Smith Won't 'Overthink' Costa Challenge

Friday, April 7th 2017

Korey Smith insists he won’t compromise his own approach if faced by Wolves’ wing wizard Helder Costa this weekend.

Smith, a midfielder by trade, has been deployed at right-back in each of City’s last four matches – two wins followed by two defeats.

Portuguese wide man Costa leads his team-mates in goals (12) and assists (11), and is reportedly attracting interest from some of Europe’s leading clubs – despite only joining Wolves in January for a club-record £13m fee.

“I haven’t played there much – only a few times in my career – so I’m learning with every game that I play in that position,” Smith told Bristol City Player HD. “I’m just trying to give 100 per cent wherever I’m put.

“The analysts show us videos, but I personally don’t like to overthink about one player. I prefer to just go out there and believe in myself, whoever I’m against.

“Sometimes if you overanalyse someone you can start to second guess yourself – thinking they’re going to do one thing when they end up doing something else.

“I like to just play the game as it is and try to beat my opponent on the pitch.”

Smith played under Wolves boss Paul Lambert at Norwich City, who has masterminded five straight victories for tomorrow’s visitors to Ashton Gate (3pm).

But the 26-year-old insists nobody will be getting carried away should City be the team to end the best run of form in the Sky Bet Championship.

“We won two in a row and everyone was absolutely buzzing, but now we’ve lost two,” he added.

“We need to take each game as it comes. If we win on Saturday, we can’t think we’ve cracked it.

“We need to move on to the next one because we’ve got another big game the week after – that’s got to be our mentality for the next six games.”

A crowd in excess of 20,000 is expected for the match against Wolves, which is pay on the day for home supporters. Call 0117 963 0600 or go online to secure your seat.

“Sometimes if you overanalyse someone you can start to second guess yourself."