Nottingham Forest capitulated to Aston Villa last night, losing the Europa League semi-final 4-1 on aggregate, in a match that demonstrated the gulf between a side ready to conquer Europe and one thrust there, largely unexpectedly. George Edwards was at the match
It was desperation that Nottingham Forest didn’t need — desperation that displayed manager Vitor Pereira’s current optimism but one that ultimately buried their European campaign.
With 20 minutes remaining, Aston Villa 2-1 up on aggregate, the 57-year-old made two substitutions, one of which saw defender Morato replaced by winger Dilane Bakwa, shifting Forest to a back three that included full-back Neco Williams and erasing any other defensive support.
Until that point Forest had been rocked, both by the absence of key players and the momentum that was building around Villa Park. But despite offering little going forward, they looked reasonably comfortable defensively.
In the 14 minutes between conceding Emiliano Buendia’s penalty, that saw Villa take the lead of the tie, and Pereira’s substitutions, Forest only conceded two shots. Yet, nine minutes later, the Reds found themselves staring elimination in the face after a three-minute John McGinn brace sunk their European campaign.
The change demonstrated Pereira’s current optimism — Forest eleven unbeaten and on a five-match winning streak coming into the second leg — but turned out to destroy the foothold they were beginning to establish.
Post-match, Pereira revealed his options from the bench were limited, with Ryan Yates, Lorenzo Lucca and Bakwa the only three first-team regulars actually fit enough to take to the field.
Without Morgan Gibbs-White, an unused substitute after his collision with Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez on Monday, Forest never looked like scoring. They amassed only seven shots across the game — three of them coming in second-half stoppage time, once they were down and out.
Gibbs-White was absent alongside Ibrahim Sangaré and Murillo (both benched but unfit) and Ola Aina and Callum Hudson-Odoi (both out of the match day squad), meaning half of Forest’s first-choice XI were unavailable. That converted into a lack of cohesion and fluidity in possession throughout, yet they were only a goal down and still very much in the tie.
Had Forest remained in that position going into the latter stages, momentum would likely have shifted and Villa’s confidence could have evaporated into nerves, as so often happens in football with slender leads at the end of matches.
It might be a hypothetical, but all they’d have needed was to win a corner or craft one breakaway, and who knows where it could have taken them?
The manner in which four passes tore them apart for McGinn’s first goal, Villa’s third, showed how their defensive structure had been torn apart by the changes — one long ball cutting out Forest’s entire midfield and leaving them defending two on three, completely overwhelmed.
By the final whistle, the difference between both sides felt structural along with tactical; Villa looked a side moulded for nights like this where Forest seemed a team arriving ahead of schedule.
Villa’s much-rested XI were buoyant, and they have a manager who knows how to navigate this competition, a four-time Europa League winner.
It’s Villa’s third consecutive season in Europe and fourth fighting in and around the Premier League’s top five, with a balanced squad built to go deep into the season on all fronts. In contrast, Forest’s tumultuous season and the surprise of European football seemed to catch them up.
Pereira made eight changes as Forest beat Chelsea 3-1 on Saturday. It was a much-needed win, one that made their Premier League security look almost secured, manufactured by the confidence the Portuguese has breathed into the fringe players that had largely faltered or been cast aside until his arrival.
But when the pressure was at its peak and the season was on the line last night, it was evident they were missing the personalities that had defined them, and that had got them to this stage thanks to their performances last season.
The whirlwind of change that has characterised the campaign, with three managerial departures and 16 new arrivals – all reasonably justified given the frequent circumstantial change, painted a football club not built for potential European success, in the way everything about Villa’s comeback did.
Once the dust settles, despite Forest not being ready to go all the way, what they have achieved this season – largely in the past six weeks thanks to Pereira – will not be diminished by the manner in which they exited the Europa League.
Before him, they looked at rock bottom, only in the tournament by the skin of their teeth, a competition that was becoming a hindrance as their battle for Premier League safety and frequent inconsistency clouded the escape European trips provided.
Pereira breathed new life into Forest’s season and allowed them to dream again, to have faith in themselves, again. They have given their travelling supporters trips of a lifetime, experiences bigger than some supporters have ever seen and bigger than some supporters will ever see again.
It was a match, a tie and a European campaign that had just about everything, but for Nottingham Forest, the European dream is dead. Long live the dream.
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