SPLAAAAAAAAATTTT!! That's the sound of Villa coming back to earth.

[freer]

Getting beaten isn't a problem It's the manner of how we lose that isn't acceptable

Today was an Infinite masterclass in buffoonish incompetent defending - you know its gonna be a bad day when Duddy Welbeck scores thier second goal the entire defence had its “Look squirrel moment “

I admire Trezeguet’s work rate however you wouldn't invite him round for lunch, he'd never finish it, his second attempt at an open goal is now orbiting the earth

VAR is so great! It takes away all controversy and silly decisions are no longer a feature of the game

4 Games in just over a week takes its toll, Jack Grealish toiled about like a rice farmer paddling around in deep muddy water - clever him playing in an entirely insignificant game V Iceland

I cannot wait to watch his next game when England battle the Galápagos Islands (population 12, including George the giant tortoise).

How we beat Arsenal then flounder about against Brighton is bewildering

I saw Dean Smith chatting to John Terry doubtless it wasn't about the Jekyll and Mr Hyde sh1t storm unfolding before them though

Apart from that everything else was great !

[Exiledvillan]

A lackluster performance, to say the least. With too many tired international players unable to drag the rest along. Smith’s finding out what it takes to manage and coach a squad, half full of absent internationals.

Hope he ain't going to whine about the VAR decision forever and a day. We missed a hatful of chances, enough to win this game twice over. However, Brighton stuck to their game plan and beat us at our own game, ala Leeds and Saints.

We just don’t seem to have a clue how to take the game to teams. Plan A, counter-attack, Plan B??? Also, we must have one of the weakest benches outside the bottom 3. Work to do in January.

A bad day at the office again, 3 on the spin at home.

Was anyone really surprised?

[samhubball]

I think we started really brightly. Was A very very VERY high line defensively that got us into trouble. Douglas Luiz should have covered for Mings or Mings shouldn't have been that high up the pitch from the throw in. Trez was industrious but lacked the finish, twice, to get a goal.

Grealish can't do it every single week and he didn't have a terrible game, just looked tired. However, the problem with him is Southgate. If Jack had done what Kane, Sterling and the experienced England players did and say they had an injury, Southgate would probably have said its not what Mason Mount would have done!

January will be interesting, we are a midtable team and we are currently high midtable. Good!

[TrianonDave]

We are suffering from Home - A Phobia.....last 3 home all lost, last 3 aways- all won, what the heck is going on?
I thought Mings was slow, Grealish on his last legs, Trez doing the dying fly, Luiz, not at the races. Not sure about Traore but I thought it was nailed on for Connor to replace Barkley?
Elghazi just annoys the heck out of me, sulking because hes not getting picked, comes on and does nothing! Target should have got a red, not Lampty and yes when you look at it from everyangle, the defender got a touch on the ball. Now the rule is clear, you will see a lot of follow throughs and defenders taking out the forwards, Ref, I got the ball first, so the fact I broke both his legs does not count 🤔
People have said it before, VAR is ruining the game as we know it and Im just waiting for a pitch invasion once the fans are back.
Brighton could and should have been out of sight just like Southampton by HT, maybe its the international breaks, maybe we should fiegn injuries to our players like the top clubs do and hold back, Luiz, Mings, Grealish, McGinn. Keep them fit keep the fresh??
We need some luck with these VAR decisions like utd get, now they have been renamed 'Penchester utd'
Oh well lets just go to West Ham and beat them at their ground🥳

[westcountryvillain]

I didn't see anything other than the overturned penalty clip, not a pen for me - Trez dived like he'd been shot and we can't be harping on about these things when we don't take our chances or defend properly. It's always us that players like Welbeck score against, next time I'll have a bet on it.

On our home form - it's irrelevant in an empty stadium, I've played in that stadium myself and it's no different to a Sunday league situation. I agree our bench is weak, we are at our best when we play on the front-foot and hunt the ball down but if the likes of Jack are leggy that's much harder to do.

[oldskoolvillan]

We battered the red scouse by taking advantage of a team that uses a very high line, then we do the same with our team half full of players that were tired before they started and it doesnt work, who would have thought it. Dean and Co need to have a word with themselves I think, yes we have very little in the way of back up for tired or unfit players, but sometimes you have to give it a try and maybe bring on the supers etc last 20mins as the game naturally stretches, surely even with our bench we could be tight defensively for the first half then let the dogs out after? Form wise, I agree with WCV an empty stadium is just that. We need a proper response against the Spam, for which Dean and Co will need a plan B as Barkley is out, but dont worry, theyve had a week to sort it right?

[TrianonDave]

Nailed on 1-1 draw 🤔

[ozfan]

What a game. A sleep at the start and after half time and completely dominated the 2nd half. Missed a Pen then VAR denied by an elbow hair. One of those games unfortunately. Still chins up 29 games to go. 16 shots to 6 and won the stats.

[TrianonDave]

Gutted obviously Oz but hang on, if Var has to take nearly 4 mins and using extra thin lines on every angle, then you have to Football as we Knew it, has gone. I really do not know what this knew game is????
Losing interest very quickly!

[ozfan]

I know Dave. Apparently it's ok for a defender to have both hands around an attacker in the box. If Ollie had gone down I'm sure it would have been a pen. Also the only reason Ollies arm was in front was because he was getting held back. So gutted even though I said chins up.