**John McGinn** made clear his disappointment as **Aston Villa** were battered by **Brighton** 4-0.
The _Villans_ have been integrating several new faces into their squad, starting with **Joao Gomes** and **George Hemmings** in the midfield at the **Amex Stadium**. **Ezri Konsa**, **Morgan Rogers**, **Lucas Digne** and **Youri Tielemans** have all departed, but the targets for the team are still ambitious.
Therefore, the first half of the showdown with the _Seagulls_ can only be described as a disaster. **Victor Lindelöf** scored an own goal, then **Maxim de Cuyper** doubled the lead. **Jack Hinshelwood** scored twice in a minute, and debutant Gomes got a red card for violent conduct— all before the 40th minute.
· **‘We’ve set standards, and that’s far, far away from that’**
The club captain came into this campaign with positivity about what the group can achieve this year. There is time to turn around their fortunes, but he had no excuses for a dismal defeat on Sunday.
_“We actually started the game really well. We had a chance to go ahead with Emi and we were the ones creating the chances, but we’re playing at the highest level. We made a mistake - they happen - and the goals we conceded were poor, there’s no getting away from that._
_“We obviously apologise to the supporters, it’s not easy to travel. It costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time, and they don’t want to come here and see their team lose by four goals by half-time._
_“On the flip side, 4-0 down at the Amex with ten men, we really had to stand up in the second half. We had a chance to puff our chests out, be men and fight, and we did that._
_“We’re obviously disappointed. We’ve set standards, and that’s far, far away from that._
_“There’s a part of me that’s proud of how we reacted because today could have gotten away from us and got messy. A lot of pride in the second-half performance.”_