First half - In possession
Brighton made 5 changes following their abject defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday. Van Hecke, Gomez, Welbeck, Veltman and Hinshelwood all started. The personnel was not the only change. Hurzeler switched from a 4-2-4 shape and instead utilised a 4-3-3 system with Diego Gómez operating off the right flank. Baleba was a lone pivot with Hinshelwood and Gross deployed as high 8s. The midfield trio in effect mimicked Villa's midfield trio that was made up of Douglas Luiz, Morgan Rogers and Onana. Gross would frequently drift to a wide right position, which would signal Diego Gómez to move inside. Whilst the system was a fluid one, it was not one that had been frequently used by teams who have had success at Villa Park. Once Baleba was replaced, Hinshelwood dropped back into the single pivot, and Milner operated from his usual 8 position.
With Baleba above
First Half - Out of Possession
As mentioned in the match report, Villa have struggled recently on home soil. Both Everton and Brentford successfully utilised a low block with the intention of stifling the Villa attack whilst hitting the Midlands side with incisive counters. This is not nor ever will be Fabian Hürzeler's modus operandi. Instead, the German kept his aggressive man-to-man approach in a 4-4-2 system. Milner and Hinshelwood were tasked to stop Onana and Luiz from receiving the ball with Gross and Welbeck leading the press from the front. Dunk was tasked with the difficult challenge of following the marauding Rogers all over the pitch whilst Van Hecke was left isolated with Watkins.
The main benefit of utilising such a system is that it would force Villa to kick long towards Watkins, where Van Hecke would clearly be favoured to win the battle.
Set up detailed below during a goal kick. Note the aggressive press and high line.
One issue Brighton faced
One issue Brighton found difficult to stop was the movement of the Villa winger Buendia. The midfielder would consistently operate away from the touchline instead of drifting unopposed inside to make an extra man in midfield. Gross, Milner & Hinshelwood were overrun by Bunedia, Luiz, Onana & Rogers, with Villa's best opportunities coming from long-range shots that resulted because of the numerical superiority Villa enjoyed in the middle of the park.
As seen below
How did Brighton fix this in the second half?
Hurzeler was quick to tweak his tactical approach, with Veltman clearly instructed to follow Buendia. Not only this, but Diego Gómez was also tasked to press from a narrower starting point as opposed to man marking the Villa full back. This meant that any ball directed inside to Buendia had the potential to be intercepted by Gomez and in turn would lead to an advantageous counterattacking opportunity. To minimise this risk, Villa utilised the spare man who was now the full-back. Brighton were happy to cede possession in this area, as it would mean Villa would resort to crossing balls into the box in the direction of a striker who was dwarfed by the two central defenders. With Brighton now having better control of the game, this meant the south coast side enjoyed their best spell of the game, with chances now being created fairly frequently.
Second half approach. Note: Veltman is significantly tighter.
What did Mings say before the corner?
I don't think the TV cameras caught this moment, but I certainly noticed it on the ground. Before the set piece was taken, Mings made a point to whisper something into his teammate's ear. The ball was then delivered and met by Mings, which ultimately led to Villa winning the game. But what was said?
To better understand this, I went back and watched all Villa corners prior to the goal in the match. I noticed that in each corner the setup implemented by Aston Villa was similar. Sancho (or his replacement) would be on the corner of the box with the waiting attackers central. For their goal, however, there was a stark difference.
Instead, the Aston Villa attackers flooded the near post area, and the ball was delivered to this spot. Upon further rewatching, it became apparent that there was a significant gap at the front zone left. by the Brighton defence (see below).
I believe Mings became aware of this and instructed the Villa corner to be put into the front post area. As you can see from the image below, the setup from the corner that led to the goal is significantly different. Villa players are less central but are instead situated towards the front post. Brighton failed to react to this and instead continued with the spacing structure they had successfully used up to this point. If the Brighton zonal marking line took a few steps towards the corner taker in unison, then I believe the goal would have been prevented. Instead, the ball was perfectly delivered; Mings found some space, headed goalwards and ultimately Villa were victorious.
Summary
I felt the plan implanted was a brave one but also a naive one. Having spent the day analysing and rewatching the game, I can't help but feel Brighton played slightly into Villa's hands. As touched upon earlier, Aston Villa really struggle with deep blocks and sides who look to counter to exploit space left behind. Brighton, in my view, have the players who would have been able to successfully carry out a similar plan.
I will give Hurzeler credit for his halftime tweaks, though, as Brighton certainly edged the second half.
Back to the negatives, unfortunately, and I simply couldn't understand the reasoning behind the decision to play Van Hecke with a suspect hamstring, nor did I understand why it took the German coach 15 minutes to eventually substitute Baleba. If Baleba had made a foul during that period, the Brighton midfielder would have almost certainly been sent off, and Hurzeler would only have himself to blame.
The delay in making that substation struck me as someone who was really struggling with the intense scrutiny the German is currently facing as well as someone who was struggling with confidence. We don't often talk about confidence and how it relates to a manager, but I believe this was the main reason for the indecision shown by Hurzeler at that time.
I guess we have to remember the Brighton coach is only 32 years of age, so he will make naive decisions at times. I look forward to seeing how the Albion boss looks to navigate the tough fixture on Saturday at Anfield.