Reaction from Brighton’s 1-0 loss at Aston Villa
Fabian Hurzeler claimed the referee made a poor decision to book Carlos Baleba two minutes in Albion’s 1-0 loss at Aston Villa.
The yellow card made a big impact on the game as Hurzeler decided to replace his out-of-sorts midfielder with 40-year-old veteran James Milner on 22 minutes.
Hurzeler clearly didn’t trust Baleba to keep his head at Villa Park but after the match the Albion head coach blamed the referee and not his midfielder.
“It was a big impact on the game,” said Hurzeler to BBC Sussex after the match. “From the referee to give Carlos an early yellow, for me it's a bad decision.
“The decision was not good enough and then we had to protect Carlos.”
Jack Hinshelwood own goal
Jack Hinshelwood scored a late own goal which handed Aston Villa a scrappy 1-0 Premier League victory over Brighton.
Tyrone Mings got the plaudits after his header forced Hinshelwood to put into his own net which took Villa back within six points of Arsenal in the title race.
Hurzeler saw more pressure pile onto his shoulders after his side went a sixth game without a win to sit 14th in the table following consecutive losses.
Brighton introduced Milner for Baleba for a record-equalling 653rd Premier League appearance inside the first period and went level with Gareth Barry, who has held the record since September 2017.
“James is a role model for the young players in the squad and the Premier League,” said Hurzeler.
“He keeps going and he keeps pushing and he's still ready to play in the Premier League.”
Kadioglu hit the bar for Brighton
Following a stop-start first half, both sides started to play a little bit more football in the second period and Ferdi Kadioglu rattled the goalframe for the visitors and Milner seemed determined to get his name on the scoresheet.
After home defeats to Everton and Brentford, it looked like Villa would continue to stumble on their own patch before the winner and Mings thought he celebrated his 200th appearance in style with the winner before it was awarded to Hinshelwood.
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