Brighton 4 Aston Villa 0: Unai Emery's men thumped in opener

Well, there goes the optimism.

After a summer of huge change where the mood had remained rather upbeat, here was a performance and result to bring even the most optimistic of Villa supporters crashing to earth.

Brighton 4 Villa 0 might not, ultimately, have gone into the record books as their worst result under Unai Emery.

Yet for 45 minutes it was easily the most sobering performance, far worse than the 5-0 end-of-season dead rubber defeat at Crystal Palace in 2024 or the 5-1 opening day loss at Newcastle three years ago, when Villa actually played well.

Emery had joked in the week how he had been worried after that 2023 result, the implication being he was no more stressed now, despite the loss of several high-profile players during the transfer window and doubts remaining over others.

You suspect the manager, after this, may be just a little nervous.

True, there is still business to be done and new players to integrate. This Villa team will look very different in a couple of weeks time. Only five of the players who started May’s Europa League final were in the XI named at the Amex. Just one new signing - and Villa could well end up with 10 by the end of the window - were included from the start. With the new-look squad still half finished, a tough start was to be expected.

Even allowing for all that, however, you don’t expect is to be 4-0 down inside 31 minutes. Neither do you expect the one new boy who did start, Joao Gomes, to be sent-off before half-time for violent conduct, having been culpable for one of the goals.

Ironically, Gomes’ inclusion in the line-up had been seen as a huge boost. The £38million buy from Wolves had been expected to be out until September with a calf injury. Now he will miss that period through suspension after his kick out at Georginio Rutter was spotted by VAR, reviewed by on-field referee Peter Bankes and deemed worthy of a straight red for violent conduct.

By then Villa, toothless in attack and terrified at the back, were already in a four-goal hole.

Undoubtedly, Ezri Konsa will be a huge miss and tough to replace. Yet even had he been present, he could have done little about Pau Torres giving the ball away to gift the home side the opener through a Victor Lindelof own goal, or the sequence which led to Gomes losing the ball on the edge of his own box, allowing Jack Hinshelwood to score for the second time in the space of a minute and make it four.

Villa’s problems at the other end of the pitch were more understandable.

No-one seemed to know where Ollie Watkins was. Not on a plane to Saudi Arabia, was the only word from Villa’s communications team when the striker’s whereabouts were queried pre-match.

One place he definitely wasn’t was the Amex, where in his absence and that of Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham to injury, Emi Buendia was given the role of centre-forward with predictable results.

Believe it or not, Villa actually started well. Yet there was a perfect demonstration, in only the second minute, of what they were missing with no striker on the pitch. Good work from Ross Barkley saw Ian Maatsen released down the left but when he looked up to cross, there was no-one in the box, with teenager George Hemmings bursting a gut to keep up.

Soon after came a moment Watkins, or indeed any striker, would have craved. Yasin Ayari presented the ball straight to Buendia but with just Bart Verbruggen to beat the midfielder seemed to rush the effort and sent the ball dribbling wide.

It was a golden chance missed and when Villa then dropped a clanger of their own at the back, they were not so fortunate.

Ian Maatsen’s throw seemed to catch Torres off guard and his rushed pass - whether to Lindelof or Marco Bizot it wasn’t clear - was pounced on by Maxim De Cuyper. The latter rushed his effort, in a similar fashion to Buendia, yet when his shot cannoned off the post it immediately struck a helpless Lindelof, who sent it back into the top corner.

De Cuyper’s celebration was that of a player who had meant the whole thing but this was a definite own goal.

There was no debate about the one he did score 10 minutes later. Rutter got a run at Torres and when the defender went to ground, carried on to the byline and pulled the ball back for an unmarked De Cuyper to finish from inside the six-yard box, Villa’s defence again guilty of switching off.

It was all so easy. Next, De Cuyper swung in a deep cross, Diego Gomes climbed above Maatsen to head the ball back where Hinshelwood was there to redirect it inside the post.

Then came the first nightmare moment for Gomes. Under pressure from Ayari, he lost the ball which ran straight to Hinshelwood. Bizot got a hand to the shot but could not keep it out.

If only that had been the end of it. Gomes, who had spent the half barreling around in what were clearly increasing levels of frustration, had perhaps been fortunate to avoid adding to the yellow card already received. Yet when he kicked out at Rutter, having lost the ball, VAR intervened a nightmare debut was complete.

Only poor finishing and good Villa luck prevented Brighton from further adding to their lead before the break.

The second half was damage limitation and the clean sheet a moral victory on a day to forget. There is plenty of time to put things right. There is also much to put right.

Brighton (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen, Wieffer (Yohanna 78), Dunk, Boscogli, Vuskovic, Ayari (Costinha 64), Gross, Gomez (Yalcouye 86), Hinshelwood (Kostoulas 64), De Cuyper (Osman 78), Rutter Subs not used: Struijk, David, Svoboda, Steele (gk).

Villa (4-2-3-1): Bizot, Cash, Lindelof, Torres (Mings 73), Maatsen (Ruggeri 81), Gomes, Kamara, McGinn (Alysson 81), Barkley (Bogarde 73), Hemmings, Buendia (Garnacho 86) Subs: Rowe, Burrowes, Lynch, Suzuki (gk).