This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Birkir Bjarnason has laid the blame at Steve Bruce’s door for his failings at Aston Villa in an interview with Under a Gaslit Lamp.

The 84-cap Iceland international claims it wasn’t until he was moved from being played out of position that he got the chance to thrive.

What’s he said?

Steve Bruce will likely be most remembered for his time at Aston Villa by when a cabbage was thrown at him.

Such was his tenure in the Midlands that vegetables were the order of the day, instead of promising football.

He left the Villans in October 2018 after guiding the club to just one win in nine and was replaced by Dean Smith who turned their fortunes around in some fashion as they were promoted to the Premier League.

However, one man who hasn’t been able to get the chance to play in the top-flight with them is Bjarnason.

Played out of position regularly under Bruce, he commented:

“At Villa at least, I enjoyed the holding role more – I’m a midfielder, not a winger. In the beginning, I played, in my opinion, a lot out of the role or position that I am – which is a bit of a shame.

“When I finally was moved centrally, I felt better, and that I could show my quality more.”

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Failings

After arriving from Swiss side Basel in January 2017, the midfielder would go onto start on just four occasions between then and the end of the season.

He was so unconvincing that he was left out of the entire squad for the final 11 matches of the campaign.

During his opening few months at Villa Park, the now 31-year-old was made to play out wide five times by Bruce. In theory it did make sense given he’d scored four times from those roles earlier in the term for Basel.

However, it’s not a part of the pitch he was too delighted with playing in, especially with the Villans.

In the following campaign, Bjarnason featured on 12 occasions in that role as once more he failed to impress, scoring just twice.

It seems strange that he was relied upon so many times to play in an unfamiliar position and it’s hardly a surprise that he eventually had to leave via mutual consent back in August.

Meanwhile, Jack Grealish may have just dropped a subtle hint to Gareth Southgate…