Aston Villa parted ways with manager Dean Smith on Sunday afternoon – and Gary Lineker is far from impressed with their decision.
Villa lost 1-0 away at Southampton on Friday night, meaning they have now lost each of their last five Premier League games.
There was always going to be a period of adjustment after losing Jack Grealish, but Villa look worse than expected.
Smith hasn’t quite brought his summer signings together in a cohesive unit, and has now paid with his job.
Villa’s form isn’t just a recent problem though, as they also fell away under Smith last season too.
Villa won just five of their last 17 Premier League games to end last season.
There were five draws in that run and a troubling seven defeats, leaving Villa in the bottom half of the table.
Smith really needed a strong start to this season to prove that he was the man for Villa’s future, but it just hasn’t happened.
Not many people seem to be talking about last season’s fall-off, and Match of the Day host Lineker has now slammed Villa’s decision.
Lineker has taken to Twitter to suggest that Villa’s decision is ‘knee-jerk’, ‘panicky’ and ‘rubbish’ after five straight defeats.
Yet when you factor in that form to end last season, you can maybe understand why Villa had concerns about Smith even before this run.
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