Brighton fans are calling for Fabian Hürzeler to be sacked before Wednesday's trip to Aston Villa.placeholder image
Brighton fans are calling for Fabian Hürzeler to be sacked before Wednesday's trip to Aston Villa. | Getty Images
It could well be the perfect time for Aston Villa to face Brighton, who might be considering a change of manager following recent results.
Aston Villa’s next Premier League opponents, Brighton & Hove Albion, are in disarray.
The Seagulls were meant to be challenging for Europe. A top-five finish was supposedly on the cards back in November after wins over Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle United. They were even ahead of Villa before the 4-3 thriller between the two sides at the American Express Stadium back in December.
But now, several months on, Brighton are looking down rather than up. As close to the relegation zone as they are to the top seven, Albion are in free fall and head coach Fabian Hurzeler is losing significant portions of the fanbase. There’s no wonder, as one win in 12 games makes truly grim reading.
Hurzeler faces ‘sacked in the morning’ chants
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to bitter rivals Crystal Palace was the final straw for many supporters. Brighton fans arrived at the Amex with renewed hope: beating Palace could be the turning point in the season, Europe could be back on the cards, and, quite possibly, Hurzeler could be the man. Instead, supporters left the Amex demanding that their manager be sacked.
Not only did Brighton lose to Palace, but the performance that accompanied the result was bitterly disappointing. The Seagulls had about as much attacking threat as Villa did in their unusual opening four Premier League matches, except there was no structure to go with it. At least with Unai Emery, you know there’s always a plan. But Hurzeler looked clueless.
In the 71st minute, Hurzeler turned to his bench to make his first substitutions. On came Yankuba Minteh, Danny Welbeck and Diego Gomez – good names on paper, but they didn’t make much sense for the balance of the team. Albion effectively ended up playing with two defenders and even the immensely experienced Pascal Gross looked confused.
Gross ran over to the touchline to ask Hurzeler what exactly the plan was. The German, after a brief conversation, then trotted back on to fill in as an auxiliary centre-half. Your most creative threat at centre-half? Surely not? Well, that’s how deep Gross was dropping. It got so desperate at the end that Lewis Dunk decided to go forward as a striker. It was a mess.
Large groups at the Amex chanted, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing,’ after the bizarre tactical tweaks. Then, after Brighton failed to register a single shot following Palace’s goal, Albion fans even began chanting, ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’. Hurzeler never comes over to the fans after matches, and he didn’t change that to apologise, as boos echoed.
Villa licking their lips
Brighton are often seen as a potential banana-skin opposition, but it couldn’t be a better time for Villa to face them. It’s unlikely Hurzeler will be sacked before Wednesday’s game as the Seagulls hierarchy are confident the German-American can turn things around. It’s also unlikely, therefore, that Brighton will suddenly buck up their ideas so soon.
Emery and the Villa Park faithful alike will be hoping the players can get back to winning ways under the lights this Wednesday. You never know what might happen as it’s the Premier League after all, but Brighton look there for the taking. Villa, as long as they stick to their task, should win this fairly comfortably.
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