ASTON VILLA fans sent a loud and clear message to their manager, Dean Smith, on Sunday — it’s time to ring the changes and bring in Marvelous Nakamba into the starting XI.

The Zimbabwean midfielder’s name was trending on social media as the Villa fans want through the pain of their latest defeat, a 1-2 loss to Leicester City.

Brazilian midfielder, Douglas Luiz, who has been preferred by Smith ahead of Nakamba, underperformed and was substituted in the second half, leading to many fans calling for a change in midfield ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Leeds United.

The 22-year-old has struggled for form in recent weeks, resulting in Smith pulling him out in Villa’s 3-1 defeat to West Ham, dropping him in their 1-0 win over Arsenal and substituting him against Leicester.

His midfield colleague Nakamba has made 10 appearances in all competitions this season, spending most of the campaign as an unused substitute.

He has found himself behind Luiz, John McGinn, Morgan Sanson and Jacob Ramsey in the pecking order, but Smith might turn to him in this time of need.

Against Leicester, Luiz turned over the ball only once before coming off and gave away three fouls.

With Nakamba delivering impressive performances in the last two leagues games he started, he should have earned some trust from his manager.

Aston Villa fans turned to Twitter, arguing that the “superb” Zimbabwean should be given an opportunity to start ahead of Luiz next weekend.

Alan Shearer, and former Villa striker Dion Dublin, were also left concerned by aspects of the performance against Leicester.

Former England striker Shearer and Dublin analysed the game for Match of the Day and felt Villa were guilty of giving the likes of Maddison too much space.

It’s something a player like Nakamba is a specialist in taking care of.

“The lack of protection in front of the back four was alarming,” said Shearer.

“(Ricardo Pereira could) take the ball, turn and have a shot here. You can’t give players of the quality of James Maddison this amount of time, space and freedom without putting any pressure on the ball.

“Not once with him running over the halfway line, towards the 18-yard box is there anyone within 10 to 15 yards of him. You just can’t give that much time and space to him.”

Dublin, who had a six-year spell at Villa Park between 1998 and 2004, added: “It happened time and time again. It happened all through the game.

“Barkley and McGinn can see Tielemans but allow him to run between them. You have to change positions.”

Villa lacked a creative edge without their skipper, Jack Grealish, who missed a Premier League match for the first time since November 2019.- The Herald