Nottingham Forest - Aston Villa

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Hope the players don't go onto the field thinking they are playing a superior team.

What happened to the we can beat anyone at the City Ground mentality and bring on the Villa etc.

Absolutely and I agree
Can we compete? Yes
Can we beat literally any team if we get it right and with the crowd behind us? Yes

But as fans we need to realise there are probably 10 teams in the PL who are just bigger and better and at the moment Villa are one of them. Doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to be one of those top 10 teams ourselves either, just prefer if we didn’t pretend we are already one of them.

[wassy04]

Hope the players don't go onto the field thinking they are playing a superior team.

What happened to the we can beat anyone at the City Ground mentality and bring on the Villa etc.

Absolutely and I agree
Can we compete? Yes
Can we beat literally any team if we get it right and with the crowd behind us? Yes

But as fans we need to realise there are probably 10 teams in the PL who are just bigger and better and at the moment Villa are one of them. Doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to be one of those top 10 teams ourselves either, just prefer if we didn’t pretend we are already one of them.

100%, I'm sure the players are confident they can beat Villa, they're not Man City after all. However, doesn't mean we should expect to win just because we're at home, that makes little sense. 

I expect another close game, Villa to have lots of attacking possession which won't feel nice too. However, I do think we can soak that up and use our pace on the break to cause them problems, expect a close game.

[JollyLolly]

This time last year Villa were in the same position as we currently find ourselves (flirting with the bottom six) look at them now. Changed the manager with a totally different of approach to playing the game while using basically the same players/squad, food for thought?

[JWJW]

Must win game for us.

No excuses........has to be 3 points and a solid win.

Do you not follow general football? Have you checked a league table recently? Villa are 5th (deservedly) and have only lost twice so far to Liverpool and Newcastle.

I think I can think of some excuses why we might not win this game...

Lost to Liverpool 3-0 same as us.
Lost to Newcastle 5-1

Their away form is not very good.........managed to beat Chelsea 1-0 same as us.

The only difference is they beat the lower clubs - unlike us who drew them all.

Based on their away form.....this should be a win, and must be a win. If we dont beat times like Villa when we are at home, we are not a mid table team.

Are you making excuses already for Coops in case we lose ???

[ozzyten10]

Didn’t know where to put this put as he played for both sides:

I can remember getting really frustrated with his injuries at the time. It’s strange but footballers are advised not to say anything at the time due to future contracts.

Fair play to him.

[wassy04]

Must win game for us.

No excuses........has to be 3 points and a solid win.

Do you not follow general football? Have you checked a league table recently? Villa are 5th (deservedly) and have only lost twice so far to Liverpool and Newcastle.

I think I can think of some excuses why we might not win this game...

Lost to Liverpool 3-0 same as us.
Lost to Newcastle 5-1

Their away form is not very good.........managed to beat Chelsea 1-0 same as us.

The only difference is they beat the lower clubs - unlike us who drew them all.

Based on their away form.....this should be a win, and must be a win. If we dont beat times like Villa when we are at home, we are not a mid table team.

Are you making excuses already for Coops in case we lose ???

Based on their away form?! They've only played 5 games! You're making it out as if playing away suddenly makes them a terrible team because they lost to Newcastle and Liverpool. They are legitimate top 4 contenders this season, they will be hard to beat wherever you are.

They beat the lower teams because they are a much better team than us! I would expect a midtable team to draw a game like this FYI, win would be a fantastic result against a side in form.

You must really not enjoy being a football fan if you go into these kind of games expecting to win, because you're rarely going to get what you want.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

We shouldn't go into the game expecting to lose either Wassy, it works both ways.

We need to start matching the ambitions of our owner if we are to progress not go into games with the attitude that we have lost before we even kick off. I just can't get my head around that kind of thinking at all.

[JollyLolly]

Hear Hear Sniff! Why are so many of our supporters content with just being in the PL is this height of their ambition? Like you and EM I have a burning ambition for us us to progress in an upward movement alongside playing an exciting brand of football, stop putting obstacles in our way!

[ozzyten10]

2 losses in 20 at home. Too many draws but that ain’t bad!

[Salvatore Matrecano]

This time last year Villa were in the same position as we currently find ourselves (flirting with the bottom six) look at them now. Changed the manager with a totally different of approach to playing the game while using basically the same players/squad, food for thought?

Reality check time for you and some others.

This is Villa’s 5th year in the PL since promotion, it is Forests 2nd.
In that time Villa’s league positions have been 17th, 11th, 14th, 7th and currently 5th.

Villa have spent a similar amount to ourselves year on year, Forest are not the only club with an owner who has big ambitions. They are owned by a billionaire consortium who stated they wanted the club to compete in Europe inside of 5 years much like ourselves.
Their current squad value is £630m up from £500m last season, they also spent big in the summer. Their squad value has them in 8th place.
Forest squad value is £395m which is 11th place.

Therefore Villa are currently over achieving. They under achieved last season when they had a limited manager. Forest are slightly under achieving, we currently have an excellent manager in my opinion. A finish somewhere between 10th and 14th place this season I would see as excellent progress.

We should of course aim to be where Villa are now within a couple of years but to claim we should already be there is deluded. The narrative about a better manager having us further on is becoming tiresome. Form fluctuates, look at the end of the season. Emery is currently doing well but has been a manager for 18 years. He was sacked from Arsenal for poor results. Cooper has improved year on year in each season of his career. He is still learning and isn’t at Emery’s level yet in my opinion but he has the potential to get there. How about we as fans support him to do so rather than calling for his head at the slightest set back.

[wassy04]

This time last year Villa were in the same position as we currently find ourselves (flirting with the bottom six) look at them now. Changed the manager with a totally different of approach to playing the game while using basically the same players/squad, food for thought?

Reality check time for you and some others.

This is Villa’s 4th year in the PL since promotion, it is Forests 2nd.
In that time Villa’s league positions have been 17th, 11th, 14th and currently 5th.

Villa have spent a similar amount to ourselves year on year, Forest are not the only club with an owner who has big ambitions. They are owned by a billionaire consortium who stated they wanted the club to compete in Europe inside of 5 years much like ourselves.
Their current squad value is £630m up from £500m last season, they also spent big in the summer. Their squad value has them in 8th place.
Forest squad value is £395m which is 11th place.

Therefore Villa are currently over achieving. They under achieved last season when they had a limited manager. Forest are slightly under achieving, we currently have an excellent manager in my opinion. A finish somewhere between 10th and 14th place this season I would see as excellent progress.

We should of course aim to be where Villa are now within a couple of years but to claim we should already be there is deluded. The narrative about a better manager having us further on is becoming tiresome. Form fluctuates, look at the end of the season. Emery is currently doing well but has been a manager for 18 years. He was sacked from Arsenal for poor results. Cooper has improved year on year in each season of his career. He is still learning and isn’t at Emery’s level yet in my opinion but he has the potential to get there. How about we as fans support him to do so rather than calling for his head at the slightest set back.

Didn't Villa finish 7th last year, hence the Euro campaign?

[wassy04]

Hear Hear Sniff! Why are so many of our supporters content with just being in the PL is this height of their ambition? Like you and EM I have a burning ambition for us us to progress in an upward movement alongside playing an exciting brand of football, stop putting obstacles in our way!

Sorry, me being realistic is an obstacle to us playing better? Please enlighten me?!

I would love to get all the things you suggest of course, ridiculous to suggest anything else. Doesn't mean I just expect them to happen without any justification. I'd love to win the lottery every week, doesn't mean I sack the guy that sells me the tickets every time he doesn't give me a successful one. You can't just want something until it becomes a thing, it requires being earned through patience and team building (or being bought by an actual country). Why do you think Forest should get there any more than any other team in the league?