Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton: Not even xG to hide behind in Potter’s 100th game

Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton was Graham Potter’s 100th game in charge of the Albion. It showed us that although Potter has a century under his belt, he still has quite a bit to learn about being a Premier League manager.

This disappointing result against the 1982 European Champions could be traced to two tactical decisions. Potter opted to start without a recognised centre forward despite Villa having lost their past five games in succession.

The numbers tell us what a mistake this was. Brighton recorded 63 possession and yet registered an xG of only 0.29, the lowest of any top flight club on Saturday.

Why were the Kings of xG so poor in a metric they usually excel at? Mainly because every time Tariq Lamptey or Marc Cucurella went scampering forward and delivered the ball went into the box, there was nobody on the end of it.

Neal Maupay might not have scored – everyone knows what his finishing can be like – but he would have at least put himself in a better position to make the most of the service provided by the Albion’s flying wing backs.

Since the second half performance in Brighton 1-4 Manchester City, Potter seems to have become determined to prove that you do not need an out-and-out striker to succeed.

Leandro Trossard as a false nine worked in the second half against City. It worked when the Albion drew 2-2 at Liverpool. Brighton though have now failed to beat Newcastle United and lost at Aston Villa when starting with a false nine.

Clearly, there are opponents against whom Brighton should play Trossard in that role. For those who haven’t worked it out – like our Graham, seemingly – those opponents are the top sides who dominate possession in games the Albion are more likely to counter attack.

In matches where Brighton should be expecting to claim points, have more of the ball and make most of the running, you need a focal point for the attack to push high and get onto chances. Trossard is never going to do that. Maupay will.

What makes this most peculiar is that Potter was a horses for courses manager last year. He changed his starting XI every week in the first half of the 2020-21 season, whether it made sense or not.

For Villa away there was a genuine reason to switch things up and yet he persevered with Trossard as a false nine, in spite of failing to beat the Saudi sportswashers last time in a disjointed showing.

Potter’s second bizarre tactical decision came when he decided that Lamptey was the man who should make way for Maupay with 11 minutes to go.

Without the outstanding Lamptey on the pitch pinning Aston Villa into their own half, Brighton went from controlling proceedings at 0-0 to finding themselves 2-0 down in less time than it takes to navigate New Street Station.

From nowhere, Steven Gerrard was celebrating a scarcely deserved three points in his first match as a Premier League manager.

Brighton meanwhile were left to reflect on a seventh successive top flight game without a win. For context, the longest winless streak the Albion went on last season was nine.

Suddenly, The Leeds United at home next week looks quite important; that mad rush in September to get passports renewed ahead of a 2022 European tour seems a long, long way.

It says much about Potter’s afternoon that here we are 561 words into this piece and we have not even had the chance to mention Jason Steele yet.

The two things to look forward to about Villa away was German beer and sausage at the Birmingham Christmas Market and seeing what Steele got up to on his Premier League debut at the age of 31.

Would we get Steele the entertainer, putting on a show resembling a man who had enjoyed 17 pints of ABK Pilsner at said market before heading to Villa Park, as he had in that incredible 120 minutes against Newport County in the FA Cup?

Or would we get Steele the cat who saved four penalties in the resulting shoot out at Rodney Parade that his mind bending performance had caused?

In another sign of what sort of afternoon this was, Steele ended up being one of the better Albion players on show. He made three excellent saves, looked surprisingly comfortable with the ball at his feet and could not be faulted for either Villa goal.

Steele can go back to benching, golfing and drinking next week knowing it was a job well done in the absence of the suspended Robert Sanchez.

With Gerrard at the helm for the first time, we were expecting a fast start from Villa’s players eager to impress their new boss and a raucous atmosphere from the home faithful to greet the appointment.

It was to Brighton’s credit that they had quietened the crowd within 15 minutes. Villa’s best chance in that opening spell fell to Matty Cash whose header from an Ollie Watkins cross was well stopped by Steele.

The first cries for a striker from the Albion faithful came when a nice move ended with Cucurella flashing a dangerous ball into the box which nobody was there to meet.

Lamptey was causing terror up the other flank and he had the Albion’s best chance of the half in stoppage time, drawing an excellent save from a sprawling Emiliano Martinez after a Jakub Moder cross was flicked on.

Minutes earlier and Trossard had gone close when Martinez kept out his shot from the angle of the six yard box. That chance came from Villa making a right horlicks of clearing another low Cucurella cross which again only needed a final touch to steer it in.

Time for a centre forward then in the second half, right? Wrong. Potter remained unmoved and although Brighton continued to dominate possession, clear cut chances for either side became rare.

Villa came closest to breaking the deadlock, Steele channelling his inner Gordon Banks to make a superb one handed save from Tyrone Mings who had escaped the attentions of both Moder and Lewis Dunk.

Solly March replaced Cucurella in the Albion’s first change, Potter removing his second-most dangerous attacking player on the day.

When Lamptey was then withdrawn for Maupay and Pascal Gross switched to right wing back, Brighton finally had a centre forward on the pitch but no creativity from out wide. Perhaps Potter had secretly been sipping the beer at the German market beforehand?

At that point, the game had Aston Villa 0-0 Brighton written all over it. How then did it end up finishing Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton? The answer is because of two moments of woeful play from the Albion.

Villa’s first came from the inexcusable scenario of a Brighton attacking corner. Ashley Young collected possession on the edge of the Villa box, charged 40 yards up the pitch unchallenged to slip in Watkins who cut inside Adam Webster and bent an effort past Steele from just inside the area.

As soon as the ball hit the net, the resignation around the away end that it was game over said it all. Worse was to come five minutes later when Webster’s sliding clearance fell straight to Mings who produced the sort of clinical finish the Albion had been crying out for to make it Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton.

Now, here’s a thought – maybe Brighton should buy Mings and play him as striker? Not only would it give Potter another centre forward option, but it might also open a defender spot in the England squad for Dunk to take.

Knowing the Albion though, they would purchase Mings and loan him straight to Stoke City or the Bundesliga, where Andi Zeqiri was busy playing for Augsburg in a 2-1 win against Bayern Munich on Friday night, incidentally.

Steele still had time to make a flying save from Leon Bailey right at the death as Villa sought a third. That really would have put the cherry on the top of a spectacularly shit, striker-free cake.