After an underwhelming display in a goalless draw against Leeds United last weekend, Aston Villa made the short journey to the East Midlands to take on bottom of the table Nottingham Forest.
The two sides will have been disappointed with their starts to the season and both Steve Cooper and Steven Gerrard had come under pressure from some quarters. Forest, however, had made a real statement in the build-up to the match with the confirmation of a long-term deal for the manager despite five successive defeats, whilst some journalists had suggested that Gerrard may not be afforded such a reprieve from the Villa owners. Despite the growing discontent, a win would take Villa into the top half of the table. Forest could reel a number of teams just outside the relegation zone in, including their visitors, with victory on Monday.
Here’s how the two sides lined up at the City Ground:
Forest made five changes from their drubbing away at local rivals Leicester last week, with the notable team news being a first Premier League start in Garibaldi red for both Serge Aurier and Emmanuel Dennis.
Steven Gerrard, on the other hand, was able to recall Matty Cash on his return from injury, whilst Emi Buendia came in for Leon Bailey.
Nightmare Start
If Forest are to stay up this season, then their home form will need to carry them over the line, so it was no surprise to see a rowdy City Ground lifting their side in the early exchanges. Just as Villa had looked to assert control and numb the buzz of the home crowd, every Villans pre-match nightmare became a reality.
Forest charged forward after winning possession back and Tyrone Mings brought down former Watford man Emmanuel Dennis The Nigerian forward had ran Villa ragged last year and scored both home and away as the relegated Hornets collected six points against the Villans. After winning the free kick, Dennis met a Morgan Gibbs-White free kick to plant the ball past Martinez.
Yet again a set-piece had cracked an otherwise stingy back line open, and concerns must be raised as to how such dead ball situations still seem to be such a regular source of goals for opposing sides.
Rolling Back the Years
An early Forest goal was the last thing Gerrard and his side needed, especially after they had begun growing into the game and calm heads were needed. This season no player has embodied that mentality quite like the veteran Ashley Young. It has been Young’s defensive acumen and gamesmanship which have earned plaudits and taken Villa out of sticky situations this season, but on Monday night the experienced star rolled back the years with a screamer. A Villa attack looked to be fizzling out as the ball was headed away by Ryan Yates. Ashley Young was the quickest on to it, taking a touch out of his feet before firing powerfully in from distance.
The equaliser was no more than the away side had deserved, and from that point they should have seized control. Gerrard’s side began to dominate the ball, although without great penetration. Jacob Ramsey proved to be a real thorn in the side of Forest, and rash tackles from Serge Aurier and Steve Cook on the youngster were punished with yellow cards. Coutinho and Buendia, however, looked largely ineffective for the majority of the half, whilst Watkins again worked hard to little avail.
Missing Spark
For all the talk surrounding Villa’s lack of a spark in the final third, it must be noted that improvements have been made defensively, and Villa’s back four and Luiz in front limited Forest to hopeful long efforts for most of the evening.
With the threat of Forest and their tricky front players negated, as so often has been the case for Villa recently, the game drifted towards half-time with Gerrard’s side keeping possession but not threatening a previously leaky defence.
Only a week ago this Forest side had been ripped to shreds by the guile and directness of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, but Villa were struggling to get their creative players on the ball in dangerous positions.
Fizzling Out
After the 15-minute interval, both sides emerged unchanged. The pattern of the game had been set early on, Villa kept possession, Forest were content to break the game up and some silly fouls were made by both sides. Even though Cooper had been given a reprieve by the Forest hierarchy, this scrappy encounter had the feel of a match where both managers, sets of fans and players knew the pressure was on to find a result.
The home side looked content with a point, whilst Villa were desperate for all three. Watkins and McGinn missed good chances and the minutes ticked by agonisingly. Steve Cooper blinked first as he brought off Serge Aurier, who had looked like a walking red card, for Neco Williams. Gerrard responded by changing shape and bringing Danny Ings on for Coutinho. Two more subs from each side would follow, but much like last week, it was Lars Dendoncker who looked the most comfortable slotting into the Villa set up. His calming presence in recent matches should provide healthy competition for the underperforming captain John McGinn.
Last Throw of the Dice
The late changes, which saw Gerrard load the side with strikers at the expense of creative and industrious players, felt eerily similar to the last days of Bruce and of the last days of Smith too. But like their final matches, on Monday, Villa could not feed the forwards and find a crucial late goal.
Any semblance of blue and claret momentum was halted intelligently by Forest, and late on the home side could have nicked all three points as Kouyate fired towards goal. Villa’s superstar goalkeeper Emi Martinez saved and held on well to deny the former Palace midfielder.
Anthony Taylor brought the game to a halt as Villa picked up their ninth point of the season and created a three-point gap with Wolves in the bottom three.
Poor Run of Form
The draw stretched Villa’s unbeaten run to four matches, the longest string of results without defeat since December 2020, but this masks over what has been an incredibly disappointing start to the season.
Including last season, Gerrard has only won four of the last twenty matches. These were narrow wins against Southampton and Everton this term, as well as victory over two relegated sides in Burnley and Norwich. In that time, the Villans have only mustered 19 goals against the likes of Bournemouth, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, as well as three games against relegated sides.
Such a run of poor results may be a pill worth swallowing for fans if character and identity was on show. On Monday, as has been so often the case in 2022, the players looked void of ideas in the crucial moments of a match. The players must also take responsibility for their shortcomings in recent months, but unfortunately Christian Purslow set the precedent last year with his firm but perhaps fair comments about Dean Smith. If a manager does not show “continuous improvement in performance, results and league position,” then their position will become untenable. Eleven months on and for many fans it feels like we are in that position again.
A game against Forest, who had lost five in a row and conceded 21 in their opening eight matches, was a must-win. The performance was marginally better than others this season, but the lack of creativity in a side loaded with creative talent is a concern. As @sgtgilko pointed out on Twitter, the Villa xG of 0.72 was the lowest Forest had faced all season, and the seventh time Villa have served up an xG of less than 1 in the Premier League this season. The two shots on target registered by Villa is the lowest Forest have faced this season, with even League Two new boys Grimsby Town landing more blows on the Reds goal in a League Cup fixture in August.
Time For Change?
Villa have been extremely unfortunate with injuries particularly the ones keeping Diego Carlos, Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara out, and many of the players that have been available have been disappointing for a while now, but ultimately the buck stops with one man and that is the manager.
There is a tough run of fixtures that for a while was hidden around the corner by more ‘winnable’ games. Many of those ‘winnable’ games were not won, and the more difficult fixtures are now staring us right in the face. With the World Cup looming, and some top-quality managers available, the Villa hierarchy may agree with the large swathes of the fanbase who believe that the time is right to move in a different direction from Steven Gerrard and his coaching team. Villa cannot afford to be in and around the relegation zone when the winter break arrives, but at the moment, and without a transfer window until January, it is hard to see a way that this is not anything other than a real possibility.
If he does leave, many in the game have no doubt that Gerrard will still go on to succeed as a manager, he has after all succeeded in the pressure cooker that is the Old Firm, but it feels like his time is running out to achieve what he set out to do at Villa. All fans wanted this appointment to work out, but a year on and many believe we are no further forward in our project.
It is back to the home comforts of Villa Park against Graham Potter’s rejuvenated Chelsea side next week. It remains to be seen whether Gerrard will be given one more chance to turn things around, or whether the events of Monday night will be the final straw for Villa’s ambitious owners.
AUTHOR | JOEY MILLINGTON
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Joey Millington | UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
UTV PODCAST HQ | LATEST NEWS
DONATE
UTVPODCAST | An Aston Villa Blog— is now accepting small donations, which will help to support the site’s ongoing evolution.
Thank you so much for your support.
VILLA BELLAS
Villa Bellas is the Official AVFC Women’s Network. In an unequal and often unrelenting world we work to break down barriers for equality.
Our network aims to raise the voice of women and non-binary people at @AVFCOfficial We support inclusion & diversity and with our allies, we can challenge sexism and misogyny, creating a safe and welcoming environment for the fans in the stands and the women on the pitch.
Let’s celebrate ourselves and champion each other while having fun doing it!
Twitter: @villabellas Instagram: @villa.bellas
SUBSCRIBE
Enjoying this article – then please subscribe to UTVPODCAST | An Aston Villa Blog to help us grow and support the site; you’ll receive instant email notifications of all released article.
Plus, it’s completely free.
PARTNERS
UTVPODCAST is pleased to partner with Official AVFC Store, Fanatics, Kitbag, and Classic Football Shirts. Throughout the season, we will bring you special offers and discount codes.
ASTON VILLA | KITBAG
ASTON VILLA | AVFC STORE
2022/23 Aston Villa – Shop Now
ASTON VILLA | CLASSIC FOOTBALL SHIRTS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook and Twitter readers, click the respective icon below to follow our utvpodcast social media accounts.
