OPINION
Aston Villa Scott Hogan isn’t capable of winning games by himself and Steve Bruce’s tactics in the game against Norwich City were the only reason why the forward was on the losing team.
The Villans crashed to a 3-1 defeat courtesy of the Canaries, which makes their automatic promotion bid look dead, and Bruce has to take the blame.
For some reason the manager appeared to encourage his side to play long balls forward towards Hogan, instead of trying to get his team to play passes that the forward could run onto.
Hogan, who the Villans spent £12million on in January 2017 according to the BBC, loves the ball at his feet and is more than capable of tearing any defence in the league apart with his pace.
The 25-year-old was able to achieve great success, scoring 21 goals in 36 appearances for Brentford as the Bees were set-up to play to his strengths.
However despite having worked with him for many months, Bruce seemed clueless about how best to use Hogan.
The centre-forward worked extremely hard against Norwich on Saturday and looked lively, but with the ball continually being played towards his head, Hogan struggled.
The 5ft 9in Hogan was unable to beat Norwich’s 6ft 1in defender Grant Hanley when it came to aerial duels, as the centre-back is fantastic in the air.
Despite witnessing this throughout the 90 minutes, Bruce did nothing to change the way his team played and effectively tied Hogan’s hands.
If the Villans manager would have played to Hogan’s strength or at least adapted during the game to help the 25-year-old, the centre-forward would have been able to win the game for his side.
But instead the Villans suffered a 3-1 defeat with their performance as a team inspiring no one.