"It's down to us as players to get our heads up to be confident and win football matches.

"It's not down to a lot of the talking off the pitch now especially when you're on a bad run of form. It's down to us as players to get our heads up to be confident and win football matches.

"You have to do it on the field, all the talking off the field is all well and good but you have to be able to go on there and put a performance in.

"We've been on a terrible run of results. Some of our form hasn't been as bad as the results suggest, but some games have.

"We've had a tremendous amount of injuries but, saying that, the young lads have performed very good at times. It's difficult when you're young, trying to get consistent runs against a lot of good players in the Premier League."