Aston Villa - Nottingham Forest

[Paplane]

Wood scores and it would have stood - miles onside. Sitter really - needed height.

His feet were onside but he was leaning. Im not sure he was on.

[ozzyten10]

He was on by miles… anyway - all ifs and buts.

[jurgen rober]

Everyone seems to forget that our back up RB has also been missing for quite a while through injury. It's a pity we couldn't have got Netz into the Europa squad but we didn't have enough changes but we have got to a semi-final and with something approaching our starting eleven we could have put up more of a fight but looking forward, I think next season will be a lot different and maybe we could make more of a go in the cups.

[Portsmouth Reef]

As soon as I saw the teamsheet, and no Aina I knew we would struggle. He helps to progress us up that right hand side, and he feeds Hutchison. We also had no progression on the left hand side, because MGW was missing. We were F****ed
before we even kicked a ball.

[Chicago]

McGinn is everything the Forest midfield is missing. Strong, canny, dirty and a driving force for the whole Villa side. I doubt we would have got hammered if he wasn't playing. We looked a mess from the off. I am not sure what formation we were playing at all and I am not sure the rest of the Forest side did either.

We were getting killed in Midfield and at the back because their press was relentless and excellent. It just wasn't going to be and I McAtee going off was odd unless he was injured because his creativity was missing. Just a massive let down unfortunately. We just didn't have an answer.

I think a three at the back and a packed midfield would have given us a chance. Wood was massively isolated. Just a poor night at the office and give credit for Villa they were ready from the beginning. We didn't have an answer and this is the first itme Periera looked lost. Shame.

Having said that, the squad for this competition was mightily unbalanced so Vitor didn't have many choices.. Nice he gave jimmy Sinclair a run at the end.

I don't begrudge Villa the victory. They were waaaay better. At least we probably lost to the winners of the competition.

Anyway Taiwo time on Sunday so that's nice...

Chicago: Flat as a pancake..

[JWJW]

VP comments :

“If you look at our bench today, we brought three players in condition to play - Lorenzo Lucca, Dilane Bakwa and Ryan Yates,” said Pereira, whose team had been in action on Monday compared to last Sunday for their opponents. “We had three injured players not in condition to go on the pitch and help the team, three boys from the academy and Murillo. Murillo was a risk to play; he was not yet ready to play.

“In the end, I am proud of my team and my players, proud of our supporters. We came without conditions to compete for the final, difficult conditions for us, and one less day to recover which makes a difference.

“We tried everything but we didn’t have the solutions. When we tried to risk something with the solutions we had on the bench, they scored two more goals. A sad day, difficult, but we need to look for the future.

“Aina out. Dan Ndoye out. Sangare out. Callum out. Murillo out. Morgan out. It is too much. I don’t know if some of them can recover for the next match.”

"To compete in a semi final and against a team like Aston Villa, we need everyone in the conditions to compete,” Pereira told TNT Sports. “If you look before the game on the bench we had three players, because the other ones were injured. Our bench today the only solutions we had from the first team was Bakwa, Lucca; Murillo we tried but he was injured and not in condition, and Yates. This is very short to come here without solutions.

"Playing against Chelsea and then travelling again to come here after three days, it was not possible. I'm very proud of our supporters, they tried on this long road to help us, but it was not possible. It is a pity but I am proud of my players because they tried everything."

[DR Forest]

You need look for no further reasons than what Vitor said.

You can extrapolate why we are where we are- recruitment, different managers, etc but on the day we were half a team short and those who did play were knackered.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

These last two months have been fantastic and last 4 years have been amazing.

None of us could have imagined it in our wildest dreams.

I am content and happy with that despite what happened last night.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Magictorch]

The are many reasons for what happened and perhaps such a bad result in the biggest game of the season makes sure we don’t gloss over the fact that it has been a bit of a shambles from the end of last season to now.
That is also 3 SF’s in 4 years where we haven’t exactly turned up when it mattered.

[Forest1970]

These last two months have been fantastic and  last 4 years have been amazing.

None of us could have imagined it in our wildest dreams.

I am content and happy with that despite what happened last night.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

Absolutely agree with all this.

Some on here do think we're entitled to win everything but last night Vitor had his hands tied with nowhere near fit players that he had to put on the bench.

[RyanR]

We’ve all seen how teams suffer in the league when they get European football. It’s impossible unless you’re one of the big 6 who can spend freely. Newcastle have really struggled this season, likewise Villa previously until this season. It’s amazing we got to the semi finals really given everything that has happened this year. EM has always said that Villa are the blueprint for us. They’re a few years ahead of us in terms of on and off field planning. They also have a fantastic manager with a record of winning trophies.

VP has massively had his hands tied. Going into a semi-final with a back up group of players who have already lost to Wrexham and Swansea. I don’t think all of those players can be written off due to managerial circumstances, but I wouldn’t expect them all to be here next year. With fewer games and more stability, I’d hope we can have a more stable season

[Plymouth red]

These last two months have been fantastic and  last 4 years have been amazing.

None of us could have imagined it in our wildest dreams.

I am content and happy with that despite what happened last night.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

Hard to disagree. For 30 years we didn't make a semi final of a cup competition and now we have been at the business end for the past three years. Yes I really hoped this year we could take that next step but at the same time I feel a year off European football isn't a terrible thing for the club. Let squads like Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford or Everton have a go. There squads, just like ours, have not the depth to balance both.

I feel that next season could be positive. Yes we will lose Anderson but with the right manager and a clear recruitment vision I think we could do well. I think players like bakwa and mcatee could come good with the right coaching - both have improved under VP and we saw with Sangare, it can take time.

The priority I think is the manager - I feel Silva is an itch that marinakis wants to scratch so there is a decision to be made. If we stick we VP we need to back him. The next priority is retaining mgw and building the team around him. He has shown in these past four months just how important he is to us. He is now acting and playing like the captain and has become a talisman for this club. 

We need to move on. We need to secure our league status (relegation at this point would be truly a disaster) and we need to look to the future