Aston Villa are back in form but they have been far from clinical.
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce may be breathing a sigh of relief after steering the club to three straight wins for the first time since 2010, but even a seemingly routine win against Rotherham United on Saturday was not without its concerns, the Birmingham Mail reports.
After wins against Derby County and Bristol City, Villa made it nine points from a possible nine at the New York Stadium although they were reliant on a Will Vaulks own goal to open the scoring before Jonathan Kodjia sealed a victory that should have been far more emphatic.
Villa mustered 18 attempts on goal but only hit the target with five and Bruce says that improving their efficiency in front of goal is the next priority after seemingly sorting out the defensive issues on the back of three straight clean sheets.
“To be honest that’s our big problem. We’re not converting the number of chances created,” Bruce told the Birmingham Mail.
“Albert (Adomah) could have scored four. Birkir (Bjarnason) might have scored after a couple of minutes.
“If there’s something to criticise then it’s that clinical stuff.”
An injury to big money January signing Scott Hogan (below), the league’s fifth-highest scorer, has not helped matters while Gabriel Agbonlahor still has not found the net in over a year and youngster Rushian Hepburn-Murphy has had his own fitness issues.
And although Kodjia netted his 13th goal of the season against the Millers, he too has infuriated supporters with his wastefulness in front of goal recently.
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