Aston Villa boss Dean Smith admits it's been difficult leaving out Conor Hourihane.
The midfielder has lost his place this season to on-loan Chelsea attacker Ross Barkley.
"Conversations can be difficult but if you're just speaking to the players with honesty then you usually find a way through that," Smith explained, when asked about telling Hourihane he'd be dropped for the Liverpool game last month. "I wouldn't say it's easy but it's part and parcel of your job.
"We'd played two, won two and Conor had come off in both games. We signed Ross and I felt we needed to go a different way against Liverpool given who we were playing against. I explained that to Conor and, yes, he was disappointed because he had been involved in the first two games but we felt we'd brought in a real, high-calibre, different type of player.
"It is what it is but I want all of my players to be disappointed when they're getting left out of the team but I'll do it with honesty intact."
