Dean Smith: Aston Villa must get killer instict
Dean Smith has called on Villa to raise the tempo and start killing-off opponents.
Villa had been guilty of throwing away leads in their last two Premier League matches, against Arsenal and Burnley, ahead of this afternoon’s trip to Norwich.
Smith believes his team have been guilty of taking their foot off the gas in vital moments.
“I’ve talked about tempo,” he said. “I thought we controlled it really well in the first half against Burnley. Whether it was to quicken it up to go and create a breakthrough opportunity or whether it was to slow it down to draw them out and keep it at the back, that is something we could do a lot more consistently.
“We didn’t do that in the second half against Burnley and we didn’t do it in the second half against Arsenal. That is something we have to get better at.”
Smith insists it is too early to worry about the Premier League table, with Villa sitting in 18th position prior to the trip to Carrow Road.
Norwich, who were also promoted from the Championship last season, sit just a place and a point above them but Smith rejected the notion the meeting with the Canaries was an early season “six-pointer”.
Smith said: “It is just the next game. I am not looking at the table at the moment.
“You look where we were last season when I took over, we were 12th. We were still 12th, 12 games before the end of the season. If you keep performing, you will get results.”
Star midfielder John McGinn has has been nominated for September’s Premier League Player of the Month award after scoring three times in seven league appearances.
