Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa Post-Mortem: No Striker, No Watkins, No Answers
Villa didn’t lose to Brighton 4-0 because of a bad afternoon at the office; they lost because they were as far from the club motto of prepared as you can probably get for the start of a Premier League season.
The defence and midfield resembled a heavily rotated early-stage Europa League line-up, but that was overshadowed by the fact Emery was unable to name a striker on the pitch or the bench.
Ollie Watkins, who was effectively on strike, instantly became public enemy number one amongst the Villa faithful, after deciding to desert his team in their hour of need, as him and his agent pursued the possibility of Saudi riches.
The closest thing Villa had to a striking option was Ross Barkley, a squad player operating way out of his comfort zone, even with Emi Buendia helping out. A team without anyone to lead the press, occupy a back line, or offer a focal point in transition, isn’t unlucky when it concedes four — it’s a team that has been asked to compete before it has actually been properly assembled.
Of course, there are plenty of mitigating circumstances, which the first Post-Mortem episode of the My Old Man Said podcast gets into, as well as looking at the farcical nature of the game as a whole: the mix-up that gifted Brighton their opener, four goals conceded in twenty-three first-half minutes, João Gomes seeing red, and a Villa side with no shots on target across the 90 minutes.
We also look at what the dismantling of three years of team-building and combinations actually costs a squad entering the Champions League, and what’s genuinely needed before the international break arrives.
There’s one week left of the transfer window, and it’s guaranteed to get interesting.
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Yes total shambles never seen a PL club start a new season without a single striker and the fact that our only fit striker Ollie Watkins refused to play is a complete disgrace, and an insult to firstly Unai Emerie who kept faith in him when many others wouldn’t have including myself then there’s his team mates, the club, and of course the loyal fans who paid loads of their hard earnt money to support the team which I have to say was unwavering and brilliant given the circumstances, where we go from here is anyone’s guess but it’s clear that this can not go on, I don’t blame the players albeit they were poor and I am reserving judgement until we field a full strength side .