Aston Villa lost 2-0 at Southampton.
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has labelled his side’s performance against Southampton an embarrassment after they crashed to a 2-0 defeat, Birmingham Mail report.
Goals from Shane Long and Stuart Armstrong gave the Saints all three points.
It was nothing less than the home side deserved after they dominated Villa throughout. Southampton had 28 shots compared to Villa’s four, with nine on target.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Smith feels some Villa players let themselves down.
“My feelings are one of embarrassment, I suppose. The performance was dreadful highlighted in the first 20 minutes. Players who last week you’d said put in good performances were poor today,” Smith explained.
“The thing that hurt me the most was a that lack of fight, particularly in the first half. I thought Watford (away) was bad but today was on a par with that.”
“They were poor today. It’s not about me, it’s about them. They’ve let themselves down.”
Villa headed into the game with players looking to cement a starting place ahead of next weekend’s Carabao Cup final with Manchester City.
That should have given the side extra motivation. However, the Villans were second best throughout, and they leave themselves with plenty of work to do.
Dean Smith’s side remain in 17th position in the Premier League table, one point above Watford who play on Sunday and West Ham United who travel to Liverpool on Monday.
Villa will be hoping for a favour or two as they may well be back in the bottom three by the time they face Leicester City away on March 9.
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