An injury crisis is not sufficient mitigation for Norwich City’s performance during their 5-1 home thrashing at the hands of Aston Villa, right-back Max Aarons has admitted.
The Canaries slumped to their heaviest top-flight home defeat since a 6-1 humiliation against Manchester City in April 2012, during the latter stages of Paul Lambert's reign.
The shock loss happened with nine players out injured and with Ben Godfrey and Jamal Lewis playing through the pain barrier, but 19-year-old Aarons accepts those who were in action put in an abject display.
"Don't get me wrong, it's tough, players playing out of position, injuries, but we can't use it as an excuse," the youngster said. "We had it against Man City and we had it again.
"After the international break we've got players coming back and hopefully that will boost us a little bit. But we've definitely got to come back from this and lift our heads."
A third successive defeat dropped Farke's team into the Premier League relegation zone but Aarons insists City's players will remain united during this difficult spell.
"We knew it was going to be tough coming into this league, we knew there were going to be tough days," he continued.
"There's going to be great days, there's going to be tough days, but as a group we're all mentally strong, we all back each other and days like this won't bring us down.
"We were all disappointed obviously and it hurts, but after a while we'll be back in, training towards the next game and hopefully we can get the win against Bournemouth."
MORE: Former England captain blasts Canaries for sloppy display
The heaviest Carrow Road defeat of the Farke era tested the patience of the home faithful to the limit but the City supporters largely managed to stifle their frustrations.
"I didn't feel that at any point they were on our backs or anything," added Aarons, before heading off for England Under-21 duty. "They know as much as we know that there are going to be tough times and as long as we keep working hard, keep showing the belief - the togetherness in this group is second to none.
"We trust each other, the fans know that we are all in this together and I can only thank them for their support."
- You can follow chief Norwich City reporter David Freezer on Twitter @davefreezer or on Facebook @DavidFreezer1
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