Carra: Villa must ‘feel they can get someone better than Smith’
Jamie Carragher believes that Aston Villa made the decision to sack Dean Smith because the club feels “they can get someone better”.
Smith was relieved of his duties on Sunday after the Villans suffered their fifth successive defeat on Friday night against Southampton.
Villa chief executive Christian Purslow said in a statement on the club’s website: “This year we have not seen the continuous improvement in results, performances and league position which we have all been looking for.
“For this reason we have decided to make a change now to allow time for a new head coach to make an impact.”
Newcastle find their weekend in Brighton to be very accommodating
And Carragher has given his opinion on Villa’s decision, saying on Sky Sports: “We all felt it going into the Friday night game.
“It’s interesting with managers. If a manager feels his goalkeeper or striker’s not good enough, he’ll change them. Now clubs look at managers like that.
“In the past it had to be really bad to sack the manager. That’s what it feels like with Manchester United, they’re waiting for it to get that bad.
“Villa obviously feel they can get someone better than Dean Smith – he did really well last season! In the past you’d get a run of 10 bad games. The international break is an absolute killer for managers.”
Smith is the second Premier League managerial casualty of the weekend.
Norwich City sacked Daniel Farke on Saturday, hours after the Canaries won their first league match of the season away to Brentford.
Farke had been under increasing pressure after the Canaries failed to win any of their opening ten games in the top flight this term.
Sporting director Stuart Webber said on canaries.co.uk: “In continuing to demand the very best for our football club, this decision was not an easy one.
“I know how determined Daniel and his staff were to succeed at this level, but we feel that now is the right time for a change to give ourselves the best opportunity of retaining our Premier League status.”
