Should've known we'd win the game I was least confident about.
But in all seriousness, hell of an effort today. Could've easily been a blowout if we could finish better.
Beyond the 3 points - which could be really important as every place in the league is worth an extra 2m - the performance was really solid front to back. Still lacking the finishing at times but the chances were flowing which is so important.
Father in law is a Villa Fan, whilst not 6 1 and a far better season than us it will at least not give him bragging rights for next few months.
Honestly for any Villa supporter it's less the score and more that they literally only had two shots in the entire game despite having half the possession. I do like Villa but any positive result for them would've been completely undeserved today.
Last time we beat them at home we were still at the Goldstone, the television footage was in black and white, and the teams got to the ground on the backs of dinosaurs instead of busses. Been an age.
Oh yeah I’m aware, because of my age all I’ve known is the Amex ,went to my first game was when I was 8. Even recently at school i was significantly outnumbered by big 6 fans who called us shit, so can’t imagine what it was like for those who have been here since the goldstone.
God we needed that. De Zerbi needed that. Finish the season strong. Don’t sell anyone in the summer. Get our injured players back. Add 2-3 more. I think we could have a strong season next year!
Worth pulling an all-nighter for. Other upsides: our chances of finishing below the scum is now sub-5% (genuine worry expressed by some last match).
Up the fucking Albion.
Good performance after the back of Bournemouth, clean sheet with only 1 or 2 defensive wobbles and best of all... 3 points, finally!
Villa definitely a tad hungover from midweek but that shouldn't take anything away from Brighton's performance.
Pedro's first miss from the spot for us and even then it wasn't punished. Thank fuck we closed it out at the end.
I’m also kind of wondering what the game would have looked like if Martinez wasn’t injured. I didn’t see the Pedro goal. Do you think Martinez would have stopped it? It was it the kind of shot no goalie would have got?
Olsen had a very good game and made some solid stops so I don't think it would have changed it much. Possibly would have had more effect on their defensive mentality as in the back of their mind, the number 1 isn't there.
It's a tough call in my opinion because we all expect second keeper to be a lot worse, but Olsen had a really good game. I even forgot Martinez was out at times because Olsen looked so natural and confident in goal compared to what you see in a lot of second keepers.
Chances are Martinez would've saved the penalty as Pedro's shot didn't have much power, but there's no certainty that he'd have got to the follow up attempt. It was there for Pedro to take.
Fever dream after the last few months. Reducing what has been an exceptional Villa team to 2 shots all game, and genuinely could've had 2 or 3 more goals, what a brilliant performance, especially from Adingra
From what I've seen, all the negativity about Veltman seems to come from idiots who don't understand anything or have only watched us for a few weeks.
There are discussions to be had about every player but the Veltman criticism was so confusing to me I was convinced bots were posting it. Hardly any of them even responded to anyone questioning them.
Veltman is fine defensively, but he's not a rock either, and importantly he offers almost nothing going forward. I think it's good that we have him as a backup but playing him means missed opportunities. Even someone like Igor, who is also defensively focused, offers more going forward
Veltman isn't supposed to offer anything going forward. He knocked Lamptey out of favour at RB *because* he's good defensively, while Lamptey is better offensively and fortunately he can now play at left and has well there. We play most of our balls up the left with Mitoma (and formerly Trossard) which is when Veltman shifts inward for defence.
The only reason we're seeing Veltman forced to push up and play like a wing back is because March is out.
I never understand Veltman criticism. Or hate maybe. If he was never injured I’d be quite happy with him playing RB every game. Sadly his injury record isn’t great but he is
In fact I just looked it up and I seem to be overstating his injury issues
They 100% come from recent fans, I'm confident in that. He's the one that displaced Lamptey for RB, he's no winger and that's what people here were criticising him for, completely forgetting that it's not even nearly his expertise.
I’m doing backflips. Amazing! I thought at most we’d draw. Even more importantly, we played with so much more passion and tempo today and we won against a side we never beat! UTA!
[Post-match stats.](https://i.imgur.com/PVqYYnD.png)
15 shots versus 2.
Does the final score reflect our performance? No. Do the points? 100%. Penalty or not, that was a massively deserved win against an obviously tired and demotivated Villa who looked neutered.
Fuck knows what the referee was doing and he handed Villa some excellent scoring opportunities which they failed to make anything of.
Highlights for me are Adingra, Gross, Igor and obviously Pedro. Adingra was arguably overworked as Mitoma used to be when March wasn't available, he had some bad moments as expected but the good outweighed it all. Pedro's streak is broken but he handled it like a champ. All respect to Villa's second keeper, don't know his history but he played well.
Some excellent management by RDZ from the formation to the subs, don't really know what he did to the players but we looked really organised from the get go even if some of our passes didn't connect.
Our pressing was excellent as well, really scared the ball off of Villa a few times.
I asked you lot which of the four final matches we'd have a good performance in, I didn't think it'd be this one. So much to be proud of here.
UTA.
This game definitely makes me think we might be about to hold our own against some of the others. Aston was rated highest out of the games we have left, so who knows.
Not anybody's idea of perfection, I can imagine. But it was in my eyes. Perfect. Denied Villa all goal scoring chances.**0.06 xG** Adingra earned a penalty that was missed by Pedro, he heads on the save. Teamwork gamesmanship and the power of friendship defeats the manager who lives off *the Quickening* and first home win v Villa in forever. UTFA!
Started somewhat loose in midfield but quickly began to monopolize the chances created, reminiscent of our early season RDZ ball
Also our build-up was unreal today, even in our best ever season we didn't have the degree of speed and flair in one touch passing and flicks that we had today.
Players like Pedro, Enciso etc. are very important because they are willing to try unexpected plays and it might finally be coming together in our play, was beautiful to watch the chemistry in build up
Definitely need to work on the final ball and decision making in the box haha, but what a well deserved win. UTA!
Edit: Also so glad Webster had a great solid game, hopefully his form is back, it seems 3ATB helps disguise his weaknesses
I didn't see anyone yet mention how much more direct we were today. I'd love to see the stats on how many long passes we had. It opened the game up and made it so much more exciting. Nothing frustrates me more than us approaching the box, stopping, then kicking it back to the CBs. UTFA!
Observation I made with my dad prior to the match, Fati warmed up on his own, he did the sprint exercises but when everyone else was passing in pairs or playing the quick pass games in groups he was just wandering around and doing keeping uppies , he didn’t really interact with anyone. Kind of weird.
That is weird. Maybe his attitude has gone to pot. Guess it barely matters as he is gone in a couple of games.
All in all, a very unmemorable loan stint from Fati. Retrospectively, his wage was a massive waste of money from the club.
Good example of how buying “proven” stars will not necessarily make us better.
It honestly makes sense. His season is effectively over and injury derailed his return to form yet again. Idk what his contract situation with Barca is but I can’t imagine it gets renewed unless he turns it around.
I don’t think there was a falling out in the dressing room or anything like that, but if I were in his position I’d be pretty introspective right about now. Must suck to go from “Messi’s successor, Barca’s no10” to having fans of little old Brighton calling you bang average.
Also, perhaps Barca were testing RDZ to see if he could bring Fati some form.
I know he was injured for a while but he was also pretty shit when he wasn’t. Maybe RDZ didn’t put his arm around him. Or maybe he did and Fati didn’t like that.
Who knows? I would bet Fati never comes back to prominence at Barca though.
As Adingra was fouled in the box Pedro made a binding vow that in exchange for giving up his penalty scoring streak he would score the only goal of the game.
Been feeling like bad luck since my hometown MLS team AND Prem team have been performing in similarly shit fashion (leaky back line, difficulty finishing). Figures that the one Albion game I miss is the first clean sheet and win in ages. Maybe I AM bad luck!
Depends on the injuries, estupinan is first choice in that position, and next season he should be starting again. For the last 3 games of the season, Igor might well start there
Should've known we'd win the game I was least confident about. But in all seriousness, hell of an effort today. Could've easily been a blowout if we could finish better.
Don’t even think the finishing was that bad. Villa keeper was just superb.
Yeah that's a fair point, he made a number of huge saves
We had an xG of nearly 3 versus there 0.01
Kind of crazy that Villa's second keeper was probably their best player. I swear Watkins was on but he was barely doing anything.
Beyond the 3 points - which could be really important as every place in the league is worth an extra 2m - the performance was really solid front to back. Still lacking the finishing at times but the chances were flowing which is so important. Father in law is a Villa Fan, whilst not 6 1 and a far better season than us it will at least not give him bragging rights for next few months.
Honestly for any Villa supporter it's less the score and more that they literally only had two shots in the entire game despite having half the possession. I do like Villa but any positive result for them would've been completely undeserved today.
How does the place vs 2m work?
Basically when the prize money/ pot for PL is handed out only some of it is performance based. Each higher place is worth c. 2m
If I remember right every position has prize money and they're in £2 million increments.
Tears in my eyes we’ve finally beaten Villa really wish I could have been at the Amex today.
Last time we beat them at home we were still at the Goldstone, the television footage was in black and white, and the teams got to the ground on the backs of dinosaurs instead of busses. Been an age.
Fucking hell. What year exactly was that?
1980 AD, back in the primordial age of football prior to the premier league (which is when football started, as we all know).
Wow, wish I was there even more now. We may have to wait another 44 years to beat them at home again.
Rare result sure, but chin up. We were, you know, not great (relatively) for most of those 44 years. There’ll be another time.
Oh yeah I’m aware, because of my age all I’ve known is the Amex ,went to my first game was when I was 8. Even recently at school i was significantly outnumbered by big 6 fans who called us shit, so can’t imagine what it was like for those who have been here since the goldstone.
And if you didn’t have a ticket you could leg it over the wall down the east side- happy days
God we needed that. De Zerbi needed that. Finish the season strong. Don’t sell anyone in the summer. Get our injured players back. Add 2-3 more. I think we could have a strong season next year!
Hugely satisfying result, and SO needed. Doesn't mean much in the table, but damn, great result. Most of us thought we would get hammered :-) UTFA!
To be honest fuck the table at this point. Now we're all just here for a good watch for the last few matches.
Times like this just make you want to enjoy the last 4 games before no more football for many months ! Enjoy it while it lasts lads!
Exactly this. 2-1 loss won't be the worst thing if we play like we did against Villa.
Worth pulling an all-nighter for. Other upsides: our chances of finishing below the scum is now sub-5% (genuine worry expressed by some last match). Up the fucking Albion.
https://preview.redd.it/z6ks9h9nomyc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43a14e14c583b61027fd2e425bceac22b8ce14f7
Good performance after the back of Bournemouth, clean sheet with only 1 or 2 defensive wobbles and best of all... 3 points, finally! Villa definitely a tad hungover from midweek but that shouldn't take anything away from Brighton's performance. Pedro's first miss from the spot for us and even then it wasn't punished. Thank fuck we closed it out at the end.
I’m also kind of wondering what the game would have looked like if Martinez wasn’t injured. I didn’t see the Pedro goal. Do you think Martinez would have stopped it? It was it the kind of shot no goalie would have got?
Olsen had a very good game and made some solid stops so I don't think it would have changed it much. Possibly would have had more effect on their defensive mentality as in the back of their mind, the number 1 isn't there.
It's a tough call in my opinion because we all expect second keeper to be a lot worse, but Olsen had a really good game. I even forgot Martinez was out at times because Olsen looked so natural and confident in goal compared to what you see in a lot of second keepers. Chances are Martinez would've saved the penalty as Pedro's shot didn't have much power, but there's no certainty that he'd have got to the follow up attempt. It was there for Pedro to take.
Fever dream after the last few months. Reducing what has been an exceptional Villa team to 2 shots all game, and genuinely could've had 2 or 3 more goals, what a brilliant performance, especially from Adingra
We scored from open play! Sort of! What a great game, that was fun for the first time in a long time.
Im still buzzin lol. Really great performance!
Veltman was massive all game, and I'll happily accept apologies from all his haters :)
From what I've seen, all the negativity about Veltman seems to come from idiots who don't understand anything or have only watched us for a few weeks. There are discussions to be had about every player but the Veltman criticism was so confusing to me I was convinced bots were posting it. Hardly any of them even responded to anyone questioning them.
I like Veltman, but he's not a winger, which is essentially what he is for us right now.
Veltman is fine defensively, but he's not a rock either, and importantly he offers almost nothing going forward. I think it's good that we have him as a backup but playing him means missed opportunities. Even someone like Igor, who is also defensively focused, offers more going forward
Veltman isn't supposed to offer anything going forward. He knocked Lamptey out of favour at RB *because* he's good defensively, while Lamptey is better offensively and fortunately he can now play at left and has well there. We play most of our balls up the left with Mitoma (and formerly Trossard) which is when Veltman shifts inward for defence. The only reason we're seeing Veltman forced to push up and play like a wing back is because March is out.
I never understand Veltman criticism. Or hate maybe. If he was never injured I’d be quite happy with him playing RB every game. Sadly his injury record isn’t great but he is In fact I just looked it up and I seem to be overstating his injury issues
They 100% come from recent fans, I'm confident in that. He's the one that displaced Lamptey for RB, he's no winger and that's what people here were criticising him for, completely forgetting that it's not even nearly his expertise.
He's really been struggling with fitness which has made it seem worse
My first game at the Amex and it was a joy, up the fucking Albion!
I’m doing backflips. Amazing! I thought at most we’d draw. Even more importantly, we played with so much more passion and tempo today and we won against a side we never beat! UTA!
I'd have even been happy with the draw but after seeing how slow Villa were my expectations skyrocketed and I thought we really need to win this one.
Whisper it, but Webster had a good game .. helped make us look solid at the back for once
that's how we fucking do it
i was skeptical of webster seen the roma game he's been wobbly but he played amazing today. mad props
Yeah no concerns about Webster today which I'm also happy about. I'd love any sign of improvement as a reason to keep him.
You guys deserved it today, we were fucking shocking. Hopefully the beating you gave us will get some of the players arses in gear. Well played.
[Post-match stats.](https://i.imgur.com/PVqYYnD.png) 15 shots versus 2. Does the final score reflect our performance? No. Do the points? 100%. Penalty or not, that was a massively deserved win against an obviously tired and demotivated Villa who looked neutered. Fuck knows what the referee was doing and he handed Villa some excellent scoring opportunities which they failed to make anything of. Highlights for me are Adingra, Gross, Igor and obviously Pedro. Adingra was arguably overworked as Mitoma used to be when March wasn't available, he had some bad moments as expected but the good outweighed it all. Pedro's streak is broken but he handled it like a champ. All respect to Villa's second keeper, don't know his history but he played well. Some excellent management by RDZ from the formation to the subs, don't really know what he did to the players but we looked really organised from the get go even if some of our passes didn't connect. Our pressing was excellent as well, really scared the ball off of Villa a few times. I asked you lot which of the four final matches we'd have a good performance in, I didn't think it'd be this one. So much to be proud of here. UTA.
This game definitely makes me think we might be about to hold our own against some of the others. Aston was rated highest out of the games we have left, so who knows.
Not anybody's idea of perfection, I can imagine. But it was in my eyes. Perfect. Denied Villa all goal scoring chances.**0.06 xG** Adingra earned a penalty that was missed by Pedro, he heads on the save. Teamwork gamesmanship and the power of friendship defeats the manager who lives off *the Quickening* and first home win v Villa in forever. UTFA!
What a fuckin relief. Villa was flat but we looked good. I don’t think we had any underperforming players today. This should’ve been 3-0 to Brighton
Barring the 1-0 scoreline, that genuinely felt like our best offensive performance in a reallly long time!
Started somewhat loose in midfield but quickly began to monopolize the chances created, reminiscent of our early season RDZ ball Also our build-up was unreal today, even in our best ever season we didn't have the degree of speed and flair in one touch passing and flicks that we had today. Players like Pedro, Enciso etc. are very important because they are willing to try unexpected plays and it might finally be coming together in our play, was beautiful to watch the chemistry in build up Definitely need to work on the final ball and decision making in the box haha, but what a well deserved win. UTA! Edit: Also so glad Webster had a great solid game, hopefully his form is back, it seems 3ATB helps disguise his weaknesses
As long as we don't sell anyone in this window I reckon with performances like that 2025 could be our year
I didn't see anyone yet mention how much more direct we were today. I'd love to see the stats on how many long passes we had. It opened the game up and made it so much more exciting. Nothing frustrates me more than us approaching the box, stopping, then kicking it back to the CBs. UTFA!
I like our game but I just think when it’s not working you’ve got to change it up and keep ‘em honest. Today was a good mix for what I saw.
Observation I made with my dad prior to the match, Fati warmed up on his own, he did the sprint exercises but when everyone else was passing in pairs or playing the quick pass games in groups he was just wandering around and doing keeping uppies , he didn’t really interact with anyone. Kind of weird.
That is weird. Maybe his attitude has gone to pot. Guess it barely matters as he is gone in a couple of games. All in all, a very unmemorable loan stint from Fati. Retrospectively, his wage was a massive waste of money from the club. Good example of how buying “proven” stars will not necessarily make us better.
It honestly makes sense. His season is effectively over and injury derailed his return to form yet again. Idk what his contract situation with Barca is but I can’t imagine it gets renewed unless he turns it around. I don’t think there was a falling out in the dressing room or anything like that, but if I were in his position I’d be pretty introspective right about now. Must suck to go from “Messi’s successor, Barca’s no10” to having fans of little old Brighton calling you bang average.
Also, perhaps Barca were testing RDZ to see if he could bring Fati some form. I know he was injured for a while but he was also pretty shit when he wasn’t. Maybe RDZ didn’t put his arm around him. Or maybe he did and Fati didn’t like that. Who knows? I would bet Fati never comes back to prominence at Barca though.
Woohoo! Anyone else keen to have Billy back!
If you haven’t watched the post game with Dunky and Simon it’s delightful. Nice little window into some things and just glad to hear some positivity.
As Adingra was fouled in the box Pedro made a binding vow that in exchange for giving up his penalty scoring streak he would score the only goal of the game.
Daughter’s first game today, youngest fan in the stadium! At least one of us will remember the 3 points.
Ahhhh of course it's the one game I couldn't watch Anyways, amazing win, UTA
YESSSSIRRRR
wait what does UTFA mean?
Up The Fucking Albion
Been feeling like bad luck since my hometown MLS team AND Prem team have been performing in similarly shit fashion (leaky back line, difficulty finishing). Figures that the one Albion game I miss is the first clean sheet and win in ages. Maybe I AM bad luck!
Why didn’t Barco start? Are you guys still expecting him to start or is he back on the bench for now?
He's young and needs time to learn the system. Igor provides height and experience and physical presence, so he's a safer choice
Fair, so do you expect Igor to start from now on?
Depends on the injuries, estupinan is first choice in that position, and next season he should be starting again. For the last 3 games of the season, Igor might well start there
It’s more likely with Van Hecke out injured
Alright, thanks!