Regarding the assists, for the first goal I thought Toffolo mishit the pass and had intended to play it to one of the closer Forest players. All credit to Aina for seeing and taking the opportunity.
On the game in general, I thought we were good value for the win. Villa weren't quite on it but Cooper got the tactics and team selection spot on and everybody was at least a 7/10. Full of confidence for West Ham now - expect a point at least.
No chance he was actually aiming for Aina but it was nice to have so many options in and around the box that it fell to one of our players.
Tactically I thought we were really solid, we set up very narrow to stop Watkins getting in the channels or getting the ball to feet. Even though this left Digne and Cash loads of room we backed ourselves to deal with Watkins in the air if the cross did come in (which it rarely did at head height anyway)
Very similar to last season in terms of shape and game pan but a big improvement when it comes to use of the ball when we turn it over.
I know there's a tendency to think that because Villa played high, it should have been easy to time the runs behind them. Like other teams recently have completely failed to do.
For me we are looking increasingly good on the ball. It's not about time and percentage possession stats for me. I know there are those who enjoy the ball swung relentlessly across the back line without putting it at risk, but I'd rather kick it forward to make goals happen.
Imho, Toff is sharp enough to have intended that. Maybe not specifically to Aina, but that was dangerous open space to lay the ball into for anyone running in.
There were two nearer to him that I'd say were his intended targets.
It’s quite the illustration of our progress that we’re coming off beating an excellent side and being a little frustrated that we weren’t sharper with our attacking movement.
We struggled against all three promoted teams.. all of which came out pumped up and swinging in one of their best opportunities to grab points. It’s a lot to expect a side that’s bedding in new signings and figuring out new ways to play to swat those teams away. Which isn’t to say we get a pass for failing in the same way three times.
We’re are in similar place to last season vis-a-vis points and fixtures, but where this time-ish last season we got a streaky home win against Liverpool with no possession, against Villa we were the better attacking force and we defended our position confidently. They can’t have been as good as they usually are to have gotten so little from all that possession, but we probably had something to do with that.
I'd like to see us get better at holding onto leads by holding onto the ball and taking the sting out that way, rather than sitting in position and just kicking the ball away.
There's definitely an argument that the worst time to play newly promoted teams is in the first few weeks, when everyone's fit and fighting and reality of what they are up against hasn't fully sunk in.
Count me in Team Elanga. He is getting slowly better. Tracked back, was very direct and is making better use of the ball. He is always going to be at risk of losing the ball with how it seems he has been asked to play.
Even morseo when they have no reason to fear you. Everyone outside Nottingham still thinks that 4th bottom will be a decent outcome for Forest this season.
It looked like a rehearsed play. Putting it into the space where midfield or Aina should be arriving and Aina was.
Certainly in the first half our ball retentions and speed of passing and movement was much improved. But because we were hitting them rapidly, we were always going to lose the ball more because of the high risk moves. And with fractionally better timing, we could and perhaps should have scored more goals. Previously we have had a low block because we had no choice in the matter. This time we had a low block because Cooper out thought and out executed Emery, the much lauded European manager who we are supposed to aspire to.
I thought we would lose this one by 2 so I'm chuffed to fuck.
And eventually Dominguez is going to strike the ball cleanly and get a worldy.
I want to find a more extensive highlights show, but I would also like to express my surprise and satisfaction at both "two" and "nil". Neither of which seemed terribly likely before the game, but both seem merited.
A Leicester forum I wasted some time looking at earlier said we were shit, the luckiest team around and our luck will run out eventually. One of the fuckwits hoped we stayed up so they could beat us twice.
Villa fans thought Forest played well and deserved it.
I hope you feel dirty. Very dirty.
Next game is West Ham away, last season a 4-0 loss.
The team that day:
Navas
Williams Felipe Worrall Lodi
Freuler Shelvey Colback
Johnson Gibbs-White
Wood
Quite a change since!
Freuler-Shelvey-Colback vs Mangala-Sangare-Dominguez is quite the difference.
