Ratings & Reactions: Nottm Forest v Villa

[MWARLEY2]

Firstly. This was just as much Steve Coopers tactics that won them the game as our poor performance.  They always managed to double up on us in most areas. We werent abysmal. Nothing like abysmal. But they had an answer for everyrhing.  

Bad day at the office. Move on and win the next one. Still in 5th .

[Jas10]

 

[nick76]

7 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

And worse, this is the kind of game where we are depending on someone like Zaniolo to do something special. We can forgive someone like Watkins having a quiet game because it was never really set up for him, but Zaniolo should be thriving in this kind of game 

While I understand what you are trying to say given his attributes I don’t quite agree.  

Both Diaby and Watkins need to step up for this kind of game.  

For Watkins to be elite he needs to add something extra to his game to make it difficult for defenders on days like this but their defender had him in his pocket all day and games like this he always is.  I don’t know what extra that is and maybe that’s unfair but that’s why I think the club need an option other than Ollie for games like this as we know he has no impact in these type of games, hopefully in January or summer we’ll bring in an option and rumours suggest that is the case.  

Diaby and Zaniolo,and even Bailey need to find a way of playing in these situations.  It’s all just a learning for this team and under Emery we’ll get there.

[Mr_Dogg]

Simply beaten by the better team as hard as that is to take.

[Hev]

49 minutes ago, It's Your Round said:

Still 5th lads, don’t get too carried away with the despair. 

Newcastle right on our tail now though

[tonyh29]

52 minutes ago, jim said:

What chances should we have taken? We didn’t lay a glove on them.

 

[Ponky]

One wonders if Duran might have made a difference today when we were chasing the game. Gives us something completely different, including a bit of height and strength.

I guess we'll never know though...

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, Mr_Dogg said:

Simply beaten by the better team as hard as that is to take.

They wasn't the better team, just played the better game.

[Lerner's Driver]

Couldn't watch as I was visiting relatives, but I'm glad I didn't, as I had a feeling before the game it was going to be harder than all the super confident Villa pundits were making out and anyway, we were due one of these results.

Sure it's disappointing, but I am not overly worried. That being said, we do struggle to break down teams away from home that sit back and you have to wonder if for all the undoubted heroics so far this season, that is the difference between a pretender and a contender.

We'll see soon enough, I guess. Well done Forest. Sounded like a dogged performance. Now need to make the most of the next two home games in league and cup to get back on track.

[meregreen]

The fact Dendoncker was brought on, shows our squad still isn’t strong enough yet.

[El Segundo]

I said in the match thread that we seem to have developed an away game habit of coming out of the dressing room unfocussed and slow and  conceding in the first few minutes.  Did it at Anfield and Newcastle, both halves at Legia and both halves today. Wolves scored not long after half  time too.  Emery needs to get them focussed from the first whistle. 

Forest were more aggressive and won far too many of the duels.  We were a bit powder puff.  First half the ref seemed to let a lot of pushes on our players go but give them to Forest for the barest of touches.  Terrible inconsistency, but our weakness was evident. 

I think only Torres, Digne and Konsa had decent games today, everyone else seemed to be well off it.  We need to improve radically away from home if we want to stay in the top 5 or 6.  

[stewiek2]

That's all on Unai today. We never changed our play at all. A goal down we carried on playing the same way. Two goals down and we did the same. We didn't change our play to react to the opposition at all today. 

Sorry Unai, but you were shit poor today.

[FLVillan]

49 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Just not quite on it today and Forest did a job on us. At the end of the day we dominated the game without creating too many clear cut chances and we lost to two 25 yard strikes, the second of which was a goalkeeping error.

Too much broke down with Digne today, he’s been largely excellent this season but with the amount of opportunities he had he should have contributed much better. We struggled to find space in the middle which was credit to their setup and discipline, when we did get in we were wasteful - had to happen at some point.

If ever there was an indicator of why Unai bought Moreno it was this game.  Moreno would have got the same amount of space, but would have drawn a defender out and picked a pass.  Digne is a great crosser of the ball from deep/wide, but his final ball when going in behind a defence is not at the quality needed.

[villa89]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Zaniolo for a start. Rather start Bailey or Traore 

Bailey was worse than zaniolo when he came on.

[Mr_Dogg]

7 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

They wasn't the better team, just played the better game.

I don't know what the difference is.

[Rugeley Villa]

Did the away end boo Martinez when he came over at the end ? Just read that they did . 

[TRO]

27 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

I think we lack physicality and even aggression at times… something that’s been a problem for ages.

I agree Jas...we are too passive, but you can't say that when we are winning.

I have seen traits of today, when we have been winning....but its hard to say it, when we have won.

If anyone watched the Newcastle V Arsenal game, it was in evidence, the top teams scrap for the ball....sure it was brutal at times, but you have to have it in you, to win Trophies and Titles.

I am not saying, I want us to consistently play like that, but when we come up in to games like this, creative play, will not always see us through, we have to compete with teams like that......On Paper, player, for player, we are better than them....but their application was superior in getting the result....they simply stopped us from playing, and we didn't know how to circumnavigate that....I also think we have too few players in the squad, to help us with it.

I think Unai, will have taken in to Account, the reasons behind these dropped points i. e Forest, Wolves and Everton in the cup....I am not going to mention, Liverpool or Newcastle defeats even though we are in front of Newcastle, because I think they are better than us.

Anyway, we've had a tremendous start, maybe this game, brings us back down to earth....and Showcases, what we might need in January.

 

[RicRic]

36 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Need to be patient with players and support them, not write them off so quickly. We’ve been proven wrong before…

Not always a need to single out or heavily criticise individuals after a poor performance or result… sometimes the whole team is just “off it”.

Even our World Cup winning goalkeeper cocked up today…

Its not the first for him thats my point, why is he different to the rest and i havent excluded just him today as a bad performance

[duke313]

46 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

Keep losing to the likes of Forest and so will we.

Man City lost to Wolves, sometimes these results happen.

[Jas10]

1 minute ago, RicRic said:

Its not the first for him thats my point, why is he different to the rest and i havent excluded just him today as a bad performance

Don’t take it personally, the lad’s been slated by many recently and it’s unfair. That’s my opinion anyway.

I believe he will improve, don’t see anything wrong with that.

Just want our players to do well and believe they can, including Nico.