Darren Bent insists Aston Villa's players must adjust to the style of play Gerard Houllier wants to employ.
Striker urges Villa players to be flexible
Darren Bent insists Aston Villa's players must adjust to the style of play under-pressure manager Gerard Houllier wants to employ.
Houllier has used record signing Bent as the only out-and-out striker in recent weeks, with Ashley Young playing behind him in either a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 formation.
The England striker struggled to get past central defence pairing Richard Stearman and Christophe Berra during Saturday's 1-0 home defeat at Wolves, with the visiting backline denying him a single clear-cut chance.
But Bent believes he and his team-mates must embrace Houllier's ideas and philosophies if they want to push on.
Difficult
When asked if the current system can be successful, Bent said: "It was difficult against Wolves, especially against those two (Berra and Stearman) as centre-halves.
"But, at the same time, the manager wants the system and, as professionals and players we've got to respect that.
"If he wants to play one up front, then that's fair enough.
"As you said, the fans wanted to see 4-4-2 but this 4-5-1 seems like quite a common formation now."
He added: "We have to try to make the system work.
"It's always difficult when you're the only striker trying to compete in the air against two centre-halves but the main thing is the manager is not going to change it.
"He wants us to play this way and we've got to get on with it and adapt to it."
Disappointing results have left Villa just a point clear of the Premier League drop zone, prompting some supporters to turn on Houllier.
But Bent, currently preparing for England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales on Saturday, remains confident over Villa's chances of survival.
Tight
He said: "It's so tight down there at the bottom of the league.
"It's probably the tightest that it has ever been. Any number of nine or 10 teams could go down this season.
"But we're still fighting, we're still working as hard as we possibly can and I'm sure we'll get out of it."
