Dean Smith has revealed to Sky Sports that he praised his Aston Villa players despite their defeat to West Ham United.
Villa lost 2-1 to West Ham last night, but they were hardly outplayed at the London Stadium.
The claret and blues arguably had the better chances on the evening, but they simply couldn’t convert them in front of goal.
And Smith says that he couldn’t be too harsh on Villa’s players at full-time.
“We’ve had enough chances to score more than two goals today and win the game,” he said.
“I thought we were great and that’s what I’ve just said to the players. That’s why it hurts so much.”
Villa were unfortunate right up until almost the last kick of the game, when Ollie Watkins was adjudged to have been offside after putting the ball into the back of the net.
Villa thought they had equalised but, after a VAR review, the strike was chalked off.
Smith’s side have now dropped down into 10th place in the Premier League table, with their next game coming against Newcastle United on Friday evening.
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