Dean Smith thinks West Brom fans could be annoyed, unless Shan changes tactics

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Aston Villa take on West Bromwich Albion in the Championship play-offs this summer.

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has told the Daily Mail that he can see West Bromwich Albion fans being unhappy tonight unless James Shan changes his approach.

Villa and West Brom met in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final on Saturday afternoon, with Villa coming out 2-1 winners.

Dwight Gayle put West Brom ahead, but Conor Hourihane and Tammy Abraham found the net to give Villa a slight advantage ahead of tonight’s second leg.

West Brom will certainly need to improve if they’re going to reach the final, and fans were left a little frustrated with the style of play on Saturday.

Interim boss Shan set up on the counter-attack, meaning they had just 31% of possession, five shots on goal and two on target, giving Villa the majority of the game.

Now, Smith has admitted that he would be ‘amazed’ if Shan doesn’t change up the style tonight, admitting he expects a different game.

Smith also piled the pressure on his inexperienced counterpart, suggesting that the West Brom fans will be unhappy unless Shan adopts a more attacking approach than he did on Saturday afternoon.

“I’ll be amazed if they’re not different,” said Smith. “I wouldn’t expect a Hawthorns crowd to be happy with them sat behind the ball and to let us have a lot of possession. I expect a different game, that’s for sure,” he added.