Mark Bosnich: Aston Villa boss Dean Smith wrong to take aim at fixtures

Smith took aim at the fixture schedulers after relegation-threatened Villa were beaten 1-0 by Wolves on Saturday, in what was their fourth match in 11 days since the league’s resumption.

But Bosnich, who won two League Cups as a player during the 1990s, believes the boss needs to be wary of providing his players with an easy excuse.

“I’m forever an optimist, especially when it comes to one of my old clubs who I love dearly,” he said. “I still think they will stay up but it really is going to go down to the wire.

“I can understand where Dean Smith is coming from, but if I was asked advice I would caution about coming out publicly and making excuses.

“We all knew what it was going to be once it was decided to continue on with the season.

“There was going to be game after game after game and you don’t want to publicly come out with things like that in my opinion because your team can read into it and to start subconsciously thinking that you have an excuse.”

Villa, who have taken just two points from their first four matches back, next travel to champions Liverpool on Sunday.

Bosnich added: “They know exactly what they have to do. I think they need a minimum of 10 points more to make sure they stay up and it will be very close.”