Aston Villa boss Dean Smith spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of our Premier League clash with Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Naturally, the big talking point was the launch of the European Super League, which initial plans confirmed that six English sides would be involved in it.
READ MORE: How Villa could line up vs Man City: Grealish still out, one Smith change
It seems as though that proposed plan will not go forward as a string of clubs have started to pull out, but it had already sparked a heated backlash from fans, pundits and governing bodies alike who have slammed the idea.
Smith spoke brilliantly about the issue, as seen in the video below, and has rightly been widely praised for his forthright and genuine comments as he shared his opinion on the concept.
"I dreamt of becoming a Premier League manager and my next dream is to break into those Champions League places and challenge again for Aston Villa."
Dean Smith gave his thoughts on the Super League proposals when he sat down for his pre-match press conference earlier today. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/fA09CAvUFZ
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 20, 2021
Meanwhile, as noted above, Villa are in action this week as we look to end a poor run of form against Man City, but captain Jack Grealish will be absent once again as Smith revealed updates on the injured contingent.
“No, he’s not [fit]. I did say it’d be a few weeks before we got him back out again and we’re still waiting for him to get back out onto the grass,” he said on Grealish, as noted by the club’s official site.
“He’s itching to get in and we want him back. We’ve also got Trezeguet who had a nasty knee injury last week and he’s going to be out for a significant time now. He’s had an operation that was successful.
“Morgan Sanson’s got a knee injury as well, so we’re not too sure how long he’ll be out.”
As per the report, Smith went on to praise Ollie Watkins who will be looking to add to his league tally for the season, while as expected, he paid tribute to Man City and conceded that he expects a tough test at Villa Park.
“We have to work extremely hard to match them,” he added. “They’re very good with and without the football.
“If you play in front of them, they’ll press you like many of the top teams do now. They’ve got players who are more than capable on the ball.
“I went to the FA Cup semi-final and I thought Chelsea were excellent against them, restricted them to a few chances and we have to do that as well.
“If you can do that, then with the ball you can create chances against them. It’s hard to do that but you can.”
Time will tell if we can pair a resolute defensive display with quality attacking play to come away with a positive result, but the battle certainly continues for us in terms of trying to secure a top-half finish this season while City have grander ambitions as they hope to take another step towards winning the Premier League title.
