Aston Villa’s winless start to the season continued on Saturday, as they fell to a late 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest, with Liam Delap (£5.5m) among the scorers.
Oliver Glasner is now unbeaten in eight matches against Unai Emery.
Here are our Scout Notes from Villa Park.
DELAP IMPACT
Delap is off the mark for Forest then, as the Tricky Trees got their first Premier League win under Glasner.
After a close first half, Delap found the bottom corner from 25 yards just after the restart.
He had another one ruled out for offside shortly after, too, in a display full of power and attacking intent, with six shots and one chance created.
“He deserved it, but it didn’t surprise me because I see it in every training session. It’s such a hard strike. Even the second that was disallowed was an amazing finish.
“You could see after the goal his confidence really raced, and I felt it lifted him and he did really well. The goal will help him definitely, but today I think no individual player deserves to be praised alone.” – Oliver Glasner on Liam Delap
MUNOZ + GIBBS-WHITE’S PERSISTENT CREATIVITY
A late winner from substitute Igor Jesus (£5.8m) clinched the three points, with Daniel Munoz (£5.4m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.9m) both involved.
In truth, the home side were unable to cope with Munoz and Gibbs-White all afternoon.
They combined for 11 chances created (four for Munoz, seven for Gibbs-White), with the majority of Forest’s creativity coming from their right-sided combination.
Above: Nottingham Forest’s chances created map v Aston Villa
Gibbs-White’s late assist helped him claim the maximum bonus, thanks mostly to his creativity: one assist and seven chances created (three of them deemed big), plus 86% pass completion from 37 attempted passes.
After the draws against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, plus Saturday’s win, Forest now face Coventry City, Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town over the next four Gameweeks.
GLASNER ON MILENKOVIC + CUNHA
Nikola Milenkovic (£5.5m) and Jair Cunha (£4.5m), who impressed last week, both missed the trip to Villa Park.
Ahead of the match, Glasner said…
“After lunch, the doctor came to me and said they don’t feel comfortable, there’s some tightness in the hamstrings, so unfortunately they don’t make it today.” – Oliver Glasner
Those injuries forced a defensive reshuffle at Villa Park.
Ola Aina (£4.5m) moved into the back three, next to Ousmane Diomande (£5.4m) and Murillo (£5.5m), with Munoz on the right.
Image from BBC Sport
Glasner was clearly pleased with his new defensive set-up, as he provided further insight on Milenkovic and Cunha’s recovery timelines after the match…
“We are pleased with the win, but much more pleased with the performance and most pleased with the resilience showed today. It was 9.30pm when we got the result of scans that told us that Jair Cunha and Nikola could not play. I knocked at Ola and Ousmane’s door and told them they would be playing. I spoke with Ola a little bit about playing in the back three. I told him I think he can.
“I can tell you now that Murillo had some pain in his knees before the game, in training. But he said ‘no, Gaffer, I will play.’ Nikola was a bit more serious and will miss the Coventry game. We are hopeful that he will be back after the international break. We hope Jair could be back for the Coventry game. But we have to be cautious. Let’s see.” – Oliver Glasner
WHY JACKSON WAS SUBBED OFF AT HALF-TIME, MANZAMBI + MBAYE DEBUTS
This was another poor performance from Villa.
They did at least score their first Premier League goal of the season, when substitute Alysson (£5.0m) nodded in a corner from John McGinn (£5.4m).
However, aside from an early goalmouth scramble which involved Victor Lindelof (£4.5m), they created very little.
Nicolas Jackson’s (£6.5m) half-time withdrawal hardly helped, with his replacement, Tammy Abraham (£5.5m), ineffective.
“He had a yellow card and the referee was telling us, one of our coaches, he needed to keep calm. In case not, he was close to having another yellow. I know Nico Jackson and he could have one action with his power, maybe for one tackle and action to recover the ball, dangerous for a yellow card. I decided it. It is my decision because the referee as well told us he was at risk of a second yellow card.” – Unai Emery on Nicolas Jackson
Not even the second-half arrivals of Johan Manzambi (£5.9m) and Ibrahim Mbaye (£6.0m) could lift the home side.
Mbaye played off the left after coming on, with Manzambi central.
“Manzambi, after a long time, this is the first minutes he’s played, and Mbaye showed us his skill, threatening them on the left side. This is their first match and hopefully we can continue progressing with those players, getting minutes.” – Unai Emery
After Saturday’s defeat, Villa have created just four big chances in their first four matches, the fewest of any team. They are second-bottom for expected goals conceded (xGC), too, so there are clear issues for Emery to sort at both ends of the pitch.
MAATSEN + PAU INJURY LATEST
In a further blow, both Pau Torres (£4.5m) and Ian Maatsen (£4.5m) had to come off with injuries.
Maatsen’s ankle problem sounds much more serious.
“I don’t know exactly, but the first information we have is that maybe it is a long time.” – Unai Emery on Ian Maatsen
Reports on Sunday suggest he’ll miss up to eight weeks.
Pau meanwhile picked up a hamstring issue midway through the first half, which could rule him out for a few weeks. Tyrone Mings (£4.5m) replaced the Spaniard.
There was a bit of misfortune to Saturday’s defeat, of course.
Villa couldn’t replace Maatsen for the final moments as Emery had already made five substitutions. McGinn shifted to an unfamiliar left-back role, with Forest’s late winner coming from that flank.
As for Matty Cash (£4.5m), he missed out on Saturday, having been unable to shake off his knock.
In a desperate search for positives, Joao Gomes (£5.5m) is at least back from suspension now.
Villa will play Coventry City in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, before taking on Tottenham Hotspur in Gameweek 5.
