Following Nottingham Forest’s 4-2 loss at Aston Villa, head coach Nuno Espirito Santo stated he had no regrets about the lineup he had chosen.
Due to an injury to Nuno Tavares, the Portuguese chose to start Moussa Niakhate at left-back, with Harry Toffolo starting on the bench. Niakhate, who has experience playing in that role, had a rough first half at Villa Park, as the Reds fell down 3-0 after 40 minutes.
Before the interval, Niakhate gave the visitors a response, and in the second half, he appeared more at ease switching back to his more comfortable position at centre back. After the break, Forest improved all around and, thanks to a goal from Morgan Gibbs-White, cut the lead to 3-2 before making yet another defensive error that put them in danger of losing.
Nuno stated, “I believe Niakhate can handle the task there.” There would be numerous one-on-ones since we know Leon Bailey is a formidable opponent. First, we chose to travel with Niakhate. Harry was among us too. It wasn’t an issue.
“Tavares has a wound. He suffered an injury during the West Ham match and will be sidelined for some time.
During the half, Nuno did substitute Toffolo as one of three players. After receiving a booking, centre backs Murillo and Felipe were hooked. Taiwo Awoniyi was also substituted, and Divock Origi and Andrew Omobamidele joined the action.
When asked if he regretted choosing his squad, Nuno responded, “No.” Consider the substitutions: both centre halves received yellow cards. You wish to play the game again after falling behind 3-1. You are on the verge of receiving a second yellow card, therefore we need to squeeze, press high, and have numerous one-on-one situations. That was the main focus. It was to try to go and handle the game.
“We got off to a really poor start. The game started off poorly. The opposition was able to score far too easily. We were not very good. The first part of it was terrible.
We had some hope after the score, and we had a great start to the second half. We were in the game at 3-2; if it had been 3-3, we would have had a strong opportunity. However, we were in a difficult circumstance. It was game over at 4-2. In summary, a poor performance.
