New Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has plenty to shout about
New Villa boss Dean Smith admitted his players have already taken a lot on board and will continue to do so in the coming weeks.
Smith took to the dugout for the first time on Saturday and watched his side pick up a narrow 1-0 victory over Swansea City.
But they made hard work of it and could have had the game out of sight before a late flurry from the visitors.
He praised his ‘enthusiastic players’ after the game, and says they know what is expected of them.
He said: “It’s a tough league but it’s a tight league.
“We’ve got two away games and the players have seen what I expect from them and how I work.
“They seem very enthusiastic about going down the road that we want to.
“I thought they were fantastic and have already taken on board a lot of what we want them to do.
“We set good traps, our final ball wasn’t the best at times and we could have had more goals than we did.”
John McGinn was one of the hosts standout performers on Saturday, winning possession back countless times in the middle of the pitch to set up Villa attacks.
Smith said he deserved to be on the winning team, and also gave credit to scorer Abraham, despite the striker spurning two second half chances.
He added: “He’s a handful.
“He knows better than me that he should be walking away with the matchball today.
“But he’s scored the winning goal and he’s one hell of a talent.
“John was excellent, he has a big hard and good energy levels and understands the game, and deserved to be in the winning side.”
Smith was unveiled to the packed out Villa fans before the game, and was welcomed with a rapturous applause.
Now he wants to set about improving the side, after a stop start first week.
Smith added: “It’s always a bit of a stop-start week after the internationals.
“All we have done this week is work without the ball, out of possession.
“We’ve not had chance to work with the ball.
“That’s something we can improve on as the season goes on.”
