Aston Villa - Nottingham Forest

[The reds]

Always felt like this game was the closest we get to a free hit that you could get but I came away from Villa Park absolutely gutted, however you’ve got to put the ball in the net and we were very wasteful in front of goal right from when Elanga pulled his shot wide in the first half until MGWs sub par flicked header late on.

A Villa fan outside was saying afterwards that had we had Chris Wood up front we would have come away with three points against them. I’m not entirely sure about that but Villa basically did to us what we’ve done to teams all season, some ruthless finishing and then sitting back to defend the lead.

The first half was shambolic, with Dominguez and Morato particularly noteworthy from a defensive perspective. I was adamant pre match that Toffolo should have started and nothing during the game suggested to me that he shouldn’t have been given the chance. However the number of times we failed to hit the target was quite frankly shameful, starting with those chances to Elanga and CHO in particular in the first half, and then those squandered by Williams, MGW, Anderson and Jota Silva, did I miss any others? Elliot especially needs to do better in those situations.

Just to single out two players

Matz Sels was great. The standout player of the season to me.
Jota Silva. I have questioned whether he can play up front, and his goal suggested he can, he needs to do it again and again now to show that he can.

We’ve got a week now to pick ourselves up for Everton. Hopefully Elanga and Anderson aren’t too seriously injured, and we can get the likes of Aina, Wood and Taiwo closer to match fitness.

The chasing teams will smell blood after that result so we need to do what Nuno’s Forest have continually done this season and show them that we are here to stay.

On to the next one

Anderson? Injured?

[Username]

Also, since Bournemouth our away form in the league has not been great:

Bournemouth LOST conceded FIVE
Fulham LOST conceded TWO
Newcastle LOST conceded FOUR
Ipswich WON conceded TWO
Villa LOST conceded TWO

[wassy04]

We cant claim both we deserved to win vs Man Utd  when we went ahead and then got battered living on our nerves for the remainder of the game and also say we deserved a point yesterday.
Ultimately that was the Utd game in reverse, its fine to say we deserved a win for the defensive performance on Tuesday by restricting Utd to them to a few clear chances and long range efforts but that’s exactly what Villa did to us.
Or of you want you could say Utd were unlucky on Tuesday and we were unlucky yesterday.

I'd frame it slightly differently, Utd were poor in front of goal, combined with some good defending. Forest were poor in front of goal combined with some good defending.

I agree with all though, would've taken 3 points at that start of the week. Probably would've preferred Villa didn't get 3 but our excellent home record is in tact and should give us confidence to close out the remaining 3-4 wins.

[wassy04]

Also, since Bournemouth our away form in the league has not been great:

Bournemouth LOST conceded FIVE
Fulham LOST conceded TWO
Newcastle LOST conceded FOUR
Ipswich WON conceded TWO
Villa LOST conceded TWO

4 teams with excellent home records that came in with good form. 

It doesn't really concern me too much personally. Winning away is hard and we won the easy one. Obviously Bournemouth was particularly disappointing and the first half v Newcastle but we've been good at fighting even when behind which is encouraging.

[Spangles]

I wonder if we had drawn against Man Utd at home and drawn away against Villa would we be feeling happier?

Instead of winning one and losing one.

Personally I prefer to win one and lose one.

I hate losing but we're a point better off than the 2 draw scenario i suppose.

[Username]

Also, since Bournemouth our away form in the league has not been great:

Bournemouth LOST conceded FIVE
Fulham LOST conceded TWO
Newcastle LOST conceded FOUR
Ipswich WON conceded TWO
Villa LOST conceded TWO

4 teams with excellent home records that came in with good form. 

It doesn't really concern me too much personally. Winning away is hard and we won the easy one. Obviously Bournemouth was particularly disappointing and the first half v Newcastle but we've been good at fighting even when behind which is encouraging.

15 goals in five games is still a lot though. 

We won’t win many away games if we can’t restrict the side to scoring more than one.

[Trailer Park Tom]

I see at as well deserved to beat united and could have got something yesterday. The best team in football scores more goals and as stated above our finishing was poor.

Hopefully Wood is nearly fit but we should play like for like replacements. Jota can score and he frees up space by being a handful. When Elanga did his run in the first half that was just Elanga playing in his normal role. When we move him up top we are basically just sacrificing a striker.

Managers have favourites. Boly is more reliable than Morato right now and Toff is better in that position than Dom. 

It's not a bad loss on paper, villa had that bit more in their squad and took home advantage.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

I wonder if we had drawn against Man Utd at home and drawn away against Villa would we be feeling happier?

Instead of winning one and losing one.

Personally I prefer to win one and lose one.

I hate losing but we're a point better off than the 2 draw scenario i suppose.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

[Reds73]

Always felt like this game was the closest we get to a free hit that you could get but I came away from Villa Park absolutely gutted, however you’ve got to put the ball in the net and we were very wasteful in front of goal right from when Elanga pulled his shot wide in the first half until MGWs sub par flicked header late on.

A Villa fan outside was saying afterwards that had we had Chris Wood up front we would have come away with three points against them. I’m not entirely sure about that but Villa basically did to us what we’ve done to teams all season, some ruthless finishing and then sitting back to defend the lead.

The first half was shambolic, with Dominguez and Morato particularly noteworthy from a defensive perspective. I was adamant pre match that Toffolo should have started and nothing during the game suggested to me that he shouldn’t have been given the chance. However the number of times we failed to hit the target was quite frankly shameful, starting with those chances to Elanga and CHO in particular in the first half, and then those squandered by Williams, MGW, Anderson and Jota Silva, did I miss any others? Elliot especially needs to do better in those situations.

Just to single out two players

Matz Sels was great. The standout player of the season to me.
Jota Silva. I have questioned whether he can play up front, and his goal suggested he can, he needs to do it again and again now to show that he can.

We’ve got a week now to pick ourselves up for Everton. Hopefully Elanga and Anderson aren’t too seriously injured, and we can get the likes of Aina, Wood and Taiwo closer to match fitness.

The chasing teams will smell blood after that result so we need to do what Nuno’s Forest have continually done this season and show them that we are here to stay.

On to the next one

Anderson? Injured?

Anderson was fine. 
Elanga was just muscle cramps

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

It was a very very hectic schedule for us.

Thank God we can now rest up for a week and then go again.

[DeesideRed]

Think thats probably the end of the road for Toff. if he cant play in this game, i cant see a future for him here. Sad really as seems a really good bloke and i thought he was always steady if not spectacular for us. Never let us down at all.

[Sausage Roll]

Didn't see the game as was away and just watched the short highlights on YouTube - blimey we had some chances!

Losing sucks obviously but still a lot to be encouraged with in what was our hardest remaining match.