Brentford star explains how Aston Villa fell for their 'mind games' | OneFootball

Brentford midfielder Romaine Sawyers says Aston Villa fell hook, line and sinker for their trick on Wednesday.

The Bees won 1-0 thanks to a 91st minute Neal Maupay winner – a result which moves them up to 15th in the Championship and just four points behind 10th-placed Villa.

In the build-up to the game, Brentford boss Thomas Frank said his side would line up in a 4-4-2 formation but in reality, they actually played their usual 3-5-2.

And Sawyers insists it was all a ruse designed to deceive Villa boss Dean Smith on his return to Griffin Park.

“It’s all mind games,” said Sawyers after the game.

“We tried to throw him [Smith] off what we were going to do by indirectly lying as to the formation we were playing.

“We’ve changed formation since he’s left so we tried to keep him guessing as to what we were going to do.”

Smith – who spent three years in charge of the West London outfit – slammed the referee afterwards for what he believed was a failure to award a penalty for a foul on Tammy Abraham.

“I’ve seen it, and seen it back since, some of the decisions this season have been pathetic,” said Smith.

“They’re professional men and should be working hard to be in the right position to see them.

“We aren’t getting some of the big decisions.

“We should’ve had a penalty.

“We can’t control officials and we have to get on with our part of our game.”

Brentford travel to face Swansea City in the FA Cup this weekend, while Villa host local rivals West Brom in the Championship.