Dean Smith was left perplexed by Aston Villa’s drab showing at Brighton knowing a result would have catapulted them to within the European spots. Speaking after the goalless draw, Dean Smith was fuming.
Dean Smith said “It wasn’t even bang-average today. I’ve not seen – with the quality we’ve got – as many unforced errors today. Thankfully our goalkeeper was on form who helped with our 12th clean sheet of the season. I’m performance-based and tonight’s performance leaves a lot to be desired. The players know that. It’s very hard to win games in the Premier League and there will always be mistakes but, what I don’t expect, is making as many as we did tonight. Credit to Brighton, they gave us problems all night.”
Villa are four points off fourth-placed Liverpool with two games in hand – but Smith quelled any talk of European aspirations after such a below-par showing.
Dean Smith said “We’re not even thinking about (Europe),” he said. “I thought we’d come out of the traps firing but we didn’t today. I’ll have a chat with the players on Monday morning. We’ve just got to be better than we were today.”
There was one huge plus, though, and that was Martinez’s brilliance once more as he kept the likes of Dan Burn and Leandro Trossard out.
Dean Smith said “I’m really pleased with his performance, he made at least three top drawer saves with a couple straight at him. We didn’t protect him well enough today. Emi’s a fantastic goalkeeper and a great acquisition for Aston Villa but he’ll be the first to admit that for the 12 clean sheets this season he’s been protected really well. Today we didn’t and we kept giving them the ball back and he was called into action too much. He was very good today. It was a one-man show at times, such was the sloppiness of our play.”
Those above them in the Premier League table – Liverpool and Spurs – faltered prior to tonight with Villa having every incentive to claim back-to-back league victories. It didn’t happen, though, with Smith critical of his players other than man of the match Emi Martinez who pulled off a number of world-class saves to claim a 12th clean sheet and, in the end, a point for Villa.
