Premier League

Aston Villa fans react to Dean Smith’s pre-Manchester City comments

Photo of Kyle Archer Kyle Archer | 10:16 25/10/19
Image for Aston Villa fans react to Dean Smith’s pre-Manchester City comments

Lots of Aston Villa fans have been reacting on social media to Dean Smith’s pre-game comments, while speaking ahead of Saturday’s clash with Manchester City.

The Villans travel to the Etihad Stadium this weekend looking for a third consecutive win, after beating Brighton & Hove Albion and Norwich City in their last two Premier League games.

Villa are yet to beat one of last season’s top-six sides, though, as the Birmingham-based outfit were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 on the opening weekend, and later fell victim to Arsenal in September when the Gunners needed late strikes by Callum Chambers and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to overturn a 2-1 deficit.

Manchester City, meanwhile, will carry a run of form including two defeats in their last six league games, having slipped up against Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Sky Blues also beat Atalanta 5-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday night, despite falling behind in the 28th-minute and later losing Phil Foden to a second yellow card in six minutes.

One of Pep Guardiola’s key weapons on Saturday will be England forward Raheem Sterling, who has scored six goals in the top-flight so far this season and created a further strike (WhoScored). The 24-year-old has also scored four in three in the Champions League and one in one in the Carabao Cup.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game, via quotes by the Birmingham Mail, Smith joked about how he plans to stop Sterling stretching his tally against his Villans side.

“I would echo the sentiment that he’s an extraordinary player,” Smith said, in relation to Guardiola hailing Sterling as being ‘incredible’. “I think he’s proving that with club and country at the moment.

“We’re looking at trying to tie his laces together. He’s one that has to be stopped because he’s been incredible over the last 12-months. What a challenge for our players to go and stop him and make him have a lesser performance than he has done recently.”

Sterling scored three of his Champions League goals for the season so far on Tuesday night in a Man of the Match performance against Atalanta and struck twice for England against Bulgaria during the recent international break.

Villa fans have reacted to Smith’s comments on how he plans to restrict Sterling’s input by agreeing that it could well work…

Speaking during his pre-game press conference, Smith also noted that the season so far has been difficult for James Chester, but that the Welshman firmly remains his side’s captain.

The 30-year-old has not featured in any competitive fixture for Villa since the end of January following a spate of knee and hamstring injuries (Birmingham Mail), but played 70 minutes for the Under 23s during the week as he looks to rebuild his match fitness.

Smith feels that if Chester continues to progress as he has been of late, the 2020-free agent could be involved in some manner against Wolves in the Carabao Cup next week.

“In my eyes, he’s still the club captain and, once he gets into the team and to full fitness, he’ll grab that armband back off Jack [Grealish],” Smith said. “Jack has got that much respect for James that he will hand it back to him.

“It’s been a frustrating time for him but, the fact he’s up and training now getting minutes, he’s got over that knee injury and hamstring injury in the summer.”

Some Villa fans are not entirely convinced that Chester would be worthy of the armband when he returns to fitness, though, and many doubt he would disrupt Tyrone Mings and Bjorn Engels in the heart of Smith’s backline.

But before Chester’s potential return to action, Villa face City, and Smith is keen to use the game as a chance to show what his side are all about.

“There’s two ways to approach this game,” Smith said. “You can say, ‘Oh no, we’re going to Man City or it can be, ‘Right, we’re going to Manchester City and it’s a great opportunity to show what we’re all about’ and, hopefully, our players will take the later.

“We’re going out against a good team, we’ve got to concentrate, work hard but they’re humans. We’ve got some good players who are getting better and better. There’s an awful lot of work to do to evolve as a team. I don’t think they’re extraordinary yet, but they’re getting there.

“City have given up a few chances this season. Atalanta scored a penalty. Teams have had opportunities against them. The ones you do get, you have to take.”

One Villa fan has reacted to Smith’s call for his players to show what they are all about by suggesting Marvellous Nakamba must start as then ‘you won’t have any problems’.

The Zimbabwe midfielder moved to Villa Park this summer for £11million (Sky Sports), and has started each of his five Premier League appearances, recording an average of 6.2 tackles per ninety minutes (WhoScored).

Another fan has suggested Smith should forget about challenging City, though, and should instead focus on keeping players fit for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash with Wolves.

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