I’ve had to have a bit of a break away from the computer so I could compose my thoughts, as I’m frankly fuming.
We had loads of the play and created lots of chances, but still lost it quite straightforwardly.
I keep seeing it written that our defence is good, but I’m sorry, I just don’t see it in the slightest.
It’s not like they were called into action that much, but when they were, did they ever convince you?
They certainly didn’t me and more than once it was a good thing Martinez was alert and came off his line early.
I can’t pick one defender out in particular, but we just seem majorly lacking as a unit.
Pushing up as high as we did doesn’t help matters, but it’s almost like we totally forget that defending is part of the game.
Brighton hadn’t shown any hint of a threat before they scored and that says everything to me.
There was quite a lot that went on in the game, with Lamptey, who looked quite useful, getting sent off and Maupay, who probably winds players up as well as anyone I’ve seen for years not getting sent off, to Targett petulantly fouling and also lucky to not not go off. It was a bit of a shame really, as I didn’t feel it was a nasty game.
But the big one has to be the Penalty that wasn’t. Or was, depending on how you saw it.
I’ll tell you now, I saw it live and thought it wasn’t a penalty.
In fact, in a game where Trez looked like he couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo, I was going to give him move of the game if we’d have been given it.
I saw it replayed about ten times. And it still isn’t a penalty for me.
That’s going to be contentious to say the least, but it’s how I saw it.
Yes, there was contact. No doubt about it.
But I can’t get away from the fact that I thought Trez set himself up for it.
Watch his foot and he’s planted the front of it, to pull himself forward after he’d already lost control of the ball.
And it’s that last bit that does it for me.
I know. They get given all the time. But I think when they do, they’re 100% wrong.
I don’t see how you can be fouled when you’ve lost control of the ball.
If there’s intent, fair enough, that’s a penalty. But otherwise, if you haven’t deprived the player of a chance, no way.
I know the argument is that there was contact.
But I’d just say look at that as a Brighton fan and how would you have felt?
Again, I can see the argument being “I know what you mean, but there was contact and that’s enough”.
To which I’d say it’s a contact sport, simple.
Or is it?
Regardless, I very much suspect I’ll be in the minority, mostly because that’s just how it’s been for years. It still doesn’t make it right for me, even if we know the usual suspects will always get that type of call.
Anyway, it’s not that big a deal to me really.
Brighton did enough to win and our defence didn’t do enough when required.
I can pick flies with individual performances, but there was no-one particularly bad and many things can maybe be excused by tiredness.
Ultimately though, Brighton took their chances and we didn’t.
And that says it all.
I’m still fuming though.
I know we don’t have a right to beat anyone.
But when you beat Liverpool, Arsenal and Leicester, these results just look so, so stupid.
Oh well.
West Ham away next, where we’ll hopefully do better.
Comments
63 responses to “Villa 1- 2 Brighton; Who are you going to blame?”
It’s just incredibly annoying, isn’t it?
we got beaten by a decent side who haven’t been getting their rub of the green. but today i think they did just that. the pen was a stonewall penalty. yes the defend slightly touched the ball before catching trez. but he did follow through and it was a foul outside the box so its a foul inside. also the var can only get involved for a obvious mistake and that was not a obvious mistake as you will see it will split ppl fans up and down the country. so hardly obvious mistake.
villa had to press high against brighton because if you dont press high, they will just pass the ball around the back. to press successfully you need to all press high or you will get stretched trying to cover all bases.
i thought they deserved the win cause they took their chances and we didnt simple as that. but the internationals didnt help us one bit. grealish looked like he has played three games in a week hang on he has, he looked leggy second half and he is our most influential player. so second half were he would take it too them more and more he just ran out of steam. but brighton pressed us and stopped us creating and scoring just did enough. except for the referee blunder that is
i think we would have won this had this game not happened just after the internationals. even if this game happened monday that could have helped us. luis and mcginn both also looked very heavy legged. well its same for all teams innit.
ban the internationals especially meaningless friendlies ppl cant leave their towns but footy can move around spreading god knows what
i forgot barkley injury was also a turning point, very unlucky today. good goal from konsa good free kick from traore
I’m sick of Smith going on about decisions going against us, by all accounts it WAS NOT a penalty.The defence is woeful in my opinion and how Mings gets in the England squad is beyond me. Targett should be dropped too!
This WAS BRIGHTON AT HOME FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!…We should be beating them hands down. 3 home defeats on the bounce is VERY POOR!!!
Tony, you won’t hear me disagreeing much about the defence or Mings.
There’s no doubt 3 losses at home is poor though.
We’re in danger of becoming this season’s Southampton.
Nath, the ref hasn’t knocked the pen back for no reason or because he just hates us.
I suspect he saw what I did and basically thought we didn’t deserve a pen.
Even though they get given week in, week out doesn’t make them right.
But as I said, I know I’ll be very much in the minority on this one 🙂
I don’t understand why we have to press so high at all???
That suggests to me they’re a better team and I don’t think they are.
It was an interesting game.
Just like Lamptey was worrying us, so when we pushed Cash up more, he worried them.
As you say, they got the rub of the green and I don’t begrudge them the win, as much as I hate us losing at home.
i didn’t accuse the referee of cheating. i just accused him of making the wrong decision. its cool to disagree with me. but its simple you will see this every week in most games. yes the defender touches the ball first and then follows through. now it matters not he touches the ball he fouls trez after he marginally clipped the ball. the same incident outside the box will be mostly awarded a foul .
as for villa pressing high. its simple if villa had not pressed high, you would have seen brighton sit back and say ok we will keep it here and you stay over there, villa had to press higher once they went behind . but teams that keep the ball if you don’t press um they will keep it all day, then you will be moaning why did we sit back so deep.
Nath, I’m not say ing you’re accusing him of cheating.
I’m just saying that people see things differently. I just happened to see it the same as him today.
It doesn’t happen that often, trust me 🙂
i don’t mind opinions.if you agree with referee then thats allowed. but i bet you lots will not agree with referee. so that means it was not a clear error and therefore should never have been overturned.
i bet you in our next game, that type of challenge outside the box will be awarded as a foul. cause you can not follow through the ball and contact another player. its a foul more times than not.
today that pen was awarded and brighton had a similiar one against manure i think it was, that one was not awarded. all i ask is consistency they are just consistency bad at decisions making.
hats off to brighton they took their chances and they got the win. they are a much better side than their position. we will be back after a week recuperation with a win against hammers.
It’s odd, but as soon as I turned the game on and saw the faces of our players in the tunnel today, I thought we’re gonna lose this. They all looked gloomy and not really up for it, almost as if they’d all come out of an argument.
I sense that Mings, especially, is a big influence on the team and when his head isn’t in it, the whole team suffers. He was far too casual on the ball at times. Grealish too – backheeling in your own penalty area, wtf!
Pointless internationals are costing us big time. We have a team that is picking itself partly because the rest of the squad weakens is. Grealish, McGinn and Luiz are probably our best players and their form has rightly earned them plenty of international game time at our expense. All three were below par and this influenced our overall performance.
When seen live I thought it was a pen but like Badger when see it in slow motion it wasn’t a pen and I think trees made to much of it.
But he did get kicked on the leg so it’s 50×50 I think,
These international breaks are definitely spoiling the game they should have been cancelled with the covid19 about anyway.
That’s why I hate any villa player getting called up.
I’m also fuming about the result but it was an entertaining game end to end maybe villa got carried away.
Plus need better practice on corners especially with Terry.
Weakens us!
I’d agree about Grealish and McGinn, but I thought Luiz was pretty good and ran our game. I do remember him giving the ball away once, but otherwise thought he was excellent.
Strange how we see things differently isn’t it?
The pen’s a classic example.
Luiz started well but ran out of steam. Would he have prevented the ball across for their second goal if he wasn’t leg weary?
Opinion seems divided on penalty decision. Their defenders boot ‘brushed’ the ball without really changing its direction with a follow through where he ‘toed’ Trezeguet’s shin. Yes he made a meal of it but there was contact. If Trezeguet stays on his feet he should still be in possession. Anywhere outside the box and it’s a free kick. The other query is clear and obvious. Referee gives a penalty, then between VAR and touch line screen an absolute age before being overruled. Maybe there should be a poll on whether it was or wasn’t!
I’d lose a poll, Holte, I’ve no doubt.
If he stays on his feet, I think he’s lost posession, but I’d have to look at it again.
Yep, it’s a free, but there’s not so much at stake. That doesn’t sound right, but giving a free is easy and doesn’t cost so much.
It should never have been called to VAR and maybe changing his mind helps justifies things??
VAR is piss poor, but the sad part is I was one of those who called for it and was in the vast majority.
Analysed mistakes or natural mistakes?
I’m not sure which is worse, tbh.
Why argue about the penalty?
We lost this game because of a poor first half display in terms of naive defending and useless finishing – not being able to hit a barn door from five paces is just not good enough with our strike force. Getting a draw through a dubious penalty would only ‘paper over the cracks’.
Anything like reasonable finishing in the first half would have seen us home and dry.
I do agree though that the International breaks do us no favours and Grealish, McGinn and Mings all looked lack lustre. Losing Barkley after two minutes didn’t help although I thought Traore played pretty well in a central role and would have probably scored if Trez hadn’t nicked it off his boot (glaring first half miss)
Can we get something at West Spam?
Well that was a very fast paced game.
Grealish looked tired and lethargic in the last 10 maybe 15 mins. I don’t think anyone blames him as Southgate has played him for near 3 rounds of 90 mins in what, 10 days? The international break has quite honestly pissed everyone off!
Barkley was a sucker punch within the opening minutes and we totally missed him As he offers a threat but as we know allows McGinn and of course Grealish the chance to attack with more freedom.
Lamptey was allowed space to run and he obviously showed a lot of pace when allowed to do so. We failed to rectify that until the minute he was sent off. That for me is a mixture of failures from Targett not reading the game and marking were needed, second at fault would be Mings (total shocker today btw) who didn’t offer cover for Targett and recognise the pace of Lamptey. Also feel Grealish when on the left could have tracked back at times.
Trez really showed flair and great ability getting forward but just doesn’t compose him self quite enough when it comes to shooting. From that I also thought He links up well with Cash who (apart from the handball!) had a great game getting forward. If I’m being honest, the penalty was a good call in the end and as already mentioned if on the other foot,we would be furious if that went against us. I have to be honest if I was Smith, I wouldn’t have started Grealish today and given the arm band to Luis for the day.
Next week, after some rest for Grealish and hopefully return of Barkley we will do better.simply put, konsa but more so Mings have to 100% drop back a little and then a little again if players like Lamptey find space and create options for attackers.
Very frustrating! But we showed dominance overall.
wba awarded penalty but its shin to shin but the defender hits ball first lol var decision
i watched this pen and its a 100% shin on shin and it was over turned lmao all the experts say this was pen and var asked the ref to come to touchline like the villa game and the referee overturned his over decision just like what happened to villa. cuckoo what is a pen nowadays nobody knows even var and referee and former players and so called experts
i wonder if the pen was for manure would ref have changed his mind. as i type utd get a pen lmao
this pen should be over turned its a arm ball but he isnt looking at the ball lol but its for man utd fregie in var
robinson saves the penalty, but utd get another chance take two cause they are not allowed to miss. its a goal manure finally scored
cheating f ookers
Karma for Albion fans who took the piss out of our decision
Got to say that Albion fans will be even more pissed than us
Sorry but the game has just gone stupid.
Stupid VAR, keeper of line, hand balls, it just goes on and on and on!!
I’m turning my head to NFL.
Has VAR improved the game or made it worse? I think most fans would be happy if it was scrapped. Let’s go back to the officials making the final calls without the ridiculous delays.
nobody is arguing just discussing / debating. standards of refereeing is garbage villa and wba both mugged. referee awards pen in both games. var can not see any mistakes. referees asked to make their own mind up using monitor, in both games they decided to overturn their own original decisions. you couldn’t make this shit up.
they got a referee on bt now saying in both games both were pens and var and referee got them both wrong
Just about to find out if Shearer and Wright Wright Wright give us the pen….lol
Solskjaer just admitted the villa pen was probably a pen and the wba might have been as well, but that’s my take he said
I personally think that Tyrone Mings likes to ‘Lord it up’ when he comes back after playing for his country.
Perfect example being the first goal. Mings was, seconds before up front for a set piece and remained up front where he had a chance of a shot but declined it. Then the ball was moved forward by Brighton and Mings was caught, still in the Brighton half,and was found wanting in trying to catch up with Welbeck who seems to always score against us, despite him being one of the most overrated strikers to have played in the Premier League.
It is really a case of so many false dawns for us, two steps forward and one step back. We appear to be masters of our own downfall, with the mistakes that we make. Relying on Grealish too much showed itself today, big time. It was just like how we played for most of last season, which is concerning. Our strength, in depth is another worry, or lack of it, to be precise.
We seriously need to sort out which Aston Villa is going to turn up each week.
I would take a top ten finish now, given the chance.
Games like Brighton at home ending in defeat unfortunately undo all the excellent work in the victories over Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal.
I still remain optimistic but believe that we are in for an unpredictable few months, and that is nothing to do with the Pandemic.
I think fatigue was a huge problem in this game. Grealish, McGinn and Luiz were far from their best, and you cant really blame them. The main issue we have is lack of quality in the squad. Smith probably knew it would be a big ask for some of them today, but we have nobody of similar quality to come in.
Although, having said that, what the hell were we doing on the first goal??!!
We will turn over West Ham next week and all will be good with the world again!
another incident in the wba utd game which infuriates me. think back to villa utd cup final many years ago. Vidić is not sent off for being last man and bringing down a flying gabby, end of the matxh phi dowd says he made a honest mistake but hes beloved utd win the cup. roll on years var is brought in to stop blatant errors. but the pen that utd won yesterday had a foul in the build up to the hand ball.
first off i don’t believe that was hand ball, defender was so close to the player who crosses, then he instinctively turned his back. his arms are natural and not our wide to block anything. b/s decision. but just before this ball is crossed and hits arm. fred goes completely through a wba player to win the ball to start the play in the lead up to the hand ball.
var has two officials to see such incidents, hhow the hell did this get overlooked . also referee and two linemen missed it too. i think dowd cheated villa years ago cause he was a utd supporter and still to this day these refs and var officials have their favourites. lets face it utd are most of these ppl favourites. how else can you explain these blatant fouls being overlooked and villa pen gets overturned cause a defender seems to marginally touch the ball.
you might as well employ the monkeys that cant hear or see fouls for var / all this new tech is not working just employing two more idiots to cheat the paying customers. the same b/s still happening, utd get pens and the oppositions need to be shot inside the box to get a sniff. rant over i am gonna stop watching other games as this sort of b/s refereeing spoils the fun. its like reading or watching a film but somebody steals the last chapter. you will never find out what should have really happened and you lost a hour watching for nothing.
Nath, the officials are still intimidated by the big clubs and their big bucks players. If it was Bruno Fernandes instead of Trezeguet yesterday, I’m convinced the penalty would have stood. Albions ‘penalty’ was more of a penalty than the one given to Man Ure. Just to rub salt into the Baggies wounds, the saved penalty gets retaken! Also last season we had Fernandes stamp on Konsa in the box and they get the penalty even with the VAR review. It’s all bullshit and there is complete bias towards the likes of Man Ure when it comes to the big decisions. Anyone who think otherwise is deluded.
yeah holte i forgot the retaken pen in my rant. how can the referee enforce a retake. when the pen taker runs up and jumps into the final step, forcing the goalie to move to anticipate the side the taker is going. i confess to playing in goal way back in my day only when our keeper was ill. i was a fall back and its hard to save a penalty full stop. but now they are not allowed to move off the line until the ball is struck. you should try to dive to the corner without moving your feet its impossible. robinson save was brilliant fernandas is cheating by jumping into the ball.. referee should stamp down on that unsporting behaviour too. make him retake if he scores cause he jumps
i said it for years about these referees have their favourites, they used to help them as they could, fergie used to manipulate them, i heard a interview with him once and he spoke about banning journalist who wrote bad stuff or asked him stuff he didnt want to answer. he spoke about how he intimidated the refs to worry about making decisions against him. mind games with opposing managers., the newcastle one springs to mind. where he claimed leeds really played well against manure and their players should be ashamed of themselves. had they played like they did against utd the rest of season they would be near the bottom. but this rant was not to help leed manager wilkinson it was to inspire the leeds against newcastle their next opponents. thats very calculated innit and clever by fergie. think of the other dirty tricks he did which we don’t know.
i really do not like man utd. yesterday they won at home because they were helped but nobody cares cause the game want them back up the table, villa are in their place so they will secretly want us back at the bottom.
For the pen the best one I have heard is that its a contact sport……I replied where have they been for last 10 years as you cant even blow on anyone nowadays….and get grief for it……as for Shearer he would still be stuck in double figures if VAR looked at his goals…..
i know i threatened never to watch another footy game except villa’s but i cant resist the leeds arsenal game. i think its gonna be a cracker
leeds cheating again alioski got head butted but i never seen a head butt like that before more like a kiss. leeds player made the most of that.
btw the commentary disagree with me they saying its a red all day long. i reckon he looked for that, he was winding him up and the arsenal player bought it but no butt more kiss or head coming together with loving and tenderness
after watching replay after replay i stand by that wasnt a head butt. you can see pepe showing alying what happened to oscar nomination player. if the referee shows a red to pepe he has to show red to the leeds player for instigating the whole thing.
it was like brightons maupay trying to wind up luiz yesterday. luiz almost did the same as pepe and lucky he never cause maupay was going to do the same dying swan act. so referees should toughen up on this entrapment style of play.
i thought this leeds arsenal game would be full of goals and sods law its nil nil
i might as well watch pool foxes.
oh gary neville was talking about watching pool same time today last time he did that they lost 7 1 and the other guy said 7 2 you mean oh sorry i dont want to deduct them a goal lmao i supposed you had to be there
In the recent poll about how many point we might get in the future few games I put 10….but that included 3 against Brighton……help………watched all the games today and most yesterday and they are being played at a higher tempo with no much of the tippy tappy across the back…about time….
I went for the 10-13 band but not in any scientific way – more what do we need to average per game to finish comfortably mid table as part of our continued improvement.
We are no way good enough to finish top 6 – what we need is steady but certain progress towards that goal next season.
So with 6 games left (of the 7), I still believe we can be in the 10 – 13 point band – maybe now nearer 10.
We do though have to sort out our game strategy at home. We’re simply too aggressive and are being caught too easily on the counter.Welbecks goal was criminal – press high but at least leave a deep defender (is sweeper still an accepted term?) to cover the long out ball.
You asked who would you blame
The manager, who is ultimately responsible for tactics, and the back four leader – Mings.
Smith must assess the character of the guy organising his defence. It is becoming clearer, and Mings being selected for England does not help. The fact is he cannot be trusted to organise the back line with the requisite caution at home if left to his own preference. That means he needs to be ORDERED not to allow all four defenders to advance upfield to less than 10 yards behind halfway. Of course either full back can go on the overlap but two, or perhaps three of the others must stay back. It does not matter if the opponents are also sitting back inviting Villa on to them – that is one invitation our back four must decline. Brighton’s first goal was conclusive.
If you do sit back – must our defence knock a long ball up to Watkins? No it is not the only tactic, the ball can be given to Targett or Cash to run foward with it and pass it inside.
Nevertheless Watkins is very good at controlling and shielding a long ball that has spent some time in the air – provided the passer remembers one thing, Watkins is lighter and faster than most central defenders. Therefore a ball played to where he is standing means he cannot move and will be knocked off the ball by a defender behind him. But a pass played well wide of Watkins means he will reach it ahead of the defender with a chance to run clear.
Watkins is not a goal-poacher. The last two Villa had were probably Yorke and Saunders. Either of those would not have stood watching the Brighton keeper kicking that ball off the line, they would have run to the spot and bundled it in. So Smith must think if Barclay is not playing in the next home game – who he can field who is going to pounce on loose bals near the goal?
Ah, good call OLL.
The truth is I was blaming Mings too.
I can’t stand him as a defender and think he’s just horrendous.
He’s utterly reckless because he’s way too laid back and seems to have an horrendous sense of just where he is on the pitch. His lack of what he’s supposed to be doing often means he doesn’t marshall the defence at all at times, as much as he can sound shouty.
It’s why he sometimes looks good, because he gets massively caught out, but has pace and sometimes gets back to make a decent tackle/block.
If his positioning was better he wouldn’t have to perform such heroics in the first place.
The trouble is, if I keep saying I think he’s utter garbage, it will seem I have something against him.
I really don’t and would love it if I thought he was brilliant.
But he isn’t and to my mind, we ought to be looking for better.
Fortunately for him, we have higher priorities.
Bloody crap defender and I can’t believe how much I just don’t rate him when he’s playing for England.
I don’t know, maybe I’ve got him massively wrong.
But I struggle to think of any other Villa player I’ve not rated, as much as him.
I’m beginning to wonder if I have one of those obsession type things 🙁