Brighton 0-3 Villa: Albion lost game billed must-not-lose game
If Champions League football is to come to Sussex for the first time, it felt like Brighton 0-3 Aston Villa was the sort of game the Albion could not afford to lose.
Perhaps this explains the despondency at the result come full time? Because – tin hat on here – the performance was not actually that bad. At least… not actually that bad in small parts.
Take periods of the first half for example. Brighton were maybe marginally better than a side good enough to be Champions League quarter finalists. Who are coached by one of the best managers in the Premier League.
And who have an absolutely outrageous record when it comes to playing the Albion. All those factors combined mean we should maybe not be surprised to have taken nothing from the game.
The problem was giving away three ridiculously poor goals. There has been a clamour to blame Stuart Attwell for Brighton 0-3 Villa.
And whilst he and the officiating team did make some questionable decisions, they were not the ones who caused Brighton to concede from their own corner.
Or made Eiran Cashin look like he was being controlled by a kid on a PlayStation when getting in a total mess from another Villa counter.
Not for the first time under Fabian Hurzeler, the Albion were done by a team who are strong defensively. Happy to sit back. And break ruthlessly.
Finishing in the top five will be very difficult for Brighton all the time they have this Achilles heel, meaning opponents who set up in a certain way always have a great chance of taking points when visiting the Amex.
For all the criticism of the officials, it is also worth remembering the Albion were fortunate not to concede a penalty when the scores were 0-0.
Jacob Ramsey went down under a challenge in the box from Jack Hinshelwood. VAR took a look but ruled there was not sufficient contact. We have seen Brighton awarded spot kicks in similar circumstances in the past. A let off.
Yasin Ayari went for a goal via an excellent free kick tipped onto the woodwork by Emiliano Martinez before Villa took the lead on 39 minutes.
Over came a Brighton corner, headed at Martinez by Jan Paul van Hecke. From there, the Villa goalkeeper released Morgan Rogers with a quick roll out.
Rogers went long to Marcus Rashford, who ran from inside his own half to beat Bart Verbruggen. Diego Gomez got his cover totally wrong. Dunk looked like he had an Eddie Stobart lorry attached to his back as he tried to keep pace with Rashford.
Verbruggen meanwhile made the cardinal sin for a goalkeeper of getting caught in two minds between leaving his line or staying. Making it easy for Rashford to score his first Premier League goal in Villa colours.
I much preferred Rashford when he was leader of the opposition and feeding hungry kids, rather than netting against Brighton.
The Albion response was instant. Kaoru Mitoma crossed and Simon Adingra lashed home. Mr Attwell was sent to the monitor and ruled Mitoma had used his hand in the build up.
That moment seemed to knock the wind out of Brighton sails. The Albion barely created a chance after the break, clearly needing some form of inspiration to try and change things from the bench.
Maybe it was tiredness from FA Cup quarter final elimination at the hands of Nottingham Forest on Saturday which prevented Hurzeler turning to his substitutes until a quadruple change on 72 minutes.
Unai Emery in contrast went for a triple substitution of his own seven minutes earlier. For all those Albion fans complaining about Villa being dull or defensive, Emery threw on two attackers in Ollie Watkins and Marco Asensio.
The visitors wanted to wrap the game up. They duly did that when adding a second 13 minutes after Emery’s intervention.
Cashin got sucked into an area of the pitch no centre back should be. Rogers easily skipped past him. For the second time on the night after Dunk chasing down Rashford, we had a Brighton defender looking as if they were running through treacle after a Villa forward.
Rogers crossed and Asensio calmly steered the ball past Verbruggen. Mats Wieffer was sent to ground in the build up which a few Albion supporters have spuriously claimed meant the goal should be disallowed.
VAR took a look. Wieffer was never getting there to clear though, and so there was no real impact on play. Rather than questioning Mr Attwell over that one, we should probably be asking what Hurzeler was thinking bringing on Wieffer at right back.
Solly March has actually played as a full back before in his life and although only just returning from a minor layoff, surely could have handled 20 minutes at the end?
The Amex emptied at that point. Those Seagulls supporters who stayed to the bitter end were treated to the visitors making it Brighton 0-3 Villa with virtually the last kick of the game.
It was another Emery substitute who notched. Donyell Malen easily beating the attempted block from Cashin to drive across Verbruggen and into the far corner.
Hurzeler cut a pretty despondent figure in his post-match interview with the BBC. Short, shrift answers were the order of the day.
He knows this was a hugely disappointing result in the push for Europe. Hopefully, he also knows that defeat is not an option on Saturday.
Crystal Palace have not completed a league double over Brighton since the 1932-33 season. No pressure or anything… but please don’t lose to that lot up the road twice for the first time in 92 years.
