Mark Delaney believes there is plenty more to come from his Under-23s side.
Villa’s Young Lions have secured back-to-back Premier League 2 wins, with Monday’s 3-1 triumph at midlands neighbours Wolves coming on the back of a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace.
It leaves Villa on nine points from their opening five Division 2 matches of the campaign.
And while boss Delaney is quick to praise a group of youngsters he thinks very highly of, applauding the character and mentality they’ve shown, he feels there is also room to improve this season as they strive to continue their development.
“For the five games we’ve played, we’ve won three and lost two, but the two we lost we thought we were well in those games and could have taken something,” he said.
“Even though we lost the games, the lads still had a lot of belief in what they were doing.
“It’s always nice, training all week and doing some positive work on the training ground, it is now starting to come through into the games.
“I don’t think we’ve peaked yet, I think we’re probably six or seven out of 10 at the minute.
“There’s still a lot of work to do, a lot of improving to do, but we think individually and as a team we’re on the right track.”
Delaney added: “We’ve done okay, I don’t think in all the games we’ve started particularly well, we’ve had spells in games when we’ve done well.
“It’s making sure that when we are under the cosh we’re solid and hard to break down.
“And equally, when we’re on top, that we make the most of our possession and chances.
“From my point of view, I think the lads have been okay, six out of 10 would probably be a fair reflection of what we’ve done for those five games.
“So to have nine points from that and not feel we’re at our best is good. We’ve just got to keep building and improving individually and certainly as a team to try and progress ourselves forward for the next five games.”
Villa’s Under-23s are next in action against Sunderland on Friday, October 30 at Bodymoor Heath.
Delaney, his backroom staff and players have analysed their victory over Wolves and are already working hard towards their next PL2 encounter.
“We had a recovery day on Tuesday, we looked over the Wolves game, looked at where we can improve, and the lads can see that as well,” Delaney said.
“They see signs of improvement but they know there’s a lot to go.
“We’re focusing fully now on Sunderland, working with the players looking at previous Sunderland games and what they’re going to come up against.
“George (Boateng) and myself are looking at it and making sure the players are ready, tactically and technically, for that game.”
