Aston Villa: Fans slate Dean Smith for taking off Mbwana Samatta in the Carabao Cup final

By Kealan Hughes

Posted on 2 March 2020, 6:50

Aston Villa: Fans slate Dean Smith for taking off Mbwana Samatta in the Carabao Cup final - Aston Villa

Aston Villa fought until the end against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final but they couldn’t do enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat.

Bjorn Engels came vitally close to a last-gasp equaliser when Claudio Bravo touched his header onto the post but it wasn’t to be after Mbwana Samatta gave his side a chance by reducing the deficit before half-time.

The striker scored a well-taken header following Anwar El Ghazi’s perfect cross, taking his tally for the club to two goals.

However, he struggled to influence proceedings from that moment up against John Stones and Fernandinho, and that led Dean Smith to take him off with ten minutes to go, despite Villa chasing a goal.

That decision shocked quite a few fans, who reacted to the change by criticising Smith, as the call failed to produce a match-changing moment that he was hoping for.

Keinan Davis took Samatta’s place but couldn’t get on the ball enough to make a difference, leading the following comments to be made.

That's it, I'm done. 2-1 down in a cup final, need to go for it and he takes a goal scorer off. He's clueless. Time to go Smith.

— Mark (@G1MDS) March 1, 2020

Shocking decision

— charlie (@broughy1993) March 1, 2020

Stupidity level 💯💯💯😔

— henry kidulile (@henrykidulile) March 1, 2020

Thems the decisions that make us wonder about dean.

— Cj jack (@CjAvfc78) March 1, 2020

Shocking decision. Remove our only threat in the final 10 down 1. Smh

— Mackey (@KenKmack) March 1, 2020

Zero confidence in Smith now

— James Burton (@RNJim2004) March 1, 2020

Why would you sub off the only hope? someone who can change the game for you in any moment, this is a shock, Dean doesn’t know what he is doing🙄

— John Alfred (@johnalfred853) March 1, 2020