McLeish aims for consistency

Villa recently threw away a 2-0 lead against Arsenal to lose 3-2, before doing almost the exact opposite against QPR, by drawing 2-2 after being 2-0 down.

Their erratic form has left them 12th in the Premier League, in the middle of a number of clubs struggling with the same issue.

They have lost fewer games than any other side outside the top six, but have won as many games as relegation-threatened Bolton Wanderers.

McLeish is still aiming to win over the Aston Villa fans after taking over from Birmingham last summer, but faces a fortnight of daunting fixtures.

They go to high-flying Newcastle on Sunday before hosting Manchester City seven days later, but McLeish knows his side need to prove their quality in a 90-minute performance.

Jekyll and Hyde

He said: "It's been Jekyll and Hyde. We can't afford to do that. We need to show the second-half performance against QPR full-time from now on.

"Against Arsenal in the league, we lost here at Villa Park but the players got applauded off at half-time and full-time.

"The question is 'why is that?' and it's because they showed full commitment and tempo. We can only play like that, with that commitment.

"What was said after the QPR game is not really for public consumption. The players knew I wasn't happy with the first half and needed to stand up and be counted, to justify wearing the jersey."