Dean Smith held his pre-match press conference on Wednesday morning, looking ahead to Aston Villa’s next Premier League match.
The Head Coach spoke about opponents Leeds United, his team’s flying start to the campaign, Ross Barkley’s form and his hopes for the rest of the season.
Here’s what he had to say…
On Villa’s unbeaten start…
We’ve certainly had a very good start. I said after the game against Leicester that Sheffield United, Fulham and ourselves would have looked at those opening two games and saw an opportunity to pick up points.
We managed to win both of them and then you go into Liverpool and Leicester, who are both top five teams.
They were really tough games and to come through those with maximum points certainly exceeds expectations. Our feet are firmly on the ground because if you’re off it at any stage in the league, you can get a bloody nose very quickly.
On aims for the season…
We’re not looking that far ahead. It’s just one game at a time. We’re only four games into a 38-game season.
It’s been a great start, winning all four games, but there’s certainly a long way to go. We just have to concentrate on our next game.
We’ve got a big game now against Leeds United, who have started the season well as a newly promoted team.
On Ross Barkley…
He’s made a big impact. The fact that we’ve gone out and managed to entice that calibre of player into the squad has certainly gone down well in the dressing room and with our staff and fans as well.
He’s a top player, who has been in and amongst the Champions League for the last two or three years of his career. He’s been a regular starter for England too.
He’s not played the amount of minutes he’s wanted to [at Cheslea], and we’ve managed to get him to Aston Villa. His job now is to produce performances for Aston Villa that take the eye of Gareth Southgate and get him back into the England squad.
On playing Leeds United…
I’ve seen all five of their games so far and they’re very competitive. They’ll win more games than they lose this season – that’s for sure.
I don’t see them being in a relegation scrap at the end of the season. They’re the fittest team in the league and every team that has played against them so far has actually got their top numbers during that game.
There’s a certain work ethic there but there’s also a lot of quality there as well.
