Dean Smith: Aston Villa 'were not even bang average'
Dean Smith described Villa’s performance as “not even bang average” after they laboured to a 0-0 draw at Brighton.
Villa had goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to thank after he produced a string of excellent saves to keep the hosts at bay.
The visitors, meanwhile, mustered just one shot on target in what was comfortably their most sluggish attacking display of the season.
Smith said: “It wasn’t even bang average. I have not seen players of the quality we have make as many unforced errors as we did.
“Thankfully our goalkeeper was on form and kept another clean sheet, his 12th of the season.”
Martinez denied Leandro Trossard and Dan Burn in the first half before saving from Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck after the break.
Smith continued: “He has made three top drawer saves that I can remember. There were a couple that were straight at him down his throat.
“But we didn’t protect him well. Emi is a great keeper and a great acquisition for the club.
“But he will be the first to admit in the 11 previous clean sheets we have protected him better.
“Today we didn’t. We kept on giving Brighton the ball back and he was called into action too much. It was a one-man show at times such was the sloppiness of our play.
“The performance left a lot to be desired. I thought we would come out of the traps firing. I can’t explain it. We just have to be better and not make as many unforced errors.”
