Dean Smith has described the abuse directed at Villa defender Tyrone Mings as a “witch hunt” after many called the defender’s incident with Nelson Oliveira as an intentional stamp.
Mings, who recently joined Villa on loan, has received no punishment for the incident, which occurred on his debut for Dean Smith’s side.
The on-loan Bournemouth man was involved in the challenge with the Portuguese forward, which left Oliveira with a broken nose that required surgery.
The Villa man would receive lots of abuse online for the incident, with many calling for him to receive a suspension for the challenge.
However, Dean Smith has called out those criticizing the defender, with the Villa boss sticking by his defender.
Smith, speaking to the media ahead of Villa’s clash with Sheffield United on Friday, said via the Birmingham Mail:
It felt to me like it became a bit of a witch hunt for somebody who was assumed to have stamped before because he got banned by the FA.
For me, it was a total accident.
I’m absolutely convinced (he didn’t do it on purpose).
At the time their bench didn’t appeal, none of their players appealed, the fans didn’t know what happened and I didn’t see the incident.
The one person that quickly stopped play was Tyrone as he alerted the referee.
There’s a potential accident in every game.
If someone gets caught by an accidental elbow then we’re talking about that.
It all gets blown out of proportion on Monday morning when nobody knew what happened at the actual time.
Villa will look to keep their small dreams of promotion alive when they host the high flying Blades on Friday evening.
