Brighton 0-3 Aston Villa: Mitoma only player to score a six in ratings

The public have spoken. After WAB tried to claim the Albion performance in Brighton 0-3 Aston Villa was not as bad as the scoreline would suggest, you lot have scored 15 of the 16 players involved lower than a six in the player ratings.

Brutal stuff. But admittedly very enjoyable. Player ratings like these always are because they tend to be accompanied by unasked for yet magnificent pieces of commentary.

“Adringa getting a 6? What the **** are you lot on?” being a classic of the genre. “Please can someone remind me why we sold Ruairi McConville and bought Eiran Cashin?” asked another Seagulls supporter.

“Why does Bart Verbruggen forget how to be a goalkeeper every three games?” was a personal favourite. One for an in-depth Sunday night feature written whilst consuming a bottle of Malbec, perhaps…

Anyway, Kaoru Mitoma was the sole individual who scored higher than a six. Congratulations to the Japanese Bullet Train.

And commiserations to everyone else involved in this sorry set of Brighton 0-3 Aston Villa player ratings.

Bart Verbruggen – 4.75

The first thing you get told when you are a kid playing in goal is be decisive. Make a decision and stick with it. Verbruggen ignored the golden rule of goalkeeping by not knowing whether he was coming or going for Villa’s opener.

Jack Hinshelwood – 5.38

Take the blue and white tinted spectacles off and you have to conclude Hinshelwood was remarkably lucky not to concede a first half penalty for his challenge on Jacob Ramsey.

Jan Paul van Hecke – 5.63

Not at his commanding best with Marcus Rashford giving him a testing time. Still managed to put in some decent challenges.

Lewis Dunk – 5.38

The Albion captain returns to the starting XI and Brighton ship three goals on their way to losing an eight game unbeaten run. Dunk has never been the quickest player, but it was quite sad watching the way Rashford escaped him when Villa took the lead.

Pervis Estupinan – 5.75

With Mitoma topping the Brighton 0-3 Villa ratings, there should have been space and opportunities for him to join the attack. In theory. In practice, he did not offer much at all.

Diego Gomez – 5.00

Asked to play the Carlos Baleba role with the Cameroon midfielder rested. Did not really suit as evidenced by the way Villa broke from a Brighton corner for their first goal and Gomez failed to get remotely close to breaking up the counter, as Baleba would have.

Yasin Ayari – 5.63

Came closer than anyone to scoring for the Albion when his lovely free kick was tipped onto the woodwork by Emiliano Martinez. Seemed to bear the brunt of online criticism afterwards which was a little unfair.

Simon Adingra – 5.38

One day I will go back through all Adingra’s previous player ratings and work out how many say something along the lines of “Played on the right wing when we all know he is much more effective down the left.” Guess what? He played on the right wing here when we all know he is much more effective down the left.

Brajan Gruda – 5.38

Deserved to start in the number 10 role in place of the injured Georginio Rutter following his cameo off the bench against Forest at the weekend. Did not really have much impact as Brighton struggled to really get him into the game.

KAORU MITOMA – 6.13

The best of a bad bunch. Forced Martinez in a rare piece of work and set up the chance which Adingra put away three minutes after Rashford score. The only problem being the ball hit Mitoma’s bicep and then arm on before it made its way to Adingra, giving VAR an excuse to disallow it for handball.

Joao Pedro – 5.00

Pretty ineffective leading the line in the number nine role. Withdrawn – you would hope – with one eye on Saturday and the small matter of a trip to Crystal Palace

Eiran Cashin – 3.38

We may have a new record for time taken for player to be written off by half the Albion fanbase; Cashin getting the treatment just 18 minutes into his Brighton career. Got dragged terribly out of position for Villa’s second goal and came nowhere near blocking the third despite being on the scene. I liked him because he looked like he was being directed around by a kid using a PlayStation controller, suggesting there is plenty more entertainment to come.

Carlos Baleba – 5.13

Tired though he may be, Brighton needed Baleba to start against a midfield as physical and a team as good at counter attacking as Villa. Although having said that, two of three goals the visitors scored came with Baleba on the pitch…

Danny Welbeck – 4.88

Like Baleba, this was a game crying out for Welbeck. And also like Baleba, things ended up getting worse once he did eventually come on.

Mats Wieffer – 4.38

Man who has never played right back in his life before comes on at right back and struggles shocker. Knocked over by Ollie Watkins as Villa went 2-0 up. VAR took a look and concluded the goal could stand. Probably the right decision as it is hard to imagine Wieffer would have prevented Marco Asensio scoring.

Matt O’Riley – 4.63

87th minute introduction whose only contribution was to be on the pitch for Villa’s third.

The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via social media. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter or We Are Brighton on Bluesky and look out for the player rating thread after each game.