ZERBI GOES BANANAS AT VILLA’S BAD TIMINGS
Seagulls boss blasts time wasting after his team is sunk by Danny’s double
FURIOUS Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi claimed he was wrong to think there was always “fair play” in the Premier League after complaining about Aston Villa’s time-wasting.
Defeat to Unai Emery’s streetwise side ended a run of three consecutive wins for the Italian in a tactical battle between the two Latin coaches.
De Zerbi (left), who replaced Graham Potter in September, was especially unhappy with the visitors running down the clock at the end of the contest.
He said: “I think we always speak about fair play in the Premier League. I didn’t see that today.
“There was a lot of wasting time. Too much wasting time. Before I came here, I thought the people in the Premier League were
THERE were nine players heading to Qatar for the World Cup in action at the Amex Stadium yesterday.
But Aston Villa’s first away victory this season was secured by a former England striker who will be staying at home.
Danny Ings won only three England caps and netted his only international goal in his last appearance back in 2020.
Two serious knee injuries at Liverpool stymied his Three Lions ambitions – but the striker showed his enduring class here to give Unai Emery a great start on his return to the Premier League.
There was little between the sides in a niggly match. Two of the goals came from South American playmakers getting caught in possession, and the penalty from a careless challenge from one-cap wonder Lewis Dunk. But Villa and
Emery, whose team have scored seven goals in his first three games, deserved the win which eased them up to 12th place in the post-Steven Gerrard era.
“As a team we were excellent,” said 30-year-old Ings.
“We know how good a team they are but you can see the confidence growing in this team now. The gaffer has made a lot of difference. He’s only been with us a short time but we have come a long way already.
“We’ll have a break now and try to implement as much as he wants to install with us.”
Emery, who was without the ill Ollie Watkins, was equally pleased with Ings, who he did not start in his opening Premier League win over Manchester United.
“I am trying to put each player in his best position,” said the
former Arsenal boss. “Ings is a striker and he needs to be in between the centre-backs.
“This was a very good match for him because his goals for us are very important, and if we can help him get into a good possibility for him to score, he will do.”
Argentina had not wanted any of their World Cup stars playing in this final round of
Premier League matches and Emi Martinez’s shaky display perhaps showed why.
The Villa goalkeeper’s poor pass to Douglas Luiz saw Alexis Mac Allister bundle the Brazilian out of the way to fire home Brighton’s quickest-ever Premier League goal after only 51 seconds.
The Brighton No.10, whose Celtic ancestors emigrated to
Argentina, is maybe the closest the Scots and Irish will have to a player in Qatar.
On-loan Chelsea teenager Levi Colwill made a fine block on Ings on his Premier League debut but the former Three Lions striker was not to be denied for long.
Dunk’s sliding tackle made contact with John McGinn and not the ball, and the former Southampton star lashed home from the spot. Ings took his Premier League tally this season to five after 54 minutes. Matty Cash’s cross was headed on to the far post by Emi Buendia.
Brighton recovered possession but in a role reversal from the opening goal, Luiz this time robbed a dawdling Mac Allister and fed Ings.
The Villa No.9 stepped inside Dunk and saw his low shot deflect home off Colwill. The niggly atmosphere between the two benches extended to the pitch as subs Ashley Young and Leon Bailey were booked for cynical challenges.
But after the unmarked Colwill headed over from six yards after 88 minutes, the outof-sorts Seagulls still could not find an equaliser in eight minutes of added time.