Dean Smith hails Aston Villa finishing after thrashing
Dean Smith hailed Villa's killer instinct after they hit six past Crewe in the Carabao Cup.
Last night’s 6-1 win at Gresty Road was the club’s biggest for more than six years and their largest in the competition since the 8-3 victory at Wycombe in 2005.
Conor Hourihane bagged a brace, while Ezri Konsa, Keinan Davis, Frederic Guilbert and Jack Grealish were also on the mark for the much-changed visitors.
Ryan Wintle netted a late consolation for a Crewe team who created plenty of chances of their own but lacked Premier League Villa’s cutting edge.
Smith said: “Our finishing was very good. I didn’t think our general performance as that good at times.
“Crewe are a really good, bright young team. But goals change games and 6-1 is a really good result for us. We got a lot of minutes into lads who needed it.”
Smith made 10 changes to the team which had beaten Everton 2-0 in the Premier League last Friday.
That included debuts for Konsa, Marvelous Nakamba and Matt Targett, the latter suffering a hamstring injury in the only negative of the night for the Villa boss.
"He felt his hamstring so we got him off as quick as we could. It will probably keep him out as a week or two though it is not as damaging as it could have been," said Smith.
"We have a proud history in this competition and we wanted to go into the game tonight making sure our attitude was right because they are a bright team.
