Aston Villa Head Coach Dean Smith spoke to the media following Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle United.
Dwight Gayle handed the Magpies a 68th-minute lead at St James’ Park but Ahmed Elmohamady headed home Conor Hourihane’s corner seven minutes from time to secure a share of the spoils.
Speaking post-match, here’s what Smith had to say…
On the result…
“I’m little bit annoyed, especially with the goal we conceded. Our defensive display has been good again, with the exception of one player going to sleep, Ezri Konsa has lost concentration, Gayle’s gone into the area he should be in and… We did some video work on it earlier, I’ve just had a bit of a pop at him in the dressing room, but listen, he’s a young lad and he’s learning, but he needs to know how important concentration is at this level and the situation we’re in at the moment. Annoyed because there were large periods where I thought we played really well, especially the first half. We’ve had chances - Ally’s had a really good chance from a header, Trez has had a chance at the far post, John McGinn’s had a chance with a header, I thought we caused them problems by shifting the ball wide and getting balls in behind them. We’ve got to be more clinical. But, to be fair, I think Newcastle started the second half brighter, put us under a bit more pressure but the defenders stood firm again and then unfortunately… Overall, the feeling is a little bit disappointed because our performance probably deserved a bit better.”
On Villa’s fighting spirit to hit back and secure a point...
“We were making that change to get two up front with Ally and Keinan, we just felt that would be the way forward with Jack playing off them, and that’s the way it ended up going at the end of the game. I thought we threw everything at them, we showed lots of quality, thankfully Elmo has popped up with a goal from a great corner from Conor.”
On the quick turnaround to face Wolves…
“We’re no different to Wolves, they’ve played tonight as well, but you’ve got to nurse a few people back to full fitness, recovery is going to be a massive part now, we’ll go back tonight, we’ll debrief the game tonight and then they can all have a lie-in. We’re stopping together overnight, the lads can relax and be in in the afternoon. It’s a big game again but I feel we’re playing better, certainly than we were before the break.”
You can watch Dean's full interview on VillaTV now, without the need to log in, click here.
