Villa Blog: Steve Bruce should be looking at automatic promotion, not just the playoffs

That performance on Friday night against Brighton was a joy to behold. Of course, I still had the dread of a late winner for the Seagulls, as most Villa fans would - but once the game had finished and I had taken stock I realised that it was a great result for Steve Bruce.

His team totally dominated the second half and played some very nice football in the process, if the team carry on like this we could well be targeting automatic promotion, let alone the playoff spots.

I've said it before but I'm yet to see a team that has completely outplayed us so far this season, and bearing in mind we've now played nine of the top 11 teams that's quite an achievement.

We should keep improving now, and whilst we may see the odd stinker thrown in I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more wins as we continue our climb up the table.

There were some notable performances on the South coast on Friday too, Jonathan Kodjia and Albert Adomah were superb once again, and given his recent travels and not-so spritely age Mile Jedinak was also incredibly impressive.

Between the sticks Pierluigi Gollini looks more and more settled as the weeks go by, shown by his stunning save to deny the hosts in the dying moments.

I was also happy to see Bruce bring Jack Grealish off the bench for the final 30 minutes, and for me that's the best time to introduce him.

He's a real threat coming off the bench when the opposition is tiring, and he has the ability to turn a game in our favour at any moment. If he finds a rich vein of form then the boss can always bring him in for the full ninety when he sees fit.

The Gabby experiment against Brighton didn't really work for me, whilst he did fine he didn't offer the threat some of our other strikers could. And when you have a player in the form and with the ability of Kodjia it's hard to see him holding his place for long without some kind of return, be it goals or assists.

Looking forward to January, I can't help but think picking up Robbie Keane on a short term deal could suit us - especially with the African Cup of Nations likely to draw away the likes of Kodjia, Adomah and Jordan Ayew.

Also with financial fair play to think about we can't be breaking the bank either, so grabbing a player with his talents could be a real coup.

Overall Steve Bruce doesn't have to change a whole lot, and it's nice looking forward to games once again rather than fearing the worst.