Aston Villa are running on fumes. The chance to go 10 points clear on Tottenham ended up reopening the door to the Champions League. Groggy from the short turnaround and shock result of their 4-2 Thursday defeat to Olympiakos, Unai Emery’s team could not replicate the energy of their manager, whose frantic touchline exhortations reflected a golden chance in danger of slipping away.
Ezri Konsa’s tired tackle on Simon Adingra served up a late penalty that Robin Olsen saved from João Pedro only for the Brazilian to nod home the rebound and score the first goal from a Brighton player since March.
Brighton had not won in six, last week’s loss to Bournemouth a crashing low. If a heavy injury list and the distraction of Europa League football are reasonable excuses, an increasing predictability to opponents had been less excusable. And it has been argued the seeds of their slide began at Villa Park in September, a 6-1 loss in which Emery’s team repeatedly triggered the counter-press.
Sweet revenge then for Roberto De Zerbi. “We have suffered the last two months,” he admitted. Last season’s tactical revolutionary had lately become sussed-out, one-dimensional. If his team dominated much of the game with Pascal Gross having a goal chalked off by VAR – as later did John McGinn – the gears were definitely grinding. They found a very different way to win than the free-flowing stuff that made their manager’s reputation.
“Playing against a team of Emery is very tough,” said De Zerbi. “But we played a good game, we deserved to win. Villa were not the Villa today, maybe they were tired.”
For a vocal contingent among the Villa fans, Birmingham City’s relegation had been cause for celebration though now they have their own worries, starting with Thursday in Greece. Villa will need to rouse themselves far higher than this; Brighton, with Adingra to the fore, “the best player”, according to his manager, were better from the start and stayed that way.
“It is not an excuse for us,” said Emery, waving away tiredness as the main reason for defeat. “We lost and we didn’t deserve more.”
Though it was often De Zerbi’s turn to groan at his team, Emery’s personal floorshow in the technical area, a series of Marcel Marceau-esque mimes, was the act of a manager desperate for answers from ailing players. Personnel is becoming an issue, too. Morgan Rogers entered the game on a run of three goals in five league games but left the field after just 15 minutes, Matty Cash called into midfield.
With McGinn sat deep, and Nicolò Zaniolo unavailable, Villa lacked a link to a speedy trio of forwards who saw far too little of the ball. “We need players fresh,” said Emery. Ollie Watkins, looking in vain to reach 20 league goals, made just one promising first-half burst, a drop of the shoulder taking him beyond Lewis Dunk, only for Joël Veltman to clear.
Having scored just once in five matches – and that a Burnley own-goal – the home team were often as short on ideas as Villa. They remain capable of stringing an intricate passing move from the goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen to the opposing 18-yard box but after that can resemble the goal-shy Brighton of Graham Potter rather than De Zerbi’s incisive speed kings. “We need to have that togetherness to keep on grinding out results and crafting opportunities,” said Danny Welbeck afterwards.
Chances did come and go. Olsen faced seven shots on target, and an additional seven whizzed by his posts. “He played fantastic,” said Emery of his stand-in keeper. That Villa amassed just one shot on target told their story.
In the second half Austin MacPhee, Emery’s set-piece expert and Gregg Allman lookalike, became a regular presence on the sideline. One loud set of instructions resulted in a corner hitting only the first man but also McGinn’s disallowed goal, as a block tackle fell to the captain to net and then see the offside flag wave for a decision that proved almost as marginal as Gross’s disallowed strike on second look.
Villa’s renewed adventure had left space, Adingra injecting pace if not always precision. Julio Enciso replaced Facundo Buonanotte, one South American enigma for the other, and the Paraguayan smashed wide, producing a primal roar from his manager. When Gross was found offside from Igor Julio’s pass, De Zerbi retreated to his seat to dolefully await the verdict.
After João Pedro missed a Brighton penalty for the first time, only to quickly redeem himself, Brighton’s manager spent the nine minutes of additional time pacing, before immediately heading down the tunnel. “I wanted to smoke a cigarette,” he admitted.
Emery could meanwhile only wince at his team losing their edge at the wrong time. “The most important thing is to recover,” he said, though more in hope than expectation.
