OPINION
Aston Villa wasted no time in pulling the trigger over former boss Steve Bruce and his poor run of results which had left the club facing a serious battle at securing a top-six place at the end of the season.
As well as the results, there was a lot of discontent over the style of play adopted by the ex-Hull manager, not to mention the excuses that he came up with to absolve his side of blame when a game did not go their way.
With Bruce kicked out the door, Dean Smith has taken up the reigns but after a bright start with victory against Swansea, two successive defeats, the latest coming against QPR on Friday night, have left the Villans floundering in mid-table.
A shot at promotion seems a long way off now and things have to turn themselves around sooner rather than later, or Smith and his side are going to be bitterly disappointed.
However, it is the Villa fans who should be most concerned, for the manager’s post-match comments after the defeat to QPR would have left them with a sense of deja vu – and had they read his verdict without knowing who the quotes were from, they could have believed that Bruce was still in charge.
As quoted by the Express and Star, Smith said: “I thought we were better than QPR but, unfortunately, they’ve got the result. We didn’t convert our chances and John McGinn cost himself with his honesty,” he said.
“He’s gone into their box in the first half, gets clipped. If he goes down, it’s a definite penalty at 0-0. He stayed on his feet and we didn’t get anything from the chance.”
“It’s (the tackles on Jack Grealish) a concern the officials aren’t dealing with it. They had a tag-team kicking him. It’s something that needs looking at. You’ve got to protect players like that – special talents who are getting kicked all over the place.”
If the Villa fans thought they had seen all the ridiculous excuses out the door with Bruce, then they appear to have been wildly mistaken and Smith’s statements should be a serious concern to those at Villa Park.
From encouraging his players to start tumbling to the floor at the slightest bit of contact, to trying to get special treatment for the likes of Jack Grealish, it all sounds a bit too familiar, and if this is the way that Smith is setting his side up to play, then Villa have not taken a step forwards with their new manager but a step sideways.
The boss was obviously frustrated but his comments mirror Bruce’s far too similarly – and that was a problem the Villa faithful had with their old man in charge.