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Paul Merson and Jamie Redknapp believe Dean Smith deserves time to turn around Aston Villa’s fortunes, but the latter warned their first-half showing on Friday was the the type of performance to get him sacked.

The 1-0 defeat to Southampton was Villa’s fifth straight defeat. Adam Armstrong struck on three minutes and Villa could not recover to sink ever closer to the relegation zone. Just three points separate them from 17th-placed Burnley. They have conceded 13 goals in those games and scored just five and the alarm bells are ringing at Villa Park.

Things had looked so differently in September when wins over Everton and Manchester United looked like Villa had made light work of losing Jack Grealish.

Smith will come under increased pressure after a poor first half led to another loss despite rallying after the interval.

Asked if he feels he will be given the time to address the recent results, Smith replied: “I have no idea.”

When asked how much patience the club should show with Smith, Merson told Sky Sports: “Plenty. I think he’s a good manager and I think he needs time. Jack Grealish was a big footballer for Aston Villa. He was their main player, so Smith needs time.

“As he said, and he never really makes excuses, but he’s got five or six players out that (usually) play. I hear managers saying they are not having much luck with injuries and then you look at the list and one of them plays out of six. The players out for Villa are all big players and Smith needs them back in the team.

“Also, what he said about six lads coming through the academy and being on the bench, that’s big stuff. You are playing in the Premier League and you are bringing youngsters through at the same time. For me, keep him in there because he will give the kids a chance as well. So, yes, keep the faith.”

Fellow pundit Redknapp agreed: “The first-half performance is the sort of performance that will get a manager the sack, but they came out second-half, showed some desire and they made some chances.

“They were not the clear-cut chances you would have liked but look at Smith and the players he’s got injured. He’s got no Danny Ings, no Bertrand Traore, no Morgan Sanson and no Douglas Luiz. They are players that can do something and that are really important. So, I think they just have to be very careful.

“They’ve lost their talisman and their best player in Jack Grealish so whoever was going to take on the group was going to find this because they were so reliant on him. Every time I watched Villa without Grealish they were poor. So, for that reason, you’ve got to give him time to get the likes of Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey playing to a level they can.”

Smith was probed about his future in the post-match press conference on the south coast. And the former Walsall boss said he would not worry about things out of his control.

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Smith confident he can turn things around

“I have never had any control of that so I never worry about it. I always concentrate on my job day to day and continue to do that,” added Smith.

“I’m very confident if given time that we will turn it around with the squad we have got, and the payers we have got coming back (from injury).

“I feel disappointed obviously. I think we have got a strong squad here, at the moment we are struggling a little it with injuries.

“Five defeats seems to have come form nowhere a little bit. There have been some tight games, poor decisions go against us, but the lads left everything out there today and you can see their support and how they wanted to get a result today.”

Smith felt his side did not play with enough intensity in the first half but is happier with the performances in defeats to West Ham and Southampton than in the game before that at Arsenal.

“It was obvious a much better second-half performance, we played with a lot more intensity,” he added.

“I thought we got pressure on them, I don’t think our pressure was good enough in the first half. We tried to change that mid-game. It is much harder to do that but we did it, put it right and thought we were the better team second half. They were the better team first half.

“I actually think I felt a lot worse after the Arsenal game. Our last two performances have shown a lot of intensity and character.

“The fans that were here tonight saw the effort the lads put in and they need to continue showing that.”

READ MORE: Smith issues rallying cry and reveals why all not lost at Aston Villa

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