Smith is working on defence in Kort case
DEAN Smith hopes training ground magic will do the trick for new signing Kortney Hause after the defender’s “rusty” debut for Aston Villa.
Hause, who has joined on loan from Wolves, made his bow in claret and blue as a substitute in the 3-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic last Saturday.
It was the 23-year-old centre-back’s first game for close to four months and Smith felt the Londoner’s inactivity was apparent.
“He looked a little bit rusty and got caught on the ball a couple of times,” he said.
“I’ve been a centre-back and it’s very difficult going on into a game and that was difficult for him. He looks rusty, but hopefully the work we’ll do in training will push him on.”
Villa beat off competition from Championship rivals West Brom to land Hause in a loan deal for the rest of the season.
If he plays against Hull City on Saturday, in what would be his Villa Park debut, it will be the first time he has featured in back-to-back games for over a year.
Smith branded last weekend’s surrender at the DW Stadium, where Hause replaced Tommy Elphick in the 63rd minute, as one of his lowest moments as a manager.
Two home matches, with the second against basement side Ipswich, present the perfect opportunity for Villa to get their faltering promotion push back on track after only one win in seven league games.
“What we have to do is make sure when we come back to Villa Park we put in a better performance than we did on Saturday,” Smith said.
The Wigan clash began a four-match sequence of fixtures from which Villa will be expected to pick up a considerable number of points. After the Villa Park clashes, they travel to struggling Reading before another tough run starts with a home game against second-placed Sheffield United.
“We’ve got a run of games where it’s mainly teams below us,” said Smith. “Whereas probably in the previous ten games, it’s been teams who have been above us or around us.
“There’s no guarantees you’re going to win those games. We’ll take it one game at a time and see where we can go with that.”
The Villa hierarchy have a points target in mind as Smith attempts to achieve a promotion that was beyond his predecessor Steve Bruce.
But he does not want his players privy to any such objectives. The boss is mindful of the detrimental impact specific goals can have.
“Between myself, the owners, the sporting director and chief exec, we have our little targets throughout the season, but with the players it’s a game-by-game basis,” Smith said.
“I don’t want to look too far ahead. You could have a target and well exceed that or have a target and come well below it and that can affect the mindset. For me, it’s always about the next game and trying to get three points.”