Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa: Premier League - live reaction

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa: Premier League - live reaction

FULL TIME: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa

There’s not much between these two at this point – Forest are confident, Villa lack flow, and the second leg will be a jazzer.

90+5 min Back come Villa, Sancho picking up possession outside the box, dipping inside to open up a shooting lane, and lacing one into Orterga’s midriff.

90+4 min Dominguez intercepts a loose pass and sets Williams away, but Konsa and Luiz gets around him, none of his mates do likewise, and the attack peters out.

90+3 min The ball swing out deeper this time, to that same spot Wood’s defending, and he thunks clear. Then, when the ball comes back, Ortega – who’s been really solid tonight – collects, rolling out quickly to set his team on the attack, rather than hanging on for as long as possible before booting a 50/50 into the air.

90+2 min Villa win a corner, Tielemans with it, and Abbott heads behind at the near post; here comes another…

90 min We’ll have five additional minutes; Forest send on Yates for Jesus, which sounds like a wine lodge has found God.

89 min Villa counter, Rogers pulling right and snapping infield to meet Tielemans’ run. He does well to put his body across Morato as he collects the ball, but the move takes him wide and, moving away from goal, he can only slice his shot wide of the near post.

89 min I really like how Forest are seeing this out: they’re trusting themselves to play as they always do, defending the box and going forward when they can, a sustained attack ending when Williams head poorly after Anderson crosses.

88 min Strand Larsen has out Palace 3-1 up against Shakhtar; they’ve got a great chance of going to Leipzig.

87 min Sancho into Bogarde who collects … only to be robbed by Anderson extending a go-go Gadget leg.

86 min Villa have huffed and puffed, but they’ve struggled for ideas all night. I wonder if they might try Tielemans further forward, where he can shoot or poke passes, because so far, the three behind Watkins haven’t created anything.

85 min The final of this competition, by the way is at Besiktas’ new ground. I’ve only been to the old one, but it’s built on the same spot and what’s cool about it is that it’s properly in town, St James’ Park style. Whichever of these two go, their fans will have an absolute time.

83 min Gibbs-White backheels to Anderson, collects the return and they play two more passes to each other, the second of them, slid into the channel, sending the former to the line; lovely soccer. His cross is blocked and collected by Martinez, but that was composed and almost taunting excellence.

83 min Forest fans are now cheering every tackle; we’re at that point.

81 min Villa win a free-kick out on the right and Luiz sends over an outswinger, picking out wood, on his own, who leaps mightily to head clear. So Sancho retrieves the balls, shuffling towards the box and playing a one-two off Rogers … but he can’t collect the return.

79 min Ch ch ch changes for Villa: off go Digne, McGinn and Buendia; on come Douglas Luiz, Sancho and Maatsen.

78 min Tielemans is late on Anderson; he’s booked, the first so to be this evening.

78 min That's what Stephen Hawking said,” advises Nigel. “Someone commissioned him to analyse a zillion penalty kicks and he said the upper corner was statistically the most likely to succeed.” Yeah, it’s unsaveable if done right, but has greater margin for error than going low.

77 min Rogers veers around a challenge and away from Williams, moving inside Milenkovic, before Williams gets back in to make the challenge.

75 min Abbott, by the way, is only 19. If Aina’s properly hurt, he’ll have some serious work to do over the next week or so.

74 min Aina is down in his own box, limping a bit, and he’s replaced by Zach Abbott.

73 min It’s a massive goal, that – if Forest take a lead into the second leg, they’ll be primed to defend the box and strike on the break, while Villa lack a bit of guile.

GOAL! Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa (Wood pen 71) A perfect penalty, rammed high into the top left. If you can do that, I don’t get why you do’t do it every time – that’s how good it was. Martinez goes the right way and gets close, but ye cannae save those, Darren.

PENALTY TO FOREST! I’m not sure if Digne was appealing for a goalkick or using a raised arm to steady himself, but once they established the ball was still in, it was open and shut. Chris Wood will take the responsibility; goodness me the pressure…

68 min But was it out? We see a replay that suggests not, and I think this is going to be a penalty!

67 min Gibbs-White crosses to the back post and Hutchinson does well to pursue, lunging after a lost cause and diverting the ball from the by-line … into Digne’s raised arm! PENA… no, it was already out for a goalkick, says the ref.

67 min Tielemans punches a pass through the lines that Buendia doesn’t quite read. Had he been on his toes, he might’ve collected, delivering it into stride at the same time and, on the touchline, Emery is less than gruntled.

66 min Konsa feeds a decent pass between centre-back and full-back for Cash, who nashes on to it and crosses low, but Milenkovic reaches the ball before Watkins to hump clear.

65 min Williams goes short to Anderson, improving the angle for him, but the ensuing cross is too close to Martinez, who claims confidently, ahead of Wood.

64 min But, as I type, Forest win a corner down the left…

63 min Forest are struggling to get their attacking play going this half, and I wonder how much of that is due to the absence of Sangare and its knock-on effect on Anderson, who’s getting less quality ball and more defensive responsibility.

61 min Shakhtar had equalised against Palace, but Daichi Kamada has just put the visitors back in front. Taha Hashim has the latest:

59 min Suddenly the force is with Villa, Digne sliding in to win the ball off Aina, fairly but with studs up. The ref plays one, Digne is swiftly back involved to cross, and when his effort is kicked away, his team win a free-kick out wide, 25 yards from goal … which Forest get rid of easily enough.

57 min McGinn clips a pass into the box for Rogers, who looks to curl low towards the far corner but, in the middle, Watkins realises it’s not going in so chucks a leg at it, diverting the ball goalwards with his laces, when he might’ve swept with the direction; that allows Ortega to make an excellent reaction save from close range, foiling Vill’a best opportunity of the evening.

57 min It actually looks like Onana’s issue is with his calf, which is probably a good thing.

56 min “I’d like to echo Rebekah Voss’s sentiment and heap my praise on Johan Manzambi,” begins Daniel Halladay. “He’s an excellent young player with a maturity that belies his youth, and he has become a guaranteed starter for Freiburg this season. A fantastic all-around midfielder and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that his time in the south-west of Germany will soon be coming to an end.”

55 min Bogarde comes on for Onana, who diddled himself heading that cross out. His team needed it, but it seems unlikely he’ll be back in a week or so, unless it’s precautionary.

54 min Now that you ask dept: I enjoy Villa’s shorts. The trefoil, number and stripes combine nicely.

Earlier, Benjamin Gravestock had offered his thoughts on Villa’s recent form: “Bogarde is the definition of ‘solidly uninspiring’ which is at least an improvement on his uncle’s ’solidly refusing to do anything’,” bitterly chortles Benjamin Gravestock. “Sancho just never quite looks like sparking. Luiz is maybe two-thirds the player we sold, and Maatsen isn’t an upgrade on Digne. Like a finely-wrought clock, there is something not clicking about Villa at the moment and the return of Tielemans and McGinn is two of the jewels but we’re so reliant on having Onana or Kamara there to keep things ticking. Having said all that, the penalty is a ridiculous one to concede, whether you believe in the handball law or not. I think Villa get to play 30-40 yards further up the pitch at VP and I think we’ll be more comfortable there. Here’s hoping, at least.”

I couldn’t believe a club doing as well as Villa punted on Sancho and agree, there’s no one setting tempo with passes in midfield. I wanted more from Tielemans in that regard – the way Forest defend, I’d want him making the play with McGinn looking to take shots and send in crosses.

Pochettino's comments on youth development were also featured in the build-up: “The kids don’t develop until they are 11, 12, or 13. The difference within other countries – for me, I know Argentina – the way that I developed my emotional relationship with football is before I started to walk because I started to kick the ball. That is the problem. The relationship is with basketball or American football. They take the ball with their hands, first thing. [Elsewhere] you kick the ball with your feet.” Pochettino went on to state that there should be greater emphasis on creating publicly accessible places for kids to play rather than funneling all development through clubs and organized teams.

Chris Wood said after the match: “It’s good to have the advantage, but it’s only the first leg. Cup competitions come down to small margins, such as the penalty, and both teams played well.”