Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa post-match thread

[Percy McCarthy]

Theo Walcott on MOTD discussing their second goal.  "I think it's a foul - but I don't want to see goals chalked off for that"!  Eh?  It's either a foul or its not!

I know yeah. Basically, ‘it’s a foul but we should abolish free licks’.

[VillaTim]

On about 78/79 minutes I was thinking we just can't keep hold of the ball we kept giving it back to them cheaply.
Reflecting back fatigue did us and the subs that came on offered next to nothing.
Disappointing as I didn't think much of Forest , if they are 4th there is hope for all.

[Percy McCarthy]

On about 78/79 minutes I was thinking we just can't keep hold of the ball we kept giving it back to them cheaply.
Reflecting back fatigue did us and the subs that came on offered next to nothing.
Disappointing as I didn't think much of Forest , if they are 4th there is hope for all.

There really is. We’re not alone in our struggles.

[john2710]

For 80 mins we were comfortable, we restricted Forest to practically nothing. Whilst we didn't do much ourselves, we were in control.

Then when Forest up the tempo & press, we tired & couldn't cope. And it's not the first time. The ref was complicit, in that he seemed to let everything go but we have a soft core. If we don't address this our season will falter.

Duran's improvement & contribution this season has masked the issues we have in attack. Everything else about our attacking play is weaker than last season.

We visit Newcastle on Boxing day & you can write the script for that game now. They'll simply out muscle us.

[Flamingo Lane]

For the penalty, I think it would have been much more likely to have been given if the ball had gone straight out of play, or very quickly out of play. As it was, play continued for ages, so it became a case of VAR thinking 'can't be arsed now.'

[Percy McCarthy]

As someone said earlier, giving the corner they equalised from instead of the blatant offside was the worst decision.

The pen would have put us one up, but we went one up anyway. The equaliser is much more ‘clutch’.

Then the foul for the winner.

We was robbed.

[brontebilly]

Even at 1-0 up with five minutes to go I didn't feel that we would win. We not only have a soft underbelly but we seem to lack nous, we're not streetwise. I've seen it so many times when opposition teams kill the game with a hold up in play, here, multiple staggered substitutions, there.

When you are winning and the opposition have the wind in their sails and all the momentum, disrupt the game in any way you can, stop the momentum at all costs.

Don't be so bleeding accommodating!

That's an excellent point. When Cash was fouled for their second the commentator said "that's going to be a foul" But when the ref didn't give it he said "there's not much protest from the players" which highlights your point. Imagine if that was Arsenal or Chelsea for instance they would have been screaming in the ref's face and most likely forced him to blow his whistle.

After the VAR call went against Forest I just knew the weak ref would give them a decision to balance it up. The VAR decision galvanised the Forest team and support. They had ran out of ideas up to then.

We needed to empty the bench at that point but Emery sat on his hands far too long.

[django]

It’s a frustrating result again, not massively surprised that they finished stronger than us with our game in midweek.

As a whole this season we’re struggling at both ends of the pitch. We rarely build up any momentum any more to put the opposition under sustained pressure. When we come under that sort of pressure we are making costly mistakes.

I think the loss of form of Bailey, unavailability of Ramsey and Philogene’s currently being a significant downgrade on Diaby is a huge part of this. We’re so ineffective out wide, it leaves us building too slowly and doesn’t give us the out ball to relieve pressure. Our defenders and even Martinez have made frequent mistakes but if we could keep the ball down the other end more often we’d have picked up another 4-5 points easily this season.

[itmustbe_it is!]

Just watched MOTD - how the feck was that not a foul on Cash?

[john2710]

As someone said earlier, giving the corner they equalised from instead of the blatant offside was the worst decision.

The linesman's roll in the game has practically gone with the introduction of VAR. They simply opt out of making any decisions with regard to offside.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

I look back at the game and see that they had the ball in the net three times with one being marginal offside, thay had another effort that was stopped on the line by pure brilliance. We had one effort all day that produced a goal, after that nothing. I would say that points to them being the better side.

Yep, they tried to win it and it paid off for them. We were passively shite once we scored and got what we deserved, fuck all.

[taylorsworkrate]

Just watched MOTD - how the feck was that not a foul on Cash?

It wasn't. We'd be fuming if that was given as a foul the other way

[itmustbe_it is!]

Just watched MOTD - how the feck was that not a foul on Cash?

It wasn't. We'd be fuming if that was given as a foul the other way

We'll have to agree to disagree. I thought it was a foul all day long.

[john2710]

Just watched MOTD - how the feck was that not a foul on Cash?

It wasn't. We'd be fuming if that was given as a foul the other way

Other than the elbow to the neck, shove in the back, I'd agree with you.

The refs view was blocked & VAR bottled it.

[Villatillidie1982]

Yes, Cash was fouled in the build up for their winner. Yes, the ref was bad all game but this is all getting a bit repetitive and predictable now.

We spurn way too many chances and if we keep conceding 2 goals a game we’ll finish the season behind the likes of Forest who aren’t a particularly talented team - they just try harder than us and that I just can’t accept.

If that had been the other way round, we would have claimed that Cash was muscled off the ball. And we were lucky with the disallowed goal which took too long for VAR. They outfought us all game and that is worrying. Forest aren't in a false position though