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Brad Guzan - wide-eyed and full of energy - emerges from the changing rooms at Bodymoor Heath.

He’s pumped up (but isn’t he always?) after a training session and a week-long break with the U.S national team where he is closing in on the tag of America’s No.1.

While he may not admit it, his position as first-choice at Aston Villa is safe as houses and on the face of it his life couldn’t be much better right now.

A happy family man, a trusted member of Villa’s first-team, and the subject of praise recently from assistant manager Roy Keane - Guzan is full of smiles.

At 30-years of age he still feels like a youngster in the goalkeeper’s union which clearly helps to raise his spirits, too.

Villa’s form of late has got his down, though, and when Southampton visit B6 tomorrow he’s desperately hoping for change.

“When you lose six games on the bounce, it’s extremely frustrating,” said Guzan as he reflects back on Villa’s seven-game winless run.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me, but that’s when you need big characters and guys to step up and say, ‘right okay, I’m going to do everything in my power to get things right’.

“Sometimes you need more than that.

“There are no easy games in this league, I’ve always said that.

“Going on that run of six defeats was tough because it becomes more and more challenging to stop it.

“For us the point at West Ham was massive and we need to build on that.

“From top to bottom we have not been at our best.

“We were not very sharp but in terms of being in the dressing room, sometimes you have to let your voice be heard.

“You need guys to step up and sort the issue at hand out.”

Guzan has made his feelings clear.

While he insists he’s not the type to shout and scream in times of adversity - and despite his seniority he rarely throws around his weight - he has had his say in the dressing room of late.

“I don’t know if I regard myself as a big character,” he said.

“I think of myself as someone who tries to get the best out of my team-mates.

“I like to give my best every day in training and in games. It’s not a question of who are the big characters.

“You just need more players on the day to be on the same page and have good games.

“When you have more players who have good games than not, normally good results come on the back of that.”

Villa are in need of a win to lift the mood but their tough run of fixtures show no signs of easing up.

Tomorrow they take on the high-flying Saints who have won nine of their last ten games and are currently in second place.

Guzan admires the way they have gone about their business this term after losing almost all of their key performers in the summer.

“I don’t know if it’s a problem that they sold half of their team in the summer or not,” he said.

“I guess it’s a good thing when other clubs want your players - it means you’re doing something right.

“That speaks about the season they had last year and the quality of their players.

“I’ve always said, football is about 90 minutes. Whether you go on a run of two games, or six games, or in their case 11 or 12, if you take each game at a time, there’s no reason why you can’t pick up a result one after another.

“That’s what they’ve done.

“Can they carry it on? Who’s to say no.

“Hopefully come Monday night we will take some points off them.”

When asked if Ronald Koeman’s troops are a good example for other mid-table and struggling Premier League clubs like Villa, Guzan said:

“If you put the right people in the right places and you spend money in the right ways and put a good starting XI together, good things can come from that.

“I think they’re a testament to doing that.

“Not only can Villa and other clubs look at that, they can also see how they’ve sold players onto big European clubs.

“But do I think the club is bigger than Southampton? Probably, yes. I’d like to think so.

“At the moment, obviously we are at a different point in terms of spending money and bringing players in, for whatever reasons.

“My job is to be goalkeeper. I don’t know the reason why that is in terms of them doing that and us whatever.

“But again, you have to bring in the right players into the right situations. But even then, sometimes if you bring in the right players they might be homesick or whatever. There are so many things that have to come together.

“We could have this conversation again in six or seven weeks’ time and there’s been a change.

“If they go through this next run of games and they’re still second, you tip your hat to them because they are the real deal.

“For us, it’s not so much about them as it is us. We need to make sure that come Monday night we have enough guys on the pitch who have a good night because I know we’ve got enough quality.

“Look at the fixtures where we took some points off the big teams last year. We know we have got that in the bag.

“We know we have the ability to win games, whether it’s against a top team or a bottom team. It’s all about on the day getting three points.”

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