Express & Star

Match preview: Aston Villa and Southampton demonstrate value of staying patient

Patience is a rare commodity in football but Sunday’s match at Villa Park is between two clubs who have seen its benefit.

Published
Last updated

Both have emerged stronger for sticking by their head coaches during rocky times last season when others might have felt pressured into change.

Villa’s resurgence under Dean Smith has been well documented, though in some regards Southampton’s turnaround has been even more remarkable.

There won’t have been many people willing to bet on Ralph Hasenhuttl being in post another week when the Saints were hammered 9-0 by Leicester City a year ago.

Yet tomorrow, he brings his team to the Midlands having eventually guided them to a comfortable mid-table finish last season and looking like they could do even better this time around.

Only Liverpool and Manchester City have taken more points since football restarted in June than the Saints, who sit seventh in the early season table, two points and four places behind Villa.

“You don’t become a bad coach over one result and he (Hasenhuttl) has certainly proved that to a lot of critics out there who questioned him after that Leicester game,” said Smith.

“I’m pleased he has done that. It has shown what work on the training ground can do.

“A lot of clubs are now owned by meticulous businessmen who are wealthy from being clever in business.

“In the business world people don’t make many rational decisions when they are emotional.

“You make them more rationally when you take on board all of the facts and what has got you to that position. Thankfully that is what Southampton did.”

Despite making their own excellent start to the season, Smith will demand an improved performance from his team than the one delivered in the 3-0 defeat to Leeds last time out.

He will certainly expect far better than both matches against Southampton last season. While December’s 3-1 home defeat was the kind of day when everything which could go wrong did, including John McGinn suffering a broken ankle; February’s 2-0 reverse at the St Mary’s Stadium was among the worst performances of Smith’s reign and earned his players a tongue-lashing both in private and public.

“I certainly can’t tell you what was said in the dressing room after that one,” said Smith, who publicly described the display as “embarrassing”.

“We certainly need to go and prove we are a good team against Southampton because the last couple of meetings we have not done that.

“There wasn’t a need to pick the lads up after the Leeds defeat. They know they didn’t perform to the levels we have been at and that can happen.

“There’s a realism about this football club that we’re not at a Liverpool or a Manchester City level yet where you can hopefully go through a season without getting beat. It’s going to happen

“We had out 40 minutes where we didn’t play well and Leeds but we’ll learn from that.

“It’s the first time since we’ve gone behind in a game since Manchester United in July. We’ve come on leaps and bounds and we need to continue working on that.”

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.