Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert insists his young players will benefit from this season's experience.

Lambert is regularly fielding questions about the inexperienced nature of his side.

But he said: "The only way you get experience is by playing. To be honest I don't really listen to the critics. That's the honest answer for you.

"We just try and keep our heads up all the time and keep the spirit up. The training feels good and upbeat so to be fair I've not seen their heads go down even in training. They are always upbeat.

"It's important that you bounce back really quickly win lose or draw. We never dwell on it too much. We always keep them upbeat.

"They just need to keep going and keep that spirit and then hopefully we will win more games than not."