Dean Smith took a moment when he left the field after his first relegation as a manager to respond to the applause coming from the four corners of Villa Park. The moment came shortly after Norwich’s sixth Premier League relegation, a record confirmed.
As Burnley set up a late comeback to win at Watford and move away from Norwich, goals from Olli Watkins and Danny Ings helped Aston Villa win their first win in six games. This left Villa with 40 points, all of which did not secure its own status.
Steven Gerrard was gracious enough to pay tribute to the work his predecessor did at Villa Park and predict that Norwich will again be a challenge for promotion next season.
“I’m disappointed with Norwich and Dean, but it would always be a huge mountain to climb, and I have no doubt they will be favorites to return,” said the Villa manager, who took over after Smith left here in November.
Smith will be remembered at the Villa for their exciting triumph in the playoffs in 2019. His second-tier name, where he also thrives with Brentford, should be a positive factor for the archetypal yo-yo club.
“Unfortunately, our performances during the season were not good enough,” Smith said. “We lacked the necessary quality in this league.
“My reaction is bitter disappointment and I take full responsibility. In the last four or five weeks, there has probably been an inevitability for this. We haven’t improved enough to stay in the league, but there is certainly a lot to do. There are some really good players in this football club who I think can get better, but they think that the step towards the Premier League is a bit difficult. “
Danny Ings fought Sam Eid during Aston Villa’s victory over Norwich. Photo: Rebecca Naden / Reuters
The most important first goal came after a forced change. Leon Bailey was replaced with an ankle injury and the first touch of Ings, the substitute, led Watkins to score his ninth Premier League goal of the season.
Watkins was live all day, shooting volley in the sixth minute and constantly threatening to fall behind. His goal always seemed likely to provide a springboard for Villa to play on the counterattack, while allowing Norwich to enjoy relatively innocuous possession.
The English striker’s explosive finish came within a minute of a first-half substitution that encouraged Gerard to make a key tactical change. After Bailey, who had a superb left-footed shot aimed at Tim Krul’s crossbar as Villa chased an early break, came out, Ings’ appearance allowed Villa to move to midfield, with Philippe Coutinho on top. .
Ings took a position high and wide on the left, and his first contribution was a long diagonal that led Watkins to escape into the inner right channel in a one-on-one battle with Brandon Williams.
As Watkins passed the ball up, Williams slipped, and Villa’s lead scorer calmed down before striking with his right foot, slightly deflected by Sam Bajram, high in the net.
Ings headed for the crossbar at the start of the second half as Villa continued to create chances. Norwich was closest to scoring when Amy Martinez made a brilliant save from Milot Rashika in the middle of the first half, but Villa deserved the victory, which was sealed in added time when Amy Buendía’s attempt to control fell to Ings to spin and shoot at home.
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Gerard said his team looked better when they had two up front, but wanted the option to play with different systems. Either way, he wants his team to be more ruthless.
“It helps when you play with top strikers,” he said. “I would like to have more killers in the team, as we had a chance to score more than two goals. If we had been ruthless before, I think we would have run away with the game. But as for Danny and Ollie, I’m really happy with them.
“I want the top of the field to be unpredictable, I want to have options and I want to have players who can create different problems to make us universal. But the back of the team remained almost the same and we had five clean of nine and two in a row, so we’re doing a lot of right things from a defensive point of view. “
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