Aston Villa Reserves v Forest Post-Match Thread

[Olneythelonely]

We were nowhere near as good as we were in the first half, but we grind results out now when other teams are getting on top. We had the best chances. We had more possession. We had a higher xG (soz). We had more touches in their box.

They’re a very good team. We needed to battle when not at our free-flowing best but I enjoyed it. Thought it was a cracking match.

[Legion]

https://www.skysports.com/football/aston-villa-vs-n-forest/report/506107

[eamonn]

And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.

Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.

They are third in the league, what do you expect?

Hmm...not to be bullied at home? Our record at VP is strong and very few teams have come here and put us under sustained pressure for long periods.

And the consensus on Forest's form seems to be that it's built on soaking-up pressure and hitting teams on the counter as well as using Chris Wood's hold-up play. But they couldn't rely on either of those tactics today and still caused us a lot of problems.

[not3bad]

Outclassed in the second half, we should really have lost that game. Every single restart from Emi seemed to result in the ball coming back at us.

They pressed us too well for us to play out from the back and when we went long, Forest won the 50/50s.

I've dismissed Forest as counter-attacking merchants but they kept us pinned in our third for most of the second half and we kept coughing-up chances. I worry for us in Paris after that, to be honest.

I didn't see it myself. The change to strengthen the right didn't work out until Malen was hooked, and I think Elanga off for Jota took the team some getting used to, but once we made out 60min changes, either team had chances but ours were alot better.

Agreed. "Outclassed in the second" half is a gross exaggeration. After we made the substitutions it was still nervy but far more even and as has been mentioned Villa also had chances to kill the game.

[Steve67]

They had three shots on target all game.  It's not that you have the ball, it's what you do with it and I honestly don't recall Emi making a tough, legitimate, save.  We had a couple of one on ones and eight shots on target, we started strongly and finished strongly other than the last couple of minutes.  Their manager got it wrong but then again, we also relaxed after going two up and should have gone for their jugular to get the third.  Two massive wins this week.  Really pleased. 

[Dave]

We should've lost is over the top. It could've gone either way though.

That level-headed way of looking at things wasn't very common after the away game against Forest, even though it was even more correct after that one.

[Clampy]

Yeah, outclassed is way off the mark. We did give them too many cracks on goal in the second half and the midfield needed beefing up but we were never outclassed.

Great win. We could really catch Forest at this rate. I can see them having a wobble now.

[Mellin]

Yeah, that was the same in reverse. Both us and Forest are better off with a win each than two draws, anyway.

My nerves are still shredded. Can usually shake a game off pretty quickly. PSG is going to ruin me 🫣

[HolteLower]

Hard won but very professional 3 points onwards!

[Witton Warrior]

I was strangely confident right up until we went 2-0 up and then knew they would come back at us. Thought we showed guts and spirit which was just what was needed. Excellent win IMHO

[Ian.]

And Elliot Anderson, their midfielder, was the best player on the pitch, I thought.

Delighted/relieved we won but I'm just surprised at how we were bullied for a lot of the second half.

They are third in the league, what do you expect?

Hmm...not to be bullied at home? Our record at VP is strong and very few teams have come here and put us under sustained pressure for long periods.

And the consensus on Forest's form seems to be that it's built on soaking-up pressure and hitting teams on the counter as well as using Chris Wood's hold-up play. But they couldn't rely on either of those tactics today and still caused us a lot of problems.

I’ve watched Forest more than any other side this season after Villa and they have really impressed me. They dig in, win second balls, defend well and can attack at pace. They are also the one of the most physical teams in the league.

Considering how many changes we made I was surprised how well we managed the first half. If Ollie would have played the one two and released Asensio when he made that great tackle we’d have gone in three up.

It’s about time we rode our luck, we’ve dipped out for the most part of this season. Overall  I think we deserved the win.

[Paul.S]

All bar a few times I think we negated the way they like to suck teams in and then hit them on the break. Garcia coming off unsettled us but then we coped after a while.
 Ring able to make that many changes and beat the 3rd placed team shows we have a great squad and a manager who’s world class.

[Garyth]

Our chances were on the break. They kept winning possession from our own restarts. Can't believe how bad we were at retaining possession, swapping Onana for Kamara and Asensio for McGinn didn't make a huge difference.

It seems to be a tactical choice - several games recently while defending leads we’ve taken to hitting it long more often than not.

[SamTheMouse]

I agree with Eamonn. If I were a Forest fan, I'd be aggrieved at losing that game.

[jon collett]

The result was the main thing.

I was worried about both our full backs. Far too much room behind them.

Onana and Tielemans didn’t compete in midfield.

We took our chances well. The subs settled things down for us.

Rogers and Rashford could easily have made things more comfortable.

Hopefully resting the players will really help on Wednesday.