Aston Villa might’ve just put Everton to the sword and left Old Trafford with all three points, but Dean Smith has sent the rather ominous message to the Premier League – there are still more gears that his team can go through. Smith, ahead of his side’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, is convinced however that Villa have plenty more in the tank that they’re capable of.
Dean Smith said “We’re not firing on all cylinders at all yet. The players know that. If I look at the performance against Manchester United, the pleasing thing was that there were lots of 7/10s, but not too many 9s or 10/10s from individual players, so there’s an awful lot we can still do and still work towards.”
Those aforementioned goals outline perfectly how varied Villa’s goal-scoring charts have been so far. John McGinn has a goal, Danny Ings has a couple but last season’s top scorer Ollie Watkins is yet to open his account – though he has just been recalled by England boss Gareth Southgate. In Watkins and summer signing Ings, Smith believes he has a double-pronged attack that will put fear into many a Premier League defence and in the meantime he’s pleased that others in claret and blue are chipping in.
Dean Smith said “It’s a good sign. They’ve got a maturing relationship that is growing. They’ve both had chances as well, probably the majority have fallen to Ollie so far, and he’s disappointed not to get on the score-sheet yet. It’s really pleasing that other people are getting goals within the team, because I don’t want to be a team which relies on one person. Ollie got the majority of our goals last season, Anwar El Ghazi scored ten, Jack scored six or seven. If we can share the goals around, it certainly eases the burden on the front two.”
Villa are in a rich vein of form recently, extending back even to their defeat at Chelsea which was acknowledged as a positive performance despite the score-line suggesting a convincing Blues win. Matty Cash and Leon Bailey bagged against Everton in the 3-0 dismantling at Villa Park a couple of weeks ago, and then Kortney Hause popped up at the death to steal all the points away from Manchester United.
