--- title: "Aston Villa player ratings vs Brighton: Gomes 1/10 in horror show" canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2026/08/23/aston-villa-player-ratings-vs-brighton-gomes-1-10-in-horror-show/" type: "post" language: "en-GB" author: "James Chettle" section: "Aston Villa Player Ratings" published: "2026-08-23T15:14:23Z" modified: "2026-09-22T10:52:01Z" --- # Aston Villa player ratings vs Brighton: Gomes 1/10 in horror show **Aston Villa player ratings after Unai Emery’s side suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat against Brighton on the opening weekend of the Premier League season. João Gomes endured a nightmare league debut, while Villa’s reshaped defence completely collapsed during a devastating first half.** Brighton scored all four goals inside 31 minutes before Gomes was dismissed in the 40th minute. Villa were dominated statistically as well as on the scoreboard. They finished with just **27% possession, 0.31 expected goals and four touches inside Brighton’s penalty area**, according to [FotMob](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/matches/brighton-hove-albion-vs-aston-villa/3gku1s). Read Aston Villa’s full [Brighton 4-0 Aston Villa match report](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/08/23/brighton-4-0-aston-villa-match-report-gomes-red/) covers an opening afternoon Emery will want to forget quickly. > Full-time. [pic.twitter.com/NTzs3LA84C](https://t.co/NTzs3LA84C) > > — Aston Villa (@AstonVilla) [August 23, 2026](https://x.com/AstonVilla/status/2091539814478725299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ## Aston Villa player ratings vs Brighton ### Marco Bizot – 5/10 Bizot was badly exposed by the players in front of him. Could do little about several of the goals and at least prevented the score becoming even uglier. ### Matty Cash – 4/10 Struggled badly as Brighton repeatedly found spaces around Villa’s defensive shape. Offered very little going forward and picked up a late yellow card. ### Victor Lindelöf – 2/10 A horrible afternoon. De Cuyper’s opening effort rebounded off Lindelöf for the own goal and the experienced defender never managed to bring any organisation to Villa’s back line afterwards. ### Pau Torres – 2/10 His poor pass helped create the situation that led to Brighton’s opener and things scarcely improved from there. Brighton repeatedly exposed Villa centrally before Torres was eventually withdrawn. ### Ian Maatsen – 3/10 Part of a defence that was completely overwhelmed in the opening half-hour. Unable to provide his usual attacking threat because Villa spent so much of the game defending. ### Boubacar Kamara – 4/10 Asked to hold together a midfield that completely lost control of the game. Worked hard after Villa went down to 10 men but could not stop Brighton dominating possession and territory. ### João Gomes – 1/10 A Premier League debut to forget. Booked inside nine minutes, involved in the mistake leading to Brighton’s fourth goal and then shown a straight red card for kicking out at Georginio Rutter. Villa paid £38million for Gomes to add aggression and intensity to Emery’s midfield, but this crossed the line into indiscipline. Read Aston Villa covered [Gomes’ dismissal during the game](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/08/23/joao-gomes-red-card-aston-villa-brighton-debut/). ### John McGinn – 4/10 Couldn’t drag Villa through the chaos despite his experience and captaincy. Booked during the first-half collapse and spent most of the afternoon trying to contain Brighton rather than influencing the game himself. ### Emi Buendía – 5/10 One of the few Villa players who occasionally looked capable of retaining possession under pressure. Unfortunately had almost nothing ahead of him to work with. ### George Hemmings – 5/10 A desperately difficult game for a young player to be thrown into. Worked hard and shouldn’t carry much responsibility for the collective collapse, but Villa provided virtually no platform for him to influence proceedings. ### Ross Barkley – 4/10 Used as Villa’s most advanced player following [Ollie Watkins’ omission from the matchday squad](https://readastonvilla.com/2026/08/23/aston-villa-confirmed-xi-vs-brighton-watkins-omitted/). The experiment did not work. Barkley struggled to give Villa an outlet and was isolated for long periods before being replaced. ## Aston Villa substitutes ### Tyrone Mings – 6/10 Introduced for Torres after 74 minutes and helped Villa at least see out the remainder without conceding again. ### Lamare Bogarde – 6/10 Added some energy and discipline after replacing Barkley. The game was long gone, but Villa were considerably more stable during the second half. ### Matteo Ruggeri – 5/10 Given the closing stages for Maatsen. Little opportunity to affect a match already completely decided. ### Alysson – 5/10 Entered for McGinn with eight minutes remaining and had very little time or possession from which to create anything. ### Alejandro Garnacho – N/A Introduced in the 86th minute on his return to the squad. Not enough time to warrant a meaningful rating. ## Unai Emery – 2/10 Emery was dealt a difficult hand by injuries, departures and the absences of Watkins and Emi Martínez, but a team of Villa’s quality cannot be four goals behind after 31 minutes. The decision to operate without a recognised senior striker provided almost no attacking outlet, while the defensive structure was repeatedly dismantled. The second-half response prevented further embarrassment, but the game had effectively ended before Gomes walked down the tunnel. Emery now has an enormous amount to address before Villa’s next Premier League fixture.