Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has called on his players to become more creative following a run of four games without a win.

The Villans' strong start to the new season has been halted by successive defeats against four of last season's top five, a set of fixtures in which has seen the club fail to find the net on a single occasion.

In order to turn around this bad patch of form, Lambert has urged his players to "play with freedom" in their next match against Queens Park Rangers.

"Against the big teams, you can't go gung-ho," the 45-year-old told the Birmingham Mail. "Look at Man City, they scored four against Tottenham yet we conceded two against them and that was right at the tail end. If you go really gung-ho it can eat you up.

"I want us to create more. Look at our attacking players on the pitch on Saturday - there was Tom [Cleverley], Kieran [Richardson], Charles (N'Zogbia), Gabby (Agbonlahor) and Christian (Benteke). That's half of your team, and then we bring Joe Cole and Andi Weimann on as subs.

"I'd like us to be more productive in the end. I know the players have got it in their lockers to go and do it. I want them to play with freedom, they need that. I don't want them to be robotic. I want them to have freedom and their own ideas at times. I don't have a problem with that. You just have to get that balance."

Villa are currently 12th in the Premier League table.