Richard Dunne admits Villa are missing wise old heads as crippling injury list costs claret and blues

Nov 23 2010 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

CAPTAIN Richard Dunne admits Villa need their experienced elder statesmen to kick-start the claret and blues’ inconsistent campaign.

Dunne has been temporarily given the armband in the injury-enforced absence of skipper Stiliyan Petrov and deputy Nigel Reo-Coker.

And the defender admits Villa are missing the midfield duo, along with senior pros like Emile Heskey and John Carew who are also sidelined.

James Collins, Marc Albrighton, Carlos Cuellar, Habib Beye, Fabian Delph and Andreas Weimann are also missing from the first team squad.

Gerard Houllier is reluctant to blame the crippling injury list for a disappointing return of 10 points from 27 which has demoted them to 13th place.

But, although Dunne has been heartened by Houllier’s youngsters, he admits the manager is being hampered by the loss of key players with Villa down to the “bare bones”.