Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa pre-match thread

[JUAN PABLO]

clean sheet

Diaby and Watkins    0-2 

[PaulTheVillan]

Straight forward win. 0-2

Watkins & Luiz

[tomd2103]

A week off couldn't have come at a better time. Despite being a tough prospect a fully rested squad should have more than enough to get the win but I can see it being narrow, with Emery's pragmatism winning the day.

0-1

Not the worst thing in the world to have lost to Everton.

I know what you mean about the workload for the players, but I'd fancy us against pretty much any team in the country right now so think we'd have had a chance to go far in it.

Saying that, the league and Europe are probably the priorities this season, though I hope we really have a go at the FA Cup as well.

[VillaTim]

Forest will have to have a go being the home team. I think we'll have far too much quality for them to handle . 1-4

[Clampy]

A week off couldn't have come at a better time. Despite being a tough prospect a fully rested squad should have more than enough to get the win but I can see it being narrow, with Emery's pragmatism winning the day.

0-1

Not the worst thing in the world to have lost to Everton.

I said this at the time but thinking about it, the more games we've played, the better team we've looked.

[Nev]

A week off couldn't have come at a better time. Despite being a tough prospect a fully rested squad should have more than enough to get the win but I can see it being narrow, with Emery's pragmatism winning the day.

0-1

Not the worst thing in the world to have lost to Everton.

I said this at the time but thinking about it, the more games we've played, the better team we've looked.

I'd rather we were still in the Cup, but as things stand this little break is well timed.

[VillaTim]

I think the Carabao would have been a bridge too far, glad to be out of it , winning it is fairly pointless

[john e]

I think the Carabao would have been a bridge too far, glad to be out of it , winning it is fairly pointless

I’ll tell you what’s pointless winning nothing for 28 years

[pauliewalnuts]

I think the Carabao would have been a bridge too far, glad to be out of it , winning it is fairly pointless

Are you serious?

I agree, it's not the end of the world and the rest will do us good, but winning it isn't pointless at all.

[Axl Rose]

I think the Carabao would have been a bridge too far, glad to be out of it , winning it is fairly pointless

I’ll tell you what’s pointless winning nothing for 28 years

This.

[Rigadon]

I did the Villa park tour yesterday (well worth it - really good tour guide, kids loved it) and the league cup is up alongside the other cups on display.  It is definitely worth something.

BUT, the league is the massive priority, so I can live without it... until we win it next year (along with the FA cup and a good run in the CL before we drop out and win the UEFA cup). 

[pauliewalnuts]

I think the Carabao would have been a bridge too far, glad to be out of it , winning it is fairly pointless

I’ll tell you what’s pointless winning nothing for 28 years

This.

And if winning the league cup is indeed pointless, that means 1994 and 1996 were both pointless, and that makes us a club which has won nothing in 41 years.

[SoccerHQ]

We can have a serious go at winning the ECL. Also if we win the group we won't play in the competition again until early March so no excuse at all to play weak teams in the early rounds of FA cup as we're not actually playing that many premier league games around that time either.

I think league cup on the night we just weren't that bothered and Everton exploited our mindset. Luiz on the night probably put in his worst game for us in two years and three days later he's back to dominating Brighton's midfield.

I think Emery wasn't bothered at all about it (playing McGinn at LB hints as much) and that filtered through to the players against Everton.

This is our last free midweek until December 20th.

[Risso]

Playing in Europe doesn't seem to have had a negative effect on our league fortunes, and after tonight in the League Cup it's down to the last 8. I will never have any truck with the idea that any of the cups aren't worth taking seriously. As John says, when we haven't won anything for nearly 30 years, we can't afford to be fussy.

[john e]

I know people will disagree but I think playing two games a week when in Europe actually helps us rather than hinders
Becoming an efficient Winning machine is what it’s all about and more games playing with each other is a positive

People say Spurs are in a better position because they have a week to recover before they play their next league game. I think it’s actually works the other way, practice makes perfect as they say, and two long gaps between games won’t do them any good
They will drop down the league waiting to long for the next game to come round

I’ve never been in the camp of professional players can’t play twice a week, it’s just modern day bullshit, if you tell a professional player nowadays that he’ll be tired, then he’ll be tired

Yes I am old and I suppose I’m old school, but I don’t see all the fixtures in league and cup as anything but exciting