[Albion] Aston Villa vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[zefarelly]

I've been busy all day, came in at half taime, watched the second half until vanilla scored, then carried on with jobs, painting my garage wall was more fun.

RDZ got it horribly wrong today, and the players let him and themselves down too. I don't mind losing from time to time, shit happens, but 6-1 is embarassing. They should be ashamed of a performance like that.

 

[dolphins]

One of those days. Save’s having to wait up for Match of the day.

We move on.

Totally agree. Somehow I've managed to move on already. The losses by both Manchester teams will probably dominate headlines tonight/tomorrow anyway.

Confused by some of the binary choices being presented on this thread of "would you want us to do this but that happens" whereas both things COULD happen (for good or bad).

 

[GT49er]

No. I want to qualify for Europe again. We won’t do that by finishing 12th and getting to the semis or quarters.

Our best chance of qualifying for Europe is - and always wi be - through one of the cups. We did brilliantly to qualify by finishing 6th. last season, but we can't rely on doing that season after season. Big clubs around will keep improving - in some cases by paying large amounts of money for our best players!
Dress it up however you like, finshing 6th. was punching above our weight (and helped by some of the biggest clubs being a bit off it). We've blown the League Cup, so let's go for the Europa League and the FA Cup. That doesn't mean throw away the league - of course not, that would be stupid. We need to make sure we're stil in it! - and top ten again would be good......and top ten always will be a good season for Brighton!

 

[HantsSeagull]

I've been busy all day, came in at half taime, watched the second half until vanilla scored, then carried on with jobs, painting my garage wall was more fun.

RDZ got it horribly wrong today, and the players let him and themselves down too. I don't mind losing from time to time, shit happens, but 6-1 is embarassing. They should be ashamed of a performance like that.

sums it up. too much rotation. 1 or 4 players not up to it.

 

[boik]

This is just not an option. If we have ANY chance of success in ANY competition we need to rotate.

RDZ is doing absolutely the right thing in starting this rotation early - as it's no good later on once the squad is depleted and our key players are mentally and physically knackered.

I do think he got the squads wrong v Chelsea and Villa... but hindsight is wonderful of course.

Think he should stop rotating keepers though - stick with Bart - as a keeper is not as affected by football congestion and can easily play 50+ games without loss of form.

The rotation isn't just for the "tiredness" factor. It's also to give minutes to people that need to be integrated in the the team and how we play. If we can get Igor, Dahoud, Adingra, Verbruggen, Baleba etc up to speed early then we will reap the benefits along the line.

 

[swindonseagull]

I was more pissed off with the traffic outside.......45 mins to go 1 mile........home now forgotton about the result, deleted the recording and will not watch MOTD tonight...

 

[Vin]

Man City lost twice in a week as well

 

[Horses Arse]

Grrrr, Igor. What's the point! He was at fault for all three goals.

etc

 

[jcdenton08]

Philosophical after that.

Villa were superb, have to give them their dues. They scrapped, fought and put in the hard miles. Tactically, Emery did a number on us.

This was exacerbated by us looking dreadful in practically every department today.

I had this down as a 3-1 defeat and to be honest I had already written this game off in my mind. We do ride our luck on occasion and I could sort of feel a bit of a humbling was due.

Onwards and upwards!

 

[Blue3]

Philosophical after that.

Villa were superb, have to give them their dues. They scrapped, fought and put in the hard miles. Tactically, Emery did a number on us.

This was exacerbated by us looking dreadful in practically every department today.

I had this down as a 3-1 defeat and to be honest I had already written this game off in my mind. We do ride our luck on occasion and I could sort of feel a bit of a humbling was due.

Onwards and upwards!

I have to agree they outplayed us, Watkins clearly has the hoodo over our defence who all misfired today, hopefully we will learn from this game the Athens and WHU games

 

[Easy 10]

Villa have played the same number of games as us, no ? And they have been away in Europe.

I'm not sure this 'rotation to protect against tiredness' blather really cuts the mustard at this stage of the season, tbh.

 

[American Seagle]

Villa have played the same number of games as us, no ? And they have been away in Europe.

I'm not sure this 'rotation to protect against tiredness' blather really cuts the mustard at this stage of the season, tbh.

Indeed. It, and well this whole season so far, very much highlights De Zerbi's weaknesses: squad rotation and defense.

 

[aolstudios]

The rotation isn't just for the "tiredness" factor. It's also to give minutes to people that need to be integrated in the the team and how we play. If we can get Igor, Dahoud, Adingra, Verbruggen, Baleba etc up to speed early then we will reap the benefits along the line.

This ^

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Villa have played the same number of games as us, no ? And they have been away in Europe.

I'm not sure this 'rotation to protect against tiredness' blather really cuts the mustard at this stage of the season, tbh.

They’ve played two more than us as they had a 2 legged play off against Hibs to get to the group stage of the Conference League.

 

[Beach Hut]

were loose

Emphatically, Dear Friend

 

[Easy 10]

The rotation isn't just for the "tiredness" factor. It's also to give minutes to people that need to be integrated in the the team and how we play. If we can get Igor, Dahoud, Adingra, Verbruggen, Baleba etc up to speed early then we will reap the benefits along the line.

Integration isn't 6-7 changes (incl keeper) from game to game though. Its too many changes all the time, and we're beginning to look horribly disjointed as a result of it.

 

[Easy 10]

They’ve played two more than us as they had a 2 legged play off against Hibs to get to the group stage of the Conference League.

Forgot about that.

I can't say they looked particularly tired today, tbh.

 

[pb21]

That was an absolutely atrocious first half, the worst I've seen in a very long time. Defence was non existant, they knew exactly how to play through us like a very hot knife through very soft butter, it was abysmal. Attack was only marginally better.

That was potentially a European '6-pointer' to lose 6-1 could turn out to be very costly.

 

[Chicken Run]

The moment we qualified for the Europa Cup meant we needed proper numbers in our squad, including personal who could make a fist of the domestic cup games, we haven’t got that but hey ho

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Forgot about that.

I can't say they looked particularly tired today, tbh.

I doubt the extra games against Hibs were much more of a glorified training session judging by the aggregate scoreline.