Aston Villa 1-2 Nottingham Forest; Just rubbish.

I don’t really know where to begin on yesterday afternoon, because I think everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Having said that, I think I’ve pieced together my final thoughts on the game now, and I certainly won’t be making excuses for yesterday’s showing.

First half we control most of the possession, as we generally do at Villa Park, but it’s just too flat. We don’t have teams scrambling to get back like we did when Emery first arrived, there’s nothing creative – teams know exactly what we’re going to do and restrict us from doing so. It’s like we’re all out of ideas.

To our credit, we miss an absolutely huge chance which saw Lindelof denied right on the goal line and even having a second shot, which was saved. But it does make you think, why do we have so many centre-backs in the box for an open play chance? Where are our attackers, such as Jackson who is meant to be a £65m striker. I said it yesterday, players are too scared to be out and out strikers in the Premiership due to the pressure that comes with it, they see the wing as a safety net where they can create without there being pressure to score.

Another huge criticism – the passing. It’s absolutely woeful. We just cannot seem to string three passes together, and just can’t keep hold of the ball. I’ve absolutely no idea what’s happened, but it’s like they’ve not all got claret and blue shirts on.

Second half gets off to the worst possible start. Forest disposs us after a poor pass from Kamara to Buendia, paving the way for Liam Delap to get off the mark for the reds. Finally, Emery took the decision to bring on Mbaye and Manzambi, who I thought played fairly well, particularly Mbaye, who took one of our only shots on target which actually laid the foundations for Alysson’s equaliser by winning the corner.

Now, Forest obviously make a bad challenge, which leads to Maatsen coming off, but I’d still argue we looked very weak towards the end of the game regardless, and I honestly think they would’ve scored anyway. Having said that, why didn’t we just sit back at the end of the game when Maatsen came off? Emery being the ambitious manager he is sometimes shoots us in the foot when it comes to knowing when we should just sit back and take the point, especially at home.

Regardless of what happened, Forest win the game 1-2. To be honest, I think they deserved it. I thought we were shocking despite having most of the ball in the first half and scoring in the second. There is zero creativity, we keep trying the same thing again, and again, and again until there is no time left, and its frankly boring to watch.

Unfortunately, news has broken that Maatsen is out for 6-8 weeks. I actually thought he has arguably been one of our best players this season so far, but fortunately we have cover in Ruggeri. Torres is also out – to be fair I actually thought Mings did as good as he could in replacement. We know his level and he probably played slightly higher than it.

What cost us in my opinion is that there were just too many shocking individual performances, particularly from players who usually perform to a higher level. I am not one to rely on the individual in a team game, but sadly there are a select few who, without them at their best, we don’t look like winning a single game.

Player ratings are as followed;

Starters – Suzuki (5), Wan-Bissaka (4), Torres (n/a), Lindelof (5), Kamara (4), Barkley (4), McGinn (6), Buendia (3), Hemmings (3), Jackson (3)

Subs – Mings (5), Abraham (1), Alysson (6), Mbaye (6), Manzambi (5)

Harsh but fair in my opinion. We just simply weren’t very good, and it actually looked like Forest were inevitably going to beat us – which is a concerning sign at home to a side that didn’t do great last season, and one that we rarely lose to at Villa Park.

Onto Spurs next week, which I honestly think we will be lucky to get anything out of. Spurs will know that we’re there for the taking. However, the plus side is that Gomes is back, who looked quite impactful against Brugge. I would honestly take a point now if offered, and could see Spurs fans doing the same. Maybe another 0-0 for Spurs? We’ll see.