Dean Smith made a comment about Aston Villa’s defensive options that may offend Steve Bruce, the manager Smith replaced earlier this month, reports Birmingham Live.
The Villa boss was asked about what choices he had to play centre-back prior to Tuesday’s defeat to Norwich City and played down the prospect of using Mile Jedinak and Alan Hutton in the makeshift role like Bruce did before his sacking.
Smith said: “We were a little bit short defensively. We’ve only got two centre-halves, really. Mile (Jedinak) can play there and Alan Hutton has played there but Axel and James Chester are our centre-backs and I thought it was the right decision to put them together.