Forest v Villa post-match

[Risso]

Digne had an 88% pass completion, made the most key passes, had the most tackles in our team, won the most aerial duels and made the third most passes after Torres and Luiz.

Which resulted in the sum of fuck all.

No shit Sherlock.

[brontebilly]

Martinez: Yes it was a goalie error. Otherwise, comfortable.

Cash - Poor game, blunders in defence for goals, possible injury as a result of inadequate defence. Was given the go-ahead to get forward and be high up the pitch with and without the ball with Kamara dropping in, but didn't appear to know how to take on defenders and was tentative. Put this down to a bad day, but Emery isn't convinced. And neither am I long term.

Konsa - Was one of the guys Forest wanted to have possession of the ball. Was the main fault for not moving the ball quickly enough at the back. The less creative centre back

Torres- best defensive player with excellent passing range. A classy  player. In the second half, Pau slid a delightful ball through for Digne. Oh my goodness, it was sublime. I adore him.

Digne - Just no . He is wasteful with crosses, doesn't make the most of his chances with the ball, and lacked imagination and ability.
Only in team due to Moreno injury and his days were numbered previously. To be fair he has embraced opportunity but this was a reminder how he doesn't suit Emerys football.

McGinn- He created a fantastic opportunity for Watkins. He demonstrated his tenacity and grit in the second half as he outplayed a couple players and drove the team on. He was the main man in showing not wanting to lose.
Super John McGinn takes some credit for me.

Kamara - Forest allowed Kamara have a lot of the ball and didn't engage him much in the first half. As Cash advanced, he'd find himself in a right back cover duty. However, he was mixed in playing this role, and I believe he and Cash were perplexed by it all. Far too slow on the ball like Konsa in passing. After being booked having forced to play right side defence, for Cash he too was replaced.
He's the least creative midfielder. Classy player but Forest knew to let him like Konsa have the ball

Luiz -The most frustrating game I felt for him you could see his frustration. He wasn't protected by the ref, and Forest had a plan not to allow him have the ball so much in any dangerous situation, thus it was with Kamara. Due to the bustling nature of Forest midfielders and the ball and space being offered to other Villa players rather than Douglas, his influencing was not there. The ball was not delivered to him quickly enough when there were chances too but Forest shackled him well and stopped it generally.
A true sign how he's seen as a main danger and Douglas is a class act will have to get use to these tactics and look to exert his authority and Emery will find a plan to make sure he's involved more and not have a game like this.

 Zaniolo- I'm still not convinced and hasn't done anything to change my view. I've mentioned that he's not suited to Emery football, and this was another evidence. I'd rather he didn't start games. Doesn't cover himself in glory for lack of effort in the goal conceded and doesn't seem to connect with Watkins in link up or make any moves to assist him. Tbf on one occasion, he made a lovely through ball to Digne and I don't deny he possesses ability, but he is not making himself available and moving without the ball. I simply don't see him being in the team on a permanent basis especially as attacking threat is beyond weak. Harsh but true.

Diaby- Difficult circumstances for Diaby, with limited spaces. Engineered a chance and forced a save, but defenders crowded him out. Class act who will deliver once again. Next time.

Watkins- Unfortunate with the headed chance and wasn't given quality service. Mainly due to any creating coming from abundance of poor crosses from Digne . Frustrating afternoon for him. Felt for him

Subs:
Bailey - Turned into some sort of target man for headed opportunities from Digne crossing.
Showed more attacking intent and ability than Zaniolo and tried to make a few things happen. Perhaps should have started

Tielemans- despite being a replacement had a great showing being a creator in chief and making several astute passes through the lines
Left me wondering should he have started or come on sooner ?
Exactly the sort of midfield play we needed against Forest.

Carlos and Dendocker also came on.
Solid if not spectacular. Impact negligible. Neutral to both on performance on the pitch.

Excellent report. Agree with most of it.

Thought Bailey was brutal to be honest. Started ok but dropped his head far too quickly once he lost the ball a few times. Luiz I think should have taken more chances on the ball in the second half when Forest kept booting it back to us. Agreed on Tielemans he could and should have come on at half time. The last two subs were pointless, just more evidence that Konsa should never be at RB.

[85kota]

The last two subs were pointless, just more evidence that Konsa should never be at RB.

He had one go at taking the ball forward down the right, which is more than can be said for Cash!

WTF can't Matty attempt to pass it forward? Starving Diaby of service. Need to get rid ASAP.

[olaftab]

The last two subs were pointless, just more evidence that Konsa should never be at RB.

He had one go at taking the ball forward down the right, which is more than can be said for Cash!

WTF can't Matty attempt to pass it forward? Starving Diaby of service. Need to get rid ASAP.

Have you deliberately come on here to spout bollocks?

[villa `cross the mersey]

Difference between the two teams?
Forest defended  resolutely - we didn't
Forest took their opportunities - we wasted ours

Our two full backs failed to put in decent crosses for our forwards

Not the end of the world .... I thought Forest did their homework and were worthy winners on the day

Hopefully Unai will learn more about his players after the performance.

Finally - maybe Villa fans should not get overconfident or cocky  - myself included  - I must confess I thought we just had to turn up for the three points without giving due respect to Forests` home form.

4th place would have been nice - but id rather be there at season end

Cheers all

VCTM

[Martyn Smith]

Looking back at it all on MOTD2 now it is striking as to how similar their two goals were. Both involved Cash getting skinned in the build up, their scorer having an acre of space to himself between the defensive and midfield lines whilst we ball watched, and for both Emi could possibly have done better.

Cooper had us sussed from the start and I have no doubt that the first two aspects of the above were a deliberate exploitation of perceived weaknesses

[Somniloquism]

Interesting comparing the stats of our loss there this November to Liverpools loss there last November. Liverpool had slightly more shots on target (seven to our three) but pretty much all the other stats were the same. Forrest stats though were half the chances against us then Scouse, but also a lot less fouls called. Now obviously they didn't need to do much as we handed them the two goals for them to stick with, but I do wonder if the fouls count was a different ref or they didn't need to foul as much?

[Martyn Smith]

Difference between the two teams?
Forest defended  resolutely - we didn't
Forest took their opportunities - we wasted ours

Our two full backs failed to put in decent crosses for our forwards

Not the end of the world .... I thought Forest did their homework and were worthy winners on the day

Hopefully Unai will learn more about his players after the performance.

Finally - maybe Villa fans should not get overconfident or cocky  - myself included  - I must confess I thought we just had to turn up for the three points without giving due respect to Forests` home form.

4th place would have been nice - but id rather be there at season end

Cheers all

VCTM

There's a fair bit of inconsistency at the top end of the table this season, such that even after such a ponderous performance by ourselves we are still within striking distance of a guaranteed CL spot (although am I correct in understanding that fifth place could yield a CL place anyway, contingent on one of the final Top 4 winning the thing this season?

[The Edge]

Looking back at it all on MOTD2 now it is striking as to how similar their two goals were. Both involved Cash getting skinned in the build up, their scorer having an acre of space to himself between the defensive and midfield lines whilst we ball watched, and for both Emi could possibly have done better.

Cooper had us sussed from the start and I have no doubt that the first two aspects of the above were a deliberate exploitation of perceived weaknesses

I'm hearing a lot of comments saying how Cooper "had us sussed" and how Cooper "out thought Emery" Now I don't want to take anything away from Forest, they were disciplined and physical and it did the job but to suggest Cooper gave Emery some kind of masterclass is blowing a lot of smoke up his ass. They packed the midfield and the penalty box and refused to be drawn out which was quite a compliment to how dangerous they saw us especially as they were the home side. A couple of goals which Emi would usually save made the scoreline quite flattering to them but it don't make Cooper a bloody genius.

[VillaTim]

10 corners and i don't recall anything positive from any of it

[Paul.S]

Looking back at it all on MOTD2 now it is striking as to how similar their two goals were. Both involved Cash getting skinned in the build up, their scorer having an acre of space to himself between the defensive and midfield lines whilst we ball watched, and for both Emi could possibly have done better.

Cooper had us sussed from the start and I have no doubt that the first two aspects of the above were a deliberate exploitation of perceived weaknesses

I'm hearing a lot of comments saying how Cooper "had us sussed" and how Cooper "out thought Emery" Now I don't want to take anything away from Forest, they were disciplined and physical and it did the job but to suggest Cooper gave Emery some kind of masterclass is blowing a lot of smoke up his ass. They packed the midfield and the penalty box and refused to be drawn out which was quite a compliment to how dangerous they saw us especially as they were the home side. A couple of goals which Emi would usually save made the scoreline quite flattering to them but it don't make Cooper a bloody genius.

I’d agree with this apart from Martinez and their first. He hit it very well and I was right behind it and there’s no way he was getting that.
They’d had a similar move not long before that and again midfield failed to go with the runner.
Our passing was ok and we still looked the better side by some way but as a coach you can’t be to blame for individual mistakes or by the delivery in the final third being so bad.

[john e]

Difference between the two teams?
Forest defended  resolutely - we didn't
Forest took their opportunities - we wasted ours

Our two full backs failed to put in decent crosses for our forwards

Not the end of the world .... I thought Forest did their homework and were worthy winners on the day

Hopefully Unai will learn more about his players after the performance.

Finally - maybe Villa fans should not get overconfident or cocky  - myself included  - I must confess I thought we just had to turn up for the three points without giving due respect to Forests` home form.

4th place would have been nice - but id rather be there at season end

Cheers all

VCTM

Can’t argue with any of that, nicely summed up

[ChicagoLion]

Looking back at it all on MOTD2 now it is striking as to how similar their two goals were. Both involved Cash getting skinned in the build up, their scorer having an acre of space to himself between the defensive and midfield lines whilst we ball watched, and for both Emi could possibly have done better.

Cooper had us sussed from the start and I have no doubt that the first two aspects of the above were a deliberate exploitation of perceived weaknesses

I'm hearing a lot of comments saying how Cooper "had us sussed" and how Cooper "out thought Emery" Now I don't want to take anything away from Forest, they were disciplined and physical and it did the job but to suggest Cooper gave Emery some kind of masterclass is blowing a lot of smoke up his ass. They packed the midfield and the penalty box and refused to be drawn out which was quite a compliment to how dangerous they saw us especially as they were the home side. A couple of goals which Emi would usually save made the scoreline quite flattering to them but it don't make Cooper a bloody genius.

Yes it was low block, smother the midfield and boot it up the pitch and chase.
It was enough though.

[ChicagoLion]

Interesting comparing the stats of our loss there this November to Liverpools loss there last November. Liverpool had slightly more shots on target (seven to our three) but pretty much all the other stats were the same. Forrest stats though were half the chances against us then Scouse, but also a lot less fouls called. Now obviously they didn't need to do much as we handed them the two goals for them to stick with, but I do wonder if the fouls count was a different ref or they didn't need to foul as much?

The ref let a lot go and they benefited from it.

[Risso]

Looking back at it all on MOTD2 now it is striking as to how similar their two goals were. Both involved Cash getting skinned in the build up, their scorer having an acre of space to himself between the defensive and midfield lines whilst we ball watched, and for both Emi could possibly have done better.

Cooper had us sussed from the start and I have no doubt that the first two aspects of the above were a deliberate exploitation of perceived weaknesses

I'm hearing a lot of comments saying how Cooper "had us sussed" and how Cooper "out thought Emery" Now I don't want to take anything away from Forest, they were disciplined and physical and it did the job but to suggest Cooper gave Emery some kind of masterclass is blowing a lot of smoke up his ass. They packed the midfield and the penalty box and refused to be drawn out which was quite a compliment to how dangerous they saw us especially as they were the home side. A couple of goals which Emi would usually save made the scoreline quite flattering to them but it don't make Cooper a bloody genius.

I don't think they were anything special, we just made it much harder for ourselves with the daft formation in the first half. Then when it was corrected, we went 2-0 down with the mistake from Emi, and that was that.