Three things we learned from our Aston Villa 2-0 Birmingham City victory at the weekend.
1) At last. At last. At last. We have a team that cares again.
We`ve seen some very poor teams over the last goodness knows how many seasons. The last few months has shown a big reverse, things improving even more at the wise hiring by Steve Bruce of his trusted coach Steve Agnew. The togetherness of the team, manager and indeed the fans I`m sure hasn`t gone unnoticed. Things did get stretched a few times this season, a slow start, a bit of promise, then the slip to 9th. Even Steve Bruce himself will have been questionnign what on earth was going on. But since then, the team have pulled together and answered the doubts with a fantastic run of victories.
You could see the togetherness on Sunday in the local derby.
2) We should do this more often!
How many times as fans have we shouted ‘shoooooot` only for a sideways or backwards pass? Now players are no longer hiding (see point 1 and 3 for why!) and are relaxing, they are showing us all what they can do. I thought at times Conor was quiet during the match, then boom. I tell you what, he can be quiet in more games if he wants, as long as he has moments like that in them!
This goal just gets better every time you see it @ConorHourihane pic.twitter.com/6HFxcpnVXd
HomeOfTheVilla (@TheVillaHome) February 12, 2018
3) The players now believe in themselves.
This is the key.
The tweet from Uncle Albert says it all..
‘We don’t fear anyone when we go out on that pitch, whether it’s bottom-half sides or those in amongst us.’
Albert reacts to our latest win 👉 https://t.co/eHaEPnRYA3#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/fG7AZ1VrJy
Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) February 12, 2018
I`ve said quite regularly we should be playing with swagger and winning games with ‘ease` (no game is totally easy, but you get what I mean) and yet the players didn`t seem to realise their own worth or have the same belief that a lot of us did. Now they have got it. Confidence. A bit of swagger. And mix that with point one, togetherness, it`s a winning formula.
There is no need to fear any team. No need at all. We had an expensively assembled bunch of individuals. We now have a confident team and indeed squad. Whoop and other such frivolities.
You got any lessons we’ve learned? Feel free to leave them in article comments, the forum or even send me some in an article submission!
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Three Things We Learned About Aston Villa v Barnsley
3 Things We Learned From The Hard Fought Win v Sheff Utd
A Thing Of Beauty – 3 Things We Learned v Burton Albion
3 Things Aston Villa Need To Do To Beat Birmingham City
