Aston Villa boss Dean Smith: Prove the doubters wrong
Dean Smith has challenged Villa to prove the critics wrong when they take on Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
Villa head into the match on a rotten run of three Premier League defeats which has left them mired in a relegation scrap.
Last weekend’s 2-0 loss at Southampton led to Smith issuing his players a public tongue-lashing, but the boss is confident of getting a response at Wembley.
He said: “Our performance on Saturday was not one to savour and the lads got the message at half-time and full-time.
“I know those players and they don’t mean to go out and not perform. There are not many times I have had to give them that message.
“I am expecting a very good response from them. Our job now is to prove people wrong. In this world there is not an awful lot of praise that goes around. There are usually people who are looking to knock you.
“Our job now is to go and prove people wrong and show what we are about in a one-off cup final.”
Smith is considering several changes to his line-up for a match in which Villa, hunting a first major trophy for 24 years, are huge underdogs.
“I have so much respect for Pep Guardiola – not only as a coach but as a person – and the way he gets his team playing,” he said. “But they’re human beings and human beings can be fallible. We’ll be pushing them all the way.
“We’re massive underdogs, but sometimes I like that title and we’re going to have a good scrap.”
