Smith bemoans ‘very, very harsh’ decision in Villa thrashing

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith bemoaned the decision to award Leicester a penalty in his side’s 4-0 defeat at the King Power Stadium.

Pepe Reina wandered out of his goal in an attempt to cut out a through ball to allow Harvey Barnes to score Leicester’s first.

Jamie Vardy then converted a penalty following a Tyrone Mings handball, though Smith insisted it had hit his shoulder, before he swivelled brilliantly to bag his brace soon after.

And Barnes then scored his second of the game to round off a brilliant performance from the youngster.

Smith told BBC Sport: “A disappointing night, a disappointing scoreline. After the performance in the cup final against Manchester City we thought that might be a turning point. We started well in the first 10 minutes. They took over possession and control of the game. We were solid behind the ball but they were a threat from set-pieces.

“A problem for us this season is defending them. We gave away two or three free headers. We’ve been working on it. Individual mistakes are costing us. We need to get better.

“We made a mistake for the first goal. Pepe came out for a ball he wasn’t going to get and made Barnes’ goal easy. One of my biggest regrets was how we gave the ball away so cheaply against a team who want the football.

“We made a big error. Teams capitalise on our errors. We’ve probably made more individual errors than anyone his season. We were still in it, 1-0 down at half-time. Then they’re given a penalty. It’s very, very harsh. It’s his shoulder. It’s a poor decision. They got it wrong.

“When they get the second, it’s a massive moment.

“The scoreline is a tad harsh on us. We’ve got to make sure we’re tougher to beat that we were. We went 4-4-2 chasing the game at 2-0 and it became a bit basketball, end to end. Then they scored a goal out of nothing. Vardy had four of our players around him. At 3-0 their fans are cock-a-hoop and they’re playing celebrity football.”

 

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