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The Three Pointer Vs. Aston Villa

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Overview

It’s nearly upon us, the first Second City derby of the season takes place at St. Andrew’s in less than two days time.

With Blues sitting just one place above the relegation zone and Villa currently occupying a play-off spot, the odds are against Steve Cotterill’s men.

However, form and league position will go completely out of the window.

For me, it’s simple. If Blues perform to the levels that they set in Cotterill’s first game against Cardiff, then they’ve got a big chance.

But, if the Millwall display is anything to go by, then Villa could have a field day.

Approach

Blues have got to get the balance right in terms of knowing when to sit back and when to take control and attack.

I wouldn’t be surprised if three midfielders were played, however I’d like to see two sitters and three attacking forwards behind Isaac Vasssell.

Two of those being Che Adams and Jota, with the other being Jacques Maghoma who I feel needs to play due to his experience and the fact that we can rely on him to track back most of the time – Jeremie Boga would be a great option to have come off the bench.

With the lack of passing ability in our midfield, it may be difficult to take complete control of the game so allowing Villa the ball in areas of the pitch that won’t hurt us won’t do any harm.

Getting the ball as quickly as possible to our attackers and playing to their strengths will be key for us.

Playing into the feet of Vassell won’t be too useful, get it in behind and stretch the Villa back line whilst at the same time not being too predictable.

Exploit

The main target in my opinion would be to threaten Villa down the sides with the pace and trickery of Adams, Vassell and Jota.

There isn’t much creativity in our team apart from Jota, so it’s important that we get him on the ball and make runs for him.

We’re not necessarily going to outplay Steve Bruce’s side so slow build up won’t do us any favours.

Getting the ball up the pitch fast and in behind their midfield is where we can hurt them.

If we can get our front line running at their defence, then we can cause them all sorts of problems.


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