Anthony Kelly
Dean Smith has admitted he is going ‘back to the drawing board’ as his Aston Villa side continue to struggle through a poor run of form.
Aston Villa are currently twelfth in the table after a humiliating 3-0 defeat to struggling Wigan Athletic at the weekend, a result which has left them with just one win in their last five games.
After a good initial start to life at Villa Park, Smith is under no illusions that recent results have not been good enough for the promotion-chasing club.
“I said that I came to Aston Villa because results weren’t going our way, and that it’s my job to get results,” he told the club’s official website.
“We came in and hit the ground running. But from the performances against the likes of West Brom, Middlesbrough and Derby County – we were a million miles away from that.
“I’ll go back to the drawing board and have a look myself. I don’t think tactically there was too much wrong. We just weren’t good enough on the ball. They outran us too, and that’s disappointing.”
Smith was appointed as Steve Bruce’s successor back in October and won four of his first six league games in charge. He had won praise his style of football at Walsall and Brentford, guiding The Bees to consecutive mid-table finishes, despite working on a modest budget at Griffin Park.
Expectations are much higher at Aston Villa though, and Smith will be expected to turn around this current glut of poor form and engineer a push for the play-off places.