Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest Post Match Thread

[olaftab]

So bloody frustrating. However a couple of positives, we played pretty well for a whole 90 mins today and Forest somehow scored to wonder goals.

We're getting there and RDM should have solidified the midfield at 2-1.

Kodjia looks great.

Fully agree. However we have to give credit to RDM for changing the game by bringing on Gestede but once we were in the lead he needed to very quickly restore the balance in midfield. It was all very well have loads of attackers on the pitch when we were 1-0 down because all Forest were interested in was  to defend and concentrate on time wasting. Once we took the lead they had to push up and were able to go through our midfield.

[Iamkmkm]

We looked like scoring evry time we attacked, cant remember the last time i enjoyed a villa game as much as this, must be back to the mon days.

It's fun to watch villa play again, and that's all i ask for.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I really enjoyed it too. So much in fact I'm considering going Wednesday

[cdbearsfan]

You might as well. We will win on Wednesday. Promise.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Promise not enforceable. Value of promise may go up as well as down. I didn't mean it anyway.

[wittonwarrior]

Two shots, two goals I am afraid that's what will be shown in the scribes for evermore.

First half with the exception of Grealish we didn't really get going and I  thought it would be just a matter of time before Forest with their more measured play might just grab the opener.

Second half it was obvious that things had to change and they began too, until an unfortunate mistake  by Gardner and  Bunn not having his eye in, led to the Forest first goal.

I thought we were excellent from thereon in until the last few minutes.  Scored two, both very good efforts and came quite close on a few more occasions.

I would add at this point the Forest tactic of acting the Foreigner was trying to say the least.  It took the referee nearly 2/3rds of the game before he started to realise that Forest were not playing football as it should be and I think by the end  of the game they got at least 6 bookings and a sending off  (who by the way should have been sent off when he obtained his first yellow card)

From a Villa perspective, what is Gardener doing  playing at this level he is just not good enough.  At least Westwood runs around and is combative.    I thought Grealish had his best ever game at Villa Park and Ritchie started to look comfortable on the ball.  I am still not sure about our new leader (captain) he plays to the crowd which is always a worrying thing and he doesn't shut down space, but it is very early days .

I don't blame RDM at all for the lost 2 points, there was enough experience on the pitch to have seen the game  out.

As they say Rome wasn't built in a  day.

[saunders_heroes]

We looked like scoring evry time we attacked, cant remember the last time i enjoyed a villa game as much as this, must be back to the mon days.

It's fun to watch villa play again, and that's all i ask for.

A few wins wouldn't go amiss though.

[olaftab]

Jedinak was called in on the 83rd to start stripping however it took them a long time about 3 mins to get him to the touch line. Play didn't stop for about a minute or so and they in that time were pushing hard on our left side and no one took the responsibility to stop their runner and take one for the team. They scored whilst Jedinak was  stood there watching... a stain on RDM.

[PeterWithe]

My view, should we have bought on Jedianak to see the game out? Probably but they really were not much cop and I can see the positive stance of keeping the attacking players on and just outcoring them.

We had five players on the pitch capable of scoring 20 goals in this division, that the keeper had a fairly uneventful game is a bit of a worry.

I haven't seen us play a team I think are any good yet, that we aren't in the top pack is also a worry. And, whisper it quietly, is Elphick really any good when you take out the chest thumping?

[exiled on the wirral!]

This is actually worse than last season being terminally shit. We're shovelling sides for large portions. And then we throw it away, either through our only mistake of the game or through stupid naivety.

Honestly, we've not played anybody who borders on the impressive and yet time and again we conspire to chuck it away. Forest were absolutely diabolical and yet they score twice.

I cannot fathom why Jedinak didn't come on. RDM you have cotton wool between your ears.

Sorry that is complete rubbish. You would rather watch us last season where we struggled to cross the halfway line than this season where we have completely dominated teams. The results haven't been great but we need to stay patient and allow the team to gel. It's September 11 and we have 40 league games left. I'm really encouraged with the overall performances and I'm enjoying going to the Villa again. Just don't get the anger from some on here. If we are 16th in February I would understand it. People really need to get a grip and calm down quite frankly.

[AvFc4eVeR]

Disappointing, Frustrating, Promising.

Negatives;


The Holte End; shocking, like a morgue at times, admittedly I was in North Upper and I was louder. It should be a condition of sale of a ticket in the Holte that all fans must sing! Forest made us look like mutes! Embarrassing.

I said the same about the atmosphere, it was dead. I know it was an early kick off but a localish team, new signings, I thought it would be decent especially as the Rotherham and Huddersfield games were rocking at times. Ticket prices were too high though imo, £37 is too much for a Championship game especially on the TV. Same prices against Newcastle and Wolves, again both on TV. We need wins between now and then to get anywhere near 35,000.

I agree totally, was very weird atmosphere today.

Prices far too high, I booked tickets on phone and I had to borrow booking refs as the club classes today as a derby match!?!

The club need to relax their ridiculous rules and we might of been closer to 35k today!

The Holte was pretty full however, so doesn't really explain the lack of energy?

Needs to be like Rotherham and Huddersfield every week!

[not3bad]

Not sure about Ayew though...its something about his body language doesn't strike me as the best way to build a teamspirit.
He has so much talent, it just isn't applied at  winning together with his teammates...it looks like he is trying to win despite them.

Ayew was brilliant in the 2nd half and played a big part in both of our goals.

[olaftab]

I thought fans were superb and all-around fantastic atmosphere.

[PeterWithe]

It was a flat atmosphere, just never got going. Credit to Forest, never really rated them but they got right behind their team.

[olaftab]

Not sure about Ayew though...its something about his body language doesn't strike me as the best way to build a teamspirit.
He has so much talent, it just isn't applied at  winning together with his teammates...it looks like he is trying to win despite them.

Ayew was brilliant in the 2nd half and played a big part in both of our goals.

Ayew was brilliant and basically was the main provider of both goals...but true to form managed to pick up another unnecessary booking.

[ktvillan]

I feel quite positive after that despite the disappointment.  There looks to be plenty of goals in that team, but we are just not having the luck in front of goal so far - how many times have we hit the woodwork this season?  Not much luck at the other end either with seemingly every mistake being punished and a high percentage of opposition chances going in. From where I sat, North stand behind the goal,  it looked as if Bunn should have saved the first quite comfortably.   

We could still do with a speedy winger getting to the byline and whipping it in.  Hopefully Adomah will provide that.   The big concern though is that when we are attacked through the middle it's like a knife through hot butter.    I'm not sure we strengthened the midfield sufficiently but we'll know better if Tshibola ever gets fit and Jedinak comes in.