Dean Smith told Sky Sports during their live coverage of Aston Villa’s win at Leeds on Saturday that his side played ‘safe’ because of the Elland Road surface.
Villa recorded a deserved 1-0 over Leeds yesterday, with Anwar El Ghazi scoring the only goal of the game.
Ever since Leeds re-laid the Elland Road turf in January, it has caused a number of problems and has been a talking point for players.
It seems as though Villa were aware of that issue, hence their change of tactics, as Smith also shared that his side opted to play a ‘lower block’ in the second half.
“I thought we pressed them really well in the first half,” said Smith. “Probably made it a little too open, at times.
“But second half we wanted to go with a lower block and restricted them to fewer chances in the second half.
“It wasn’t a top to be building up from the back because the pitch was a little bit choppy and cut up. People were slipping. We wanted to play safe first, and we did that today.”
For Villa, it was an impressive victory against tough opposition, who have been blitzing many teams before them this season.
What will be even more pleasing for this Villa side is that they secured the points without their star man Jack Grealish.
Villa’s next trip is a clash against bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United and then a home tie against Wolves – those in B6 will be hoping their expert ball-carrier is back for the Midlands showdown next week.
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