Aston Villa have slowly begun to pick up form towards the back end of the Championship season, but sadly for Steve Bruce and his players it's been a little too late to have any impact on their season going forward.

Wretched form under former flame Roberto Di Matteo took its toll at the start of the campaign and since then, Villa have never looked like bouncing back and making a serious push for the top-six, until now.

Another win over Wigan last weekend did no harm in showing supporters what might be the long-term project at the club moving forward and for perhaps the first time this season, there's reason to be optimistic again down at Villa Park.

But despite turning things around over the past couple of weeks, there's still a couple of issues that need to resolved by former Birmingham boss Steve Bruce in the second city.

So with that in mind, here's TWO rumbling issues Bruce must fix at Villa Park to take the side forward once again...

He needs to get rid of some of the awful Di Matteo signings

Villa spent heavily this summer with Roberto Di Matteo at the helm and it's testament to how badly he did that he's still out of work come March.

The Italian spent millions rebuilding a Villa side that suffered that crushing relegation last season, but the likes of Tshibola and McCormack both arrived with little end produce being shown from either.

Both are struggling to get game time at lowly Nottingham Forest right now in a loan switch that could come back to hurt Villa's final league placing come the end of the season and it seems that once again, Villa need a complete overhaul this summer.

He needs to fully get the backing of the fans

It seems like years since Aston Villa had a manager at the helm who the supporters truly believe can take the club forward and restore them back to their glory days.

The likes of Houllier, McLeish, Sherwood and Di Matteo have all come and gone in recent years, having spent large sums of money to little or no effect in the slightest.

Villa scream of a club lacking consistency at the top and they need a manager who can restore the fans faith in the team once again.

Is Bruce that guy? Well, only time will tell but if his tenure is going to end in ultimate success, he needs to get everyone attending games at Villa Park onside as quickly as possible.