Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has urged fans not to turn on them.

Petrov understands the fans' frustrations at the defeat against Liverpool but believes the young crop have to be given time to make the step up to Barclays Premier League football.

He told Press Association Sport: "If you looked at the bench on Sunday, there were a lot of young boys. But we need to deal with that when sometimes we have periods like that.

"We will deal with it again. It's hard for the young boys but they want to learn.

"It will take a while and the club is taking big faith in these young players.

"Maybe the fans need to be a little bit patient with them because a young player needs time to build up, especially in the Premier League."