Sublime Or Ugly - 3pts Are All That Matter

John Carew doesn't mind if we play football, like the Spurs win, or if we have to dig deep and battle like the Baggies win - he just wants the 3 points on offer.

Villa have attracted a name for ourselves lately as 'entertainers', fast, counter attacking football that is joy to watch for fans and the neutrals.

But against the Albion we were very direct, more than normal seems to be the common consesus, yet it was the right tactic for that match. Bombarding the centre halves with big balls for John Carew to get or flick gave us the result. On another day that won't work and we'll have to play it crisply across the ground and beat a team purely on speed and touch.

Carew realises this and to be honest there seems to be a little undercurrent in his comments on the official site, that imply although he was pleased with his performance, he's gutted he didn't get a hattrick as he realises in the Prem, games like the one against the Baggies don't come often, and this was his chance to really rack up the goals rather than just damage the goalposts.

'It was a fantastic team performance. It wasn't the prettiest game - but derby games are never like that - it was a battle and very physical but we rose to the challenge.

'We may be able to go to Tottenham and play super football but we can fight and battle and scrap for three points too.

'I think that's a fantastic attribute. It's not always possible to go out there and put on a show for supporters.

'Sometimes you have to work hard and grind out a result. We can do both - we have proved that. That's very positive. It shows that we can compete with anyone.'

We certainly can compete with anyone on our day, all we need to make sure is we continue to turn up for matches and this could be a very good season indeed.

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