Brighton vs Aston Villa pre match thread - Jan 18th - 3pm

[Ads]

Yeah I agree Lee on Nakamba. The issue is ball retention. Luiz  is a funny one with his, quite typical, youthful inconsistency. Good at Burnley, not so at Leicester and as bad as everybody else against Man City.

For me though, 343 or 3511 only works if you keep the ball. Luiz is better at that and with more pace and ability than Nakamba.

Trezuguet works hard and played well at both Leicester and Burnley. He was probably our best player against Man City too,  even as a sub. Him, two proper wing backs included, gives us a bit of an out ball at least.

[PeterWithesShin]

Them 1 Us 3

[itmustbe_it is!]

No thoughts on here of playing the lad Vassilev up front?

[Des Little]

No thoughts on here of playing the lad Vassilev up front?

I would, for sure. Give the kid a go

[aj2k77]

From what I've read and seen about the kid he's more of  playmaker than an out and out Striker.

[TonyD]

No strikers or ball winners in the middle.  Probable defeat.

[colin69]

We have to win. 1-0 Villa.

[SoccerHQ]

Can see Engels starting instead of Konsa. See what he looks like alongside Mings in a three.

[Luke8]

For me though, 343 or 3511 only works if you keep the ball. Luiz is better at that and with more pace and ability than Nakamba.

Trezuguet works hard and played well at both Leicester and Burnley. He was probably our best player against Man City too,  even as a sub. Him, two proper wing backs included, gives us a bit of an out ball at least.

I agree with that. No doubt that Luiz is better on the ball (and the better player overal), it would obviously require Drinkwater to be more defensive sound and perform several levels above last weekend though obviously.

I think the other think Trez, Guilbert and Targett (to a less extent) give us it the ability to press/defend from the front better. Appreciate it was Man City (and to a lesser degree against Leicester) but the ball came back so easily against which I think lead to the wing backs and eventually the whole defence dropping too deep and therefore is struggling to get out and also further isolating Grealish and El Ghazi.

[Luke8]

No thoughts on here of playing the lad Vassilev up front?

Have see next to nothing of him, so would have to defer to people that know better. I would say that it is a big step/ask for most 18 year olds to be ready to play in the Premier League these days. It is generally just the exceptional ones that start that early.

[eamonn]

A bit of a six pointer in terms of dragging Brighton properly into the dogfight if we beat them. Imperative we don't lose, otherwise that's probably one more team we can tick-off as not filling one of the three relegation places.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Agree 100%. It was the case with Burnley and it's exactly the same tomorrow.

[Dr Butler]

Please win Villa....that is all.

UTV
The Doc

[achilles]

Besides having no striker, our midfield is just so weak with Luiz and Drinkwater!
I feel that for all his obvious limitations Nakamba has to start over Luiz just so that we have someone who will actually tackle a player rather than Luiz just letting them pass by!

The best we can hope for is a draw and that is only if the players decide to turn up this week!

[LukeJames]

Targetts in the training photos so hopefully that means he's fit. I appreciate people think hes been dissapointing but having Targett and Guilbert as wingbacks will make the formation work a hell of alot better than Elmo and Taylor.