Alex McLeish has demanded Aston Villa end their Jekyll and Hyde performances and wants 90 minutes of quality every game as he prepares for Sunday’s visit to Newcastle.

The midlands club’s yoyo form has been evident in recent games with the win at Wolves after trailing at halftime and then the FA Cup exit at Arsenal after leading 2-0.

But McLeish is expecting his players to repeat the kind of level and commitment evident during the second-half comeback to draw 2-2 against QPR in midweek for the remainder of the campaign.

He said: “It’s been Jekyll and Hyde. We can’t afford to do that. We need to show the second-half performance against QPR full-time from now on.

“Against Arsenal in the league, we lost here at Villa Park but the players got applauded off at half-time and full-time.

“The question is ‘why is that?’ and it’s because they showed full commitment and tempo. We can only play like that, with that commitment.

“What was said after the QPR game is not really for public consumption. The players knew I wasn’t happy with the first half and needed to stand up and be counted, to justify wearing the jersey.”

McLeish admits the lack of experience in midfield has put extra pressure on his defence this season but knows they have to become tighter at the back.

He said: “It gets me when we concede silly goals. Some days we can be magnificent at the back and then we have conceded a few daft goals.

“But the pressure is on the back five this season because we have lacked a bit of experience in the midfield and also with new players coming in.

“That means the back four or five can be got at, at times, because we have lacked that experience.”

One of those experienced heads is left-back Stephen Warnock and McLeish is full of praise for the way he recovered from his own-goal blunder against QPR.

He said: “It’s not nice for Stephen to be in for criticism but that happens. It’s about showing your strength of character.

“Stephen was angry with himself but in the second half he was decent and I can say ‘well done’. He didn’t bury his head in his hands and he showed good character.”

McLeish confirmed striker Gabriel Agbonlahor is to undergo preventive work to try and reduce the chances of picking up his current hamstring and back injuries.

He believes Agbonlahor, who is doubtful for the trip to Newcastle, should take inspiration from Ryan Giggs in modifying his game.

McLeish said: “Gabby is an athlete, built for speed, and these are injuries that happen. I think if you look at Giggs flying down the wings in his young days, he had a lot of hamstring problems.

“I remember reading quotes that he had to modify his game as he got older which he has done superbly. He is still going, he’s been superb.

“That helped him in his preventative measures in terms of injury. He had to modify his action. That’s not applicable to Gabby yet.

“Gabby still has the speed to burn, not modify yet, but he will have to do some preventative work.”