Liam Rosenior admits that he thought Dean Smith would have had ‘more of an instant impact’ on Aston Villa

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Aston Villa recorded a score draw away at Stoke City on Saturday afternoon in the Championship.

Sky Sports pundit Liam Rosenoir has admitted that he expected Dean Smith to have had ‘more of an instant impact’ at Aston Villa following their 1-1 draw at Stoke City on Saturday afternoon.

Smith replaced the sacked Steve Bruce in October and he initially began on the front foot, winning against the likes of Swansea City, Derby, Middlesbrough and Birmingham City.

However, since the turn of the year, his team have recorded only one win and have struggled to put together decent performances as they fall further away from the promotion pack.

Speaking to EFL Championship Goals on Sky Sports Football (23/02/2019), Rosenoir made it clear that Villa’s problem this season has been their leaky defence.

“I thought Dean would have more of an instant impact than he has done,” Rosenoir told Sky Sports Football. “He started really well. I remember the great performance at Middlesbrough and they were in touching distance of the playoffs.

“But they have tailed off lately. They need to get a run of form back towards the end of the season. They have struggled in defence. Conceding a lot of goals. They lost Chester through a big period of time. Brought back Elphick.

“But [third] most goals conceded. You would never associate a Villa team with your Bolton’s, Rotherham’s and Ipswich’s in terms of keeping clean sheets and not keeping the goal out of your net.”

Villa’s problems at the back stem from the start of the season under Bruce when they kept only one clean sheet under his stewardship before Smith took over.

While the former Brentford man did start off with a 1-0 win against Swansea, since the injuries to the likes of Axel Tuanzebe, Jack Grealish and James Chester, their defensive problems have worsened.

Over the course of this campaign, they have conceded 53 goals from their 34 league matches, only Rotherham and Ipswich Town, who are sitting in the relegation zone, have conceded more.

On top of that, during their previous campaign, the West Midlands outfit only shipped 42 goals, but unfortunately for them, they have and will continue to surpass that mark as the seasons concludes.