Aston Villa's next manager must copy West Ham and beef up scrawny players

The romantic fan in me would have been happy for Dean Smith to be the manager of Aston Villa for the next decade.

I like Smith a lot, we were apprentices together at Walsall, he's a big Villa fan who genuinely loves the club and I'll always be incredibly grateful to him for getting us back into the Premier League after the difficult, revolving-door years of Steve Bruce, Alex McLeish, Paul Lambert and Remi Garde.

The pundit in me, however, knows results weren't good for some time when Jack Grealish was still at the club but unavailable and that, before he was sold to Manchester City for £100million, he would paper over some of the cracks.

And since he has left, results this season speak for themselves.

There's an argument, of course, that the new players who have come in on the back of the Grealish money haven't yet had time to settle down.

But, even so, it was the right time for Smith to go.

My big concern with Villa of late has been around them being a bit of a soft touch, physically not strong.

They're a nice, neat-and-tidy team to watch at their best, but if you compare them with West Ham, whose start-of-season aspirations are similar, the player profiles of the two sides are night and day.

Villa have plenty of small players who are technically very good — Emi Buendia, John McGinn, Matty Cash and Matt Targett.

They are all very good but don't exude physical strength.

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The same goes for Anwar El Ghazi, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey.

When you look at their opposite numbers down in the East End of London, though, you see technically good players who are also big, solid and strong, and look how that mix is working out for them this season.

It's not even about being giants, either, because alongside big men in Kurt Zouma and Declan Rice they have Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals.

They aren't big height-wise but they are beefed up, while Villa's players look anything from scrawny to half-decent.

So things needed to change on that front and they now need someone who can develop players and strengthen the physical profile.

And it isn't all doom and gloom, because for whoever comes in there's a lot to work with.

They have a really vibrant academy and structure at the club, and they have wealthy owners who aren't here to mess around.

They want to be where West Ham are yesterday, and that's why they acted.

What they need in their new coach is a new voice to take the squad on and someone who will make them stronger physically and mentally, and the club will kick on.

As for Smith, he has now worked for a big club having already worked within a good structure at Brentford.

And if you're a big, old, traditional club with a good structure in the Championship, or a club at that level that is progressive, then he would fit with you hand in glove.

I'd be having a little sabbatical now if I were him but it won't be long before his phone starts ringing as those inevitable opportunities begin to pop up.