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Ex-Aston Villa workhorse reveals surprise at Smith’s brutal assessment of affairs in B6

Aston Villa face the daunting prospect of a Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, and it’s fair to say Dean Smith’s side did not get the ideal preparation in their last Premier League match.

Villa were convincingly beaten 2-0 by Southampton, and the former Brentford manager was furious with his player’s performances as well as the result. Speaking about his players after the match the Villa boss said: “There’s too many training ground players. You have to perform on a matchday.” As well as that, he also described the display as “embarrassing”. Ex-Aston Villa player Alan Hutton, who featured under Smith, described how he was stunned by the comments.

What did he say?

Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton said: “I’ve never, never once heard him [like that]. Even in training, he wouldn’t ever question the players like that. It shows you how frustrated he was. It was a massive game for Villa and to be honest, they were poor.”

The former Scottish international added: “It’s a difficult one, he’s come out and questioned the players, whether they had an eye on the final or what kind of went wrong, he was obviously upset with the performance.”

Is the battle for survival taking its toll on Smith?

Understandably, Smith was frustrated with the result against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints side. A week before a cup final you would expect players to be producing a performance that will put them into contention for selection; however, that was not the case, and the manager did not hesitate to let his players know. But the fact that Hutton said he has never heard the manager speak of his own side in that manner could suggest the pending danger of relegation is taking its toll on the boss.

Aston Villa are just one point and one place above the relegation zone with 11 matches remaining in the Premier League. With their cup distractions, those sides around them have the opportunity to apply pressure to Villa by pushing them into the bottom three. While Sunday presents a wonderful opportunity for the Birmingham based side to upset the odds, there are undertones of their rivals win over Arsenal in 2011, which saw them relegated the same season.

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