Colin Calderwood stepped up for the official post Wigan Athletic press reaction and he was delighted with what he saw from the group.
A rather strange thing happened on Tuesday evening, Aston Villa registered back to back victories, scoring eight goals in those two games, and more importantly they players put in back to back performances that are worthy of our name.
Through to the League Cup third round on draw Thursday early morning with a four one victory over Wigan, Calderwood told the Official Site.
‘It was a good night for us. Obviously we had a number of changes. The experienced ones helped the young ones and I thought the young ones helped the experienced ones too. I thought we had good performances all round. I felt the game went our way because we scored first and then when they came back we scored early enough to not have too many nerves in the second half. We had opportunities in the second half but we didn`t do as well as we did in the first half.’
Reflecting on our last two showings.
‘We had to get at Norwich – we had to get the crowd on our side. The crowd played their part on Saturday with terrific support. We backed that up tonight. Whenever we train, we train everyone to play in the same way and hopefully those things are coming through. It helps to win of course – and it`s important to come back from defeats too. We couldn`t ask for two better results at home.’
With Scott Hogan grabbing himself a brace on the day, Calderwood knew that would do wonders for his confidence moving forward after a difficult injury hit spell at the club so far.
‘We need an array of goals throughout the team – and that will help Scott going-forward without a doubt. You have to give strikers the chances – and what`s been encouraging in the last two games has been the amount of openings we`ve created. That`s definitely been better than in the other games.’
With youngsters more than making a name for themselves over the past two games, he went on to praise them for taking their opportunities.
‘Aston Villa have always been renowned for young players coming through the ranks. Sometimes being in this situation – in the Championship – allows them a platform a bit earlier than they might get in the Premier League. If the opportunity is there, I think we have the talented ones to take that chance. It`s happening at the moment.’
Looking ahead to Bristol City this weekend, he went on to say.
‘We have to do something away from home, without a doubt. We can`t rely on home games to be where we get all our points. We want to see these kind of performances away from home. We have to go there and look to win.’
Adding.
‘It can`t do any harm. We have to be aware that confidence doesn`t just come because of two wins. It comes on the back of people working hard for one another and being able to create and defend. There has been improvements but the number of chances and goals are very healthy.’
With Mitch Clark lining up at left back and out of position in the game, Calderwood was quoted by the Birmingham Mail as saying it was a deliberate decision to aid the 18 year old’s development.
‘Because of his pace and his athleticism, he can play there at left-back. It`s good for his development to play all across the back. For most of the night he was in the correct positions and he did well.’
Speaking more generally about the youngsters.
‘It`s nice to have a first good impressions but the longer that impression lasts is the making of any footballer. You need to do it over five or six seasons to make a career for yourself. They`ve got all the right attributes.’
Calderwood also bounced questions surrounding the reported move of West Ham’s Robert Snodgrass to the club on a loan deal, but it’s believed that is now at an advanced stage.
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