Dean Saunders gives his assessment on Dean Smith’s start at Aston Villa

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Aston Villa have won four of six Championship games since Dean Smith left Brentford to take over in the Midlands

Aston Villa chose to twist rather than stick in early October.

After winning just one of their last nine games, Villa brought an end to Steve Bruce’s two years in charge of the Midland giants. And, after a brief period of speculation, links with the likes of Thierry Henry, Rafa Benitez and Andrea Stramaccioni, Aston Villa decided to hand Dean Smith his dream job.

Now, the boyhood fan had established himself as one of the Championship’s most exciting managers during an impressive spell at Brentford but a historic and expectant club like Aston Villa represented a substantial step up.

Six weeks after taking charge, however, and Smith appears to be heading in the right direction. Villa have won their last three games, including a 3-0 thrashing of Derby County and Sunday’s 4-2 triumph over bitter rivals Birmingham City.

And, speaking on talkSPORT (27 November, 7am), Aston Villa great Dean Saunders admits he’s been won over by Smith’s free-flowing, attack minded approach – even if it does bring a degree of risk.

“The change from Steve Bruce and moving onto Dean Smith? I think they’ve got it right,” Saunders said.

“With Dean Smith’s style of football, the defence will split the whole length of the pitch to pass to each other,” the former Wolves manager added, discussing whether Smith still has to improve his side defensively.

“So sometimes when you lose the ball, the two centre-backs are stranded and there’s holes everywhere.

“But you gain going the other way.”

After some of the dire football played under Bruce, Aston Villa appear to have replaced a pragmatist with a purist. Smith was renowned for his modern style during spells at Walsall and Brentford and he is already getting fans off their seats at Villa Park for the right reasons.

The 47-year-old already appears to be coaxing better form out of Villa’s gifted attacking players, in particular Jack Grealish, and has catapulted his club back into the play-off fixture.