Aston Villa boss Dean Smith confident Nelson Oliveira controversy won't affect Tyrone Mings
Villa boss Dean Smith will tell Tyrone Mings to play his normal game against Sheffield United on Friday night as the controversy over the defender’s collision with Nelson Oliveira continues to rumble.
Smith is confident the 25-year-old has not been adversely affected by a week which has seen him face criticism after landing on the Reading striker during last Saturday’s 0-0 draw at the Madjeski Stadium.
Oliveira, who had his nose broken in four places and suffered five deep cuts to the face, yesterday claimed Mings could have avoided the contact and that he was lucky ‘not to have been blinded’.
Yet Smith believes the on-loan Bournemouth man has been part of a ‘witch hunt’ fuelled partly by having served a five-game ban two years ago for stamping on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Villa head coach is ‘absolutely convinced’ what happened at Reading was an accident and has given no thought to taking Mings out of the firing line for the visit of the Blades.
Smith said: “Tyrone has trained as normal all week and he has been good. He will play his normal game. I have no doubt about that.
“The kid has done nothing wrong in my opinion. I have told him that. He goes out and plays.”
Mings received criticism during the week from former players including Dave Kitson but Smith said: “I have not read any of it. I don’t know what their opinions are and frankly I am not bothered.
“I know what my opinion is. It was an accident that happened in a contact sport. We move on.”
The FA confirmed earlier this week Mings would not face any retrospective action, due to the incident being seen at the time by referee Geoff Eltringham.
That has upset Oliveira, who believes some kind of sanction should have been given.
Oliveira, who revealed Mings had text him after the game, said: “I’m not saying he did it on purpose but he could have avoided me 100 per cent.
“He texted me to apologise. At the time I hadn’t seen the video. Football is an aggressive game but that is not football. It could have been much worse. I could be blind.
“I’m not criticising the referee because it’s not my job. It’s up to the FA to look at these things.
“If the same thing happened to Harry Kane what would happen? How would the FA look at it when his career could have been over? It’s a question to ask people and the media.
“If this happens in Portugal they would look at it again. You see UFC fighters come off looking better than me.”
