DON’T GET STUCK GET STUCK IN!

Smith wants Villa to get nasty in relegation scrap

DEAN SMITH has called on his tackle-shy Aston Villa stars to get a bit nastier.

Villa slipped into the relegation zone on Sunday when they were thumped 6-1 at home by Manchester City.

As if the goal tally wasn’t bad enough, Smith was seething that his men only managed five fouls against their name and made just eight tackles.

The Villa boss is targeting six wins to earn safety with a crucial three-match run of league games against Brighton, Watford and

Bournemouth in the pipeline. Smith has told his men that going down with a whimper isn’t an option and let them know how angry he was they never laid a glove on City.

Smith said: “We need to be a little bit nastier. If you are on the pitch and not getting a kick of the ball then you need to do something to spark the team off.

“We gave a very good Man City side a helping hand, not just in terms of giving them three soft goals, but just not engaging with them.

“The players know they are going to have to battle and scrap. We need to be more aggressive in the way we play.” “We paid City far too much respect. We never made any contact with their players and that’s inexcusable.” Villa are hoping to ease their striker crisis by landing Tanzanian international Ally Samatta (left) in an £8.5million deal from Belgian side Genk.

The 27-year-old was due to land in England last night but a deal won’t be completed before Villa’s six-pointer at

Brighton

Saturday.

Samatta has also been on Crystal Palace’s radar but it now appears Villa have moved to the front of the queue.

Time needed to sort out medicals and work permits mean that Samatta won’t be available to play anywhere this weekend.

Villa are desperate to get more firepower after losing £22m signing Wesley for the rest of the season.

The Brazilian frontman damaged knee ligaments at Burnley on New Year’s Day. on