Monday analysis: Dean Smith still looking for answers with Aston Villa failing to learn their lesson

Having come back from the dead against both Hull City and Sheffield United in the past month, Dean Smith’s team were unable to repeat the trick against rivals Albion, sliding to arguably their most dismal defeat of the season to date.

A swift analysis shows the game was lost in four mad minutes late in the first-half, during which Hal Robson-Kanu and Jay Rodriguez were allowed to score two entirely avoidable goals that proved more than enough for the Baggies to earn a comfortable victory.

But in truth this was a result several weeks in the making, inflicted on a Villa team which has failed to learn its lesson and continues to commit the same familiar mistakes.

A solution has so far remained elusive to Smith. If anything, after Saturday, the answers seem as far away as ever.

So too does promotion, for this was surely the afternoon when for the majority of supporters the last remaining hope of making a run at the play-offs was extinguished.

The current nine-point gap, to teams in the top six who also possess two games in hand, is tantamount to a chasm.

Villa, with just two wins in 14 games since the start of the December, do not look remotely capable of closing the deficit. Their defence, the third worst in the Championship, has now conceded more goals at home than any in the top four divisions.

At the same time their attack, once feared, have been shut out in four of the last seven fixtures and on Saturday drew a blank at home for the first time in the league this season.

Mathematically, the play-offs might still be achievable. Realistically, it is now the longest of long shots, for a team approaching the business end of the campaign in a state of worrying regression.

That does not mean the season is finished, far from it. For Smith, under scrutiny for the first time in his reign, the final 13 games remain crucial and it is imperative he restores some positive momentum between now and May, even if Villa fall short of their ultimate goal.

Engineering a successful promotion push, after taking over from Steve Bruce more than two months into the campaign, was never going to be an easy task.

Yet for a few brief weeks in November and early December, when Villa recorded memorable wins at Derby and Middlesbrough, it looked as though Smith was going to do precisely that.

Injuries to key players, most notably Jack Grealish, have eventually proved too great an obstacle to overcome.

They don’t fully explain, however, the quite dramatic drop in performances and why the head coach is currently struggling to get a tune out of what remains, at least on paper, a talented squad.

Smith’s reputation at Walsall and Brentford was of a builder rather than a quick fix merchant and he must obviously be given time to implement his methods. Villa, should they miss out on promotion as now seems likely, will see a huge overhaul of playing staff in the summer. Smith, if supported correctly, would appear the ideal man to carry that out.

By the same token, this is not a club which can easily stomach consistently poor results, certainly not in the Championship.

Were it not for their near miraculous comeback against the Blades, Villa would currently be on a three-game losing streak.

Before looking at the long-term, Smith needs some short-term results to restore a little faith.

An upcoming fixture list which reads like a who’s-who of promotion contenders does him few favours, in that respect.

Nor does the loss, for the next two games, of John McGinn. The all-action Scot, who had been on nine bookings since Boxing Day, eventually received his 10th of the campaign for a second-half lunge on Gareth Barry and will sit out the fixtures against Stoke and Derby.

At least Grealish may be back for Saturday’s trip to the Potteries, albeit most likely on the bench.

Otherwise, it is difficult to see what Smith can do differently to address a midfield which remains arguably the most problematic area of his team.

With deadline day signing Tom Carroll sidelined with a hip problem and Birkir Bjarnason out of favour, the boss on Saturday turned to Jacob Ramsey for his latest attempt at instilling some creativity and drive.

The 17-year-old became the first player born this century to represent Villa’s first-team when he replaced the hopelessly out-of-sorts Conor Hourihane just past the hour mark and was one of just a handful of positives on the day.

Kortney Hause was another. The Wolves loanee, who had struggled in his first Villa start at Brentford just three days previously, did far better here and looked particularly strong in the air.

It was a towering Hause header which led to Tammy Abraham being presented a golden opportunity to open the scoring but the striker, for once at Villa Park, was unable to convert.

Ahmed Elmohamady also played a key role in the build-up and was among Villa’s better performers, though the fact the Egyptian was utilised in an attacking capacity spoke volumes of Smith’s current lack of faith in his wingers.

Had Abraham scored, the afternoon would have panned out very differently. But the moment, like the game and most likely the season, did not go Villa’s way.