OPINION
Dean Smith has been hired at the perfect time by Aston Villa as he has had pretty much all of the international break to get to know his new players, convey his tactical approach and make some early assessments on his first matchday squad.
It is not the easiest of games for Smith to kick off his spell in charge of the Villains as they take on Swansea at Villa Park next Saturday.
He will have the home backing but the Swans have lost just one away game this season and have only conceded three times on their travels.
Aston Villa will still be the favourites, but they will greatly increase their chances of a win next week if Smith axes Orjan Nyland from the starting line-up.
Steve Bruce signed Nyland from Ingolstadt in the summer and so far, the Norway international has failed to impress and has been a complete liability with goal-bound errors on three occasions this term.
The 28-year-old has remained a mainstay for Villa despite his woeful form, appearing in all but one of their Championship games this campaign.
Smith does not have amazing options to replace Nyland in the starting line-up, but Mark Bunn and Andre Moreira will surely do a better job than the 6ft 4 ex-Molde shot-stopper.
If the newly-appointed Aston Villa does not make this change as soon as possible then he can kiss goodbye to the club’s chances of promotion this season because Nyland barely looks like a League One goalkeeper, let alone one that should be helping a team get back into the Premier League.