Former Aston Villa man Lee Hendrie believes that Dean Smith should have settled for a draw against Tottenham on Sunday.
The hosts continued to play in an open and expansive fashion and were punished late in stoppage time as Heung-Min Son raced through and scored the winner for Tottenham.
Hendrie feels Smith should have encouraged his team to settle for the point. When speaking on the BBC’s Football Daily podcast, Hendrie said:
I think that’s where Dean [Smith] got it slightly wrong. I think hes got to shut up shop and take the point, a very good point against Spurs.
That’s where you’ve got to see the game out.
READ ASTON VILLA VERDICT
Villa dominated the ball in the game and ended the match with 54% possession compared to Tottenham’s 46% (BBC Sport).
This shows that Smith was encouraging his side to take the game to Tottenham, which is fine, but in the closing stages of a crucial match like that and with a point being so valuable, we believe he should have used more defensive reinforcements.
Although it was an individual mistake that cost Villa the point, their open playing style was consistent throughout the match, proven by the fact that Spurs had an incredible 23 shots with ten on target, a lot of them coming late in the second half.
Maybe, if Smith opted to set up his side in a more defensive style for the last couple of minutes, they could have come away with a draw to see them move two points away from the relegation zone.
