Post Match report for the Aston Villa game - Saturday, 19th October 2019

PREMIER LEAGUE: Villa v Brighton - 19/10/19, P9

ALBION FACE THE FINAL TRUTH AGAINST LUCKY VILLANS


VENUE: Villa Park, Birmingham - fifth away match of nine fixtures to date.
RESULT: 2-1 ~ Webster . (h-t 1-1) . SHAPE: 4-4-2 .
REF: caught by the occasion and his response was questionable.

PRE-KICKOFF: Brighton fans travelled to this midlands regular Prem stadium to reacquaint with recent Championship rivals. Our history was limited but today reached a level playing field in the elite.
GATE: 41,826 . WEATHER: reasonable autumnal afternoon. PITCH: very soft.

GRAHAM POTTER had two full weeks to prepare majority of the squad, minus those out on international duty. In the event Propper and Trossard returned from local treatment rooms.

TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 22 Montoya, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. . 13 Gross, 6 Stephens, 24 Propper, 18 Mooy
. . . . . . . . . 7 Maupay, 44 Connolly

BENCH: 27 Button, 4 Duffy (69), 8 Bissouma, 46 Alzate (81), 11 Trossard, 20 March (46), 17 Murray.


GOALS: 21 - 0-1. From a f-k out right, Gross flights the ball toward the far post where WEBSTER heads home.
45+2 - 1-1. Albion rode their luck against increasing waves of offensive action but proved ineffective in defence.
90+4 - 2-1. Second half rearguard, backs to the wall action is breached at the death.

INCIDENTS: 22 - hosts hit back immediately following visitors opening goal and Ryan made two saves in quick succession.
43 - Ryan comes forward but his punch falls to opposition who duly net. VAR subsequent decision is no goal.

YELLOWS: 31 - a needless card for Mooy when interfering at locals f-k. 49 - Montoya booked for shirt tugging. 84 - March upsets Ref with unsporting behaviour.
RED: 35 - a second yellow, tackling from behind, sees Mooy dismissed.

SUBS: 46 - March replaced Connolly, who was tactically sacrificed. 69 - Montoya gets withdrawn and Duffy inserted, Webster going to right back. 78 - Alzate comes on, Maupay goes off, March moving up front.
Potter was faced with a fait accompli from a third of the way through and had little room to manoeuvre.


ANALYSIS: Seagulls showed attacking intent from kickoff and gave front runners good service. They were value for the lead but being reduced to ten men altered the equation in more ways than one. Intensity of ebb & flow, pumped to high pressure by volatile atmosphere inside the stadium, seriously affected both teams.
Alas, visitors soon crumpled against continuous threats and forays thereafter prior to halftime. BHA became reactive and in truth were just second best.
Albion rode their luck at times from turnaround and Ryan earned custodians fees with overtime. A tribal home crowd was shouting at every challenge, trying to influence officials. Travellers toiled with ten and could have taken better choices from their opportunities that presented at intervals.
The match progressed with parity, although remained on a knife edge right into stoppage. At very end of the day it was a vital point lost.
MoM - Dunk, heroic leadership.

NUMBERS: shape 433-442, poss 49%-51%, on target 8-5, off target 16-15, corners 7-5,
fouls 9-17, yellows 1-4, red 0-1, subs 3-3.

FS