Dean Smith joined the media via video call on Friday morning to preview Aston Villa’s Premier League fixture with Liverpool on Sunday.
It will be Villa’s first trip to Anfield since September 2015, while Jurgen Klopp’s side will be playing at home for the first time since they were crowned as Premier League champions.
Here is what the boss had to say…
On performances since the return…
“They [the players] feel like they’re in a better place than when the break started.
“We’ve restricted three top-eight teams to very few chances, so defensively we are in a good place, but we need to have better quality in the final third.
“The lads aren’t too disheartened because they know that they’ve played well, we’ve certainly defended better, we just have to put our chances away.”
On the mentality…
“We have total belief and total determination.
“The mental strength and belief is there, I want them to show more personality on the ball.
“They are representing themselves, their families, the rest of their teammates and what we’re missing at the moment is the fans."
On Liverpool…
“I’ll think we will see similar to what we have seen week in, week out.
“They will be a little bit sore from getting beat 4-0, but we know that their attitude is going to be there.
“I saw it as he [Klopp] did – they had as many chances as Manchester City and their attitude was spot on.
“We have a chance, we made Liverpool work really hard [at Villa Park] and we were three minutes away from getting the victory ourselves.”
On the short break between fixtures…
“It’s been beneficial. We had to recover from such an intense period.
“I was frustrated with the scheduling but what we’ve had is seven days to recover.”
On Matt Targett…
“He’s struggling, but it won’t be the reported three weeks out.
“It’s not as bad as first feared and he could be back for Crystal Palace.”