Aston Villa are going from strength-to-strength in the Sky Bet Championship this season and the general feeling across the promotion race is that nobody is going to want to face them when the play-offs kick-off next month.
Dean Smith has guided Villa to eight consecutive victories, with his side shaking off their inconsistency tag and producing a mesmerising run that leaves them on the brink of securing a top-six finish.
The return of Jack Grealish has been absolutely massive for Villa, but pundit and former professional footballer, Noel Whelan, believes that Smith deserves the bulk of the credit for this run of form.
“It’s an incredible turnaround and the man who deserves most credit is Dean Smith,” Whelan told Football Insider. “He was under a lot of pressure when he came in, but he changed the formation, the style of play, everything, and the fruits of his labour are now being reaped.
“Yes, the players have been fantastic, but you have to give huge credit to the manager. There are a lot of big personalities in that dressing room, and huge egos, and Smith has won them over and got them working towards one goal.”
You’ve got to say that Whelan is bang on with his assessment too, Smith found a way to get things right even when the pressure was on.
[ad_pod ]
The former Brentford boss has been aided by Grealish’s brilliant return to action, but he’s made big decisions that have helped to make Aston Villa a stronger unit, particularly in defence.
This Villa side were shipping goals earlier in the season and serious questions were asked about the squad, but the decision to bring in Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause has been excellent, with the on loan pair so commanding since taking their place in the back-four.
An underrated decision has also been establishing Jed Steer as first choice. Orjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic might’ve been expensive additions to the squad, but they weren’t impressing in claret and blue, with both goalkeepers struggling to fully adapt to the English game.
Smith had no problems with bringing in Steer, who has been excellent between the sticks.
There a big names missing out at Villa and even bigger names working their socks off for the manager, which is why Villa are flying right now.
Whelan’s assessment of the situation is bang on, and Smith deserves a massive amount of credit for getting Villa into such a strong position heading into the play-offs when the pressure was crushing the side just eight games ago.