Aston Villa 2 Brighton 0 post match thread

[Deano's Mullet]

https://youtu.be/Wd_5m7lJ7nQ

[eamonn]

Turgid for large parts and we were chasing shadows every time we carelessly gave the ball away. Fair play to Ollie for taking the game by the scruff of the neck though. Sometimes, that's all it takes to cut through a patient, passing side who lack penetration.

[paul_e]

Today was a good example of what I was getting at on the 'possession-based team' thing. They had loads of the ball but created fuck all whereas we looked dangerous even though we weren't particularly fluent in the final 3rd and, in the end, they were using the possession as a defensive tactic to slow the game down to a level they could cope with.

Mings as man of the match by a long way for me, that's 2 proper captains performances in a row from him, if Gerrard can keep him at this level there's no debate about who should be the captain.

[AV82EC]

Superb. Much better defensively, there was a lovely shape to the team today and for all Brighton’s possession they did absolutely fuck all with it, did they have a shot in the second half? Thought we lacked a touch of fluency but really kicked on on those last 15 minutes. Gerrards subs much better than Potters.

[Stu82]

Owners happy then

Is that Bielsa there at the back next to Lange?

No he’s smiling.

Great last 15, nice to see young come on and look more like his old self.
Solid back four

[Fred Crump]

Good win today. It looked as if we were going to grind out a 0-0 draw , which tbh I would have been perfectly happy with , but Ollie’s screamer was hopefully a turning point in our season and his. Great credit to Tyrone too , captain’s performance and a striker’s finish !
Good that the new manager has got off to a winning start. As did Norwich’s .

[Risso]

Brighton had one chance which Martinez dealt with easily. We had the better chances.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

Huge to get a clean sheet today, I’d have taken nil all at half time. Great that some of our senior players stepped up and showed their best form. Well done all, great start Steven, let’s keep the ball rolling and start climbing the table.

[Fred Crump]

Much improved.  I like the aggresion, intensity and one touch football we are trying to play. Never really had that under smith.

Thought mcginn was great. Konsa and emi great.

My mot was ash youbg. He was brilliant

No , we were so passive when we hammered Liverpool.

[Risso]

Ramsey MOTM for me today. A proper all action display.

[Rigadon]

McGinn was top drawer today and convincingly MoTM.  Mings really good too.  Watkins - more of that please!  Maybe he just can't play with another centre forward - it does happen.  Took his goal really really well, but looked a much better player when Ings went off. 

Buendia is a bit of a worry at the moment.  He had one moment of real quality sliding that ball in for Ings (who's first touch was too heavy) in the first half.  That aside, he looked a bit lost and the ball never seemed to stick with him.  Trying too hard maybe. 

Bissouma was brilliant I thought - we could do much worse that signing him. 

[tomd2103]

Bright start, largely second best for the next 70 minutes and then a heady last ten minutes, the kind of which is the reason we all love the game.

[PaulWinch again]

Phew. Pretty ropey at times, but a great passage of play at the end of the game to win. The win was vital.

[Rigadon]

Bright start, largely second best for the next 70 minutes and then a heady last ten minutes, the kind of which is the reason we all love the game.

I suppose it illustrated that Brighton are a good side and that we have a talented squad with match winners in it, but have away to go before being able to say we have cohesive / recognisable plan.  The result was the most important thing - Gerrard's only had a few days.  That could've been used as an excuse had we lost, but in fact we won. 

[Beard82]

Great to get a win, still a lot of work to do - but a clean sheet is massive and the confidence should continue to rebuild.

Also good that there we're big performances from our "big" players. 

I have no idea what we do with Ings, Bailey, and Emi2 - clearly all capable players but not sure if it will happen for any of them here.  Early days still I guess.