Dean Smith demands Aston Villa to rediscover some consistency
Having escaped relegation last season on the final day, a victory at Newcastle on Friday would lift Aston Villa above champions Liverpool up to eighth place in the table as Smith admits Villa have progressed much quicker than he anticipated.
However, currently on a patchy form, they have won four and lost four of their last 10 Premier League matches. Dean Smith told reporters ahead of Villa’s away fixture at Newcastle: “Like most teams at the moment, we’ve been a little bit inconsistent with results recently,” said Smith.
“I’d have certainly taken that (ninth place with games in hand) at the start of the season. I’d have never accepted it because I’ve always got a belief that you can go and do well, but we have progressed a lot quicker than we thought we would this season.
“We knew that we weren’t satisfied with last season and we wanted to improve anyway. The improvement in the first half of the season was very good.
“But we have created some big chances in our last few games and as long as we keep doing that, we’ll be OK.”
Smith also gave an update on Grealish’s injury situation: “Jack's been making really good progress but, unfortunately, he won't make Newcastle.
“He has been ill this week so he's been off for a couple of days as well, but we're hopeful for the Tottenham game now, that's for sure.”
Smith added: “He's still in and around the training ground. He takes part in the meetings. He's got a voice and an opinion, which is good.
“He was one of the ones when we did our debrief after the Sheffield United game who, having watched the game, was telling the players how well we played and deserved more out of the game. He's matured an awful lot and takes on a lot more responsibility, that's for sure.”
On Villa’s other injured player, Matt Cash, Smith added: “Matt Cash is back to full training. He's travelling with us to Newcastle. He's available for selection.”
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