Aston Villa 4 Brentford 0

 I went to Birmingham for the weekend and visited the Villa game against what I thought was my better judgement, but this was one of the best games that I have seen in a very long time. After a 3-0 defeat to Fulham on Thursday Steven Gerrard and his poor tactics and team choices were long and over duly kicked out of the club. The game on Sunday saw Aaron Danks take over as interim and what a job he did.

I optimistically predicted a 3-0 win before the game, but after just 14 minutes Villa were already 3-0 up. Brentford must have questioned their wisdom of swapping ends so that Villa were attacking the Holte End in the first half in front of an invigorated crowd and team. Leon Bailey opened the score with a  shot from distance in the second minute. In the 7th minute Bailey turned provider as he set up Danny Ings to make it 2-0. At this point Villa were attacking like mad and on 12 minutes Tyrone Mings was fouled in the box and Danny Ings got his second and Villa's third from the spot. The rest of the half was more of the same as Villa carried on like they had been possessed and in massive contrast to anything that we had seen under Gerrard. 

The second half carried on with Villa in the ascendancy and on 54 minutes Watkins finally ended his goal drought when Bailey got another assist and Watkins had a few bites of the apple before tucking it away.

Without a doubt the move from a narrow 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 played real dividends. Mc.Ginn and Ramsey were dropped, although they both came on when it was already 4-0 and in their place we saw Luiz and Buendia actually played in their proper positions. They were both really positive, but the best change of all seemed giving Bailey more freedom and allowing him to play as more of a wide man. Watkins also looked more comfortable wide and was probably the first time he had a good game in the same team as Ings.

The good news is that Gerrard is going to be replaced by Unai Emery, who favours a 4-2-3-1 formation.                                     









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