Aston Villa manager Dean Smith’s arrival party came to an abrupt end yesterday as they fell to Norwich.
A first half James Chester goal was cancelled out in the second half by Jordan Rhodes, who bagged another with 20 minutes remaining.
This brought Aston Villa’s weakness into sharper focus for the manager, who earned the club only their second win since August on Saturday.
Disappointed fans were very critical of the side that Smith has inherited, with many highlighting the club’s lack of fitness on Twitter. It has been a persistent problem for the Villans this season, letting leads slip late on, and nothing changed against Norwich yesterday.
The fans were also appreciative that this will take time for Smith to remedy, as fitness clearly does not come over night.
The Villans now sit in 16th place in the Championship, although they could slip even lower down the table come this evening.
This is what the fans had to say:
https://twitter.com/Ste47780140/status/1054844098304245760
He’s had less than a week with players and virtually no time to work on improving fitness which in my opinion has been our downfall for several years. The players need to be quicker, stronger and more determined.
— Andy Taplin (@tappo99) October 24, 2018
Squad has too many overrated individuals who will never be the team player needed for the way Smith wants to play. It’s Unbalanced with Gk & defensive problems,no proper playmaking CDM & wide players that lack proper pace & fitness. Got to be patient & give him 3 transfer windows
— Wayne Mitchell (@waynemitch2015) October 24, 2018
Well come on Villa fans…..who genuinely thought it would be an easy throw off of the Bruce tenure. Same squad at least to January, poor fitness levels evident for full 90, missed McGinn, defence needs Terry magic and depth…. Plenty for Smith to do here
— Gary Pearce (@gazapearce) October 23, 2018
Where we seem to struggle is when we play against teams with young players who are fit, pacey, compact and strong. Gets to a point in the game where the other team use that natural fitness and desire to overpower us. We just need a bit more of that and we’ll be ok.
— George Scott Lenton (@lennylents) October 23, 2018
Thought the first half was much better than the Bruce era. Looked sharper and the high press was effective. Second half the energy didn’t seem to be there. Norwich looked much sharper and fitter than us. Losing Tammy and Albert was a blow too. Hogan was useless when he came on
— Robert Whadcock (@Whadders) October 23, 2018
