Aston Villa boss Dean Smith suggested that he played Ross Barkley in the wrong position during their 3-1 Premier League defeat at home to West Ham United, while speaking to the club’s official website.
David Moyes’ high-flying Hammers might have gone into the game a few places and a few points better off than their Midland-based rivals, but the gulf in class between the season’s two surprise packages on Wednesday night was certainly an eye-opener.
The visitors outplayed Aston Villa all over the pitch during a statement 3-1 win which, in truth, flattered the hosts.
Jack Grealish was rendered largely anonymous by the irrepressible Vladimir Coufal, while Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna (arguably the league’s most reliable centre-half partnership) restricted Villa to half chances until Ollie Watkins’ late consolation.
At the other end, two-goal hero Jesse Lingard produced about as impressive a debut performance as you will ever see, dovetailing beautifully with Said Benrahma and the human cannonball that is Michail Antonio.
Speaking after a result which leaves Villa eight points off the top four, Smith admitted that he got the balance of his midfield wrong after a dominant display from Thomas Soucek, Declan Rice and the swaggering Lingard.
“The ball broke down too often, and we just weren’t our usual selves. There’s not many times I’ve had to come out and be disappointed with a performance, this is one of them, the best team won on the night,” said Smith, who partnered Barkley with John McGinn in front of Douglas Luiz in the engine room.
“I’ll have to reflect. I changed the system a little bit here, just tweaked it and went one and the two in midfield. Upon reflection, a two and one probably would have suited us better. And Ross as well as a No.10.”
With West Ham dominating the midfield battle, Barkley was almost completely ineffectual until he was replaced by Trezeguet with 20 minutes remaining.
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