An away win at last. And the fact that a win of any flavour has been obtained is, of course, to be cheered! It does not mean, of course, that all is now hunky-dory and that promotion is in our grasp, but it does mean that a small weight has been lifted from everyone's shoulders.
After Saturday's result, I believe I uttered some wish that we would win at Reading to help put the players mind into a better state for their next home match, for it is at home that the players seem to freeze the most. My wish was granted.
I was not able to see the Reading match, but analysing a combination of the report text and the stats gives some clues as to how Villa played. With a possession stat of only around 30%, Villa matched Reading in the shooting department, including the number of shots on goal. It was good to see Bacuna, Gardner and Adomah showing up well in terms of shots or assists against a team that had been unbeaten at home until last night. And the fact that Villa fouled a few times more than Reading may well indicate some extra effort on the part of our team. The Birmingham Mail analysis stated: "The way some of the previous under-performers ran around for the cause was so impressive".
And the nerve of Ayew to take his last minute penalty kick in such a cool way deserves praise.
So, was this apparent improvement down to more sustained training since Saturday? Of course not. Our new manager made a brave team selection, clearly organised the players in the most effective way and probably also managed to get a message of responsibility into their skulls. And he made good substitutions. What was indicative to me was that the enforced absence of Grealish (and Elphick too, for that matter) seemed to cause little concern for the Villa, which might support my feeling that Villa are not really any better with Grealish in the team. I may ruffle some feathers by saying this, but though he may well have talent, I feel he still has a lot of growing up to do and that Villa cannot wait for that development to take place while they're trying to find a way back to the top tier. Well, it's possible that under Bruce he might be different.
So, another win this Saturday would set us up well for the Small Heath encounter the following week. All of a sudden the game - and winning - seems so simple. I hope I'm not expecting too much from our lads over the next couple of weeks!
After Saturday's result, I believe I uttered some wish that we would win at Reading to help put the players mind into a better state for their next home match, for it is at home that the players seem to freeze the most. My wish was granted.
I was not able to see the Reading match, but analysing a combination of the report text and the stats gives some clues as to how Villa played. With a possession stat of only around 30%, Villa matched Reading in the shooting department, including the number of shots on goal. It was good to see Bacuna, Gardner and Adomah showing up well in terms of shots or assists against a team that had been unbeaten at home until last night. And the fact that Villa fouled a few times more than Reading may well indicate some extra effort on the part of our team. The Birmingham Mail analysis stated: "The way some of the previous under-performers ran around for the cause was so impressive".
And the nerve of Ayew to take his last minute penalty kick in such a cool way deserves praise.
So, was this apparent improvement down to more sustained training since Saturday? Of course not. Our new manager made a brave team selection, clearly organised the players in the most effective way and probably also managed to get a message of responsibility into their skulls. And he made good substitutions. What was indicative to me was that the enforced absence of Grealish (and Elphick too, for that matter) seemed to cause little concern for the Villa, which might support my feeling that Villa are not really any better with Grealish in the team. I may ruffle some feathers by saying this, but though he may well have talent, I feel he still has a lot of growing up to do and that Villa cannot wait for that development to take place while they're trying to find a way back to the top tier. Well, it's possible that under Bruce he might be different.
So, another win this Saturday would set us up well for the Small Heath encounter the following week. All of a sudden the game - and winning - seems so simple. I hope I'm not expecting too much from our lads over the next couple of weeks!
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