Aston Villa fans voice their anger come the full time whistle as Steven Gerrard calls out four players after the draw at Nottingham Forest.
The hosts moved off the bottom of the Premier League table with Emmanuel Dennis’ early header giving Steve Cooper’s side the lead but Ashley Young’s stunning strike made it 1-1.
Villa had the better of a game but was short on quality and couldn’t find their first away win of the season as Forest ended a run of five defeats.
The point sees Forest go above Leicester, while Steven Gerrard’s side remain in 16th having been unable to secure the victory that would have taken them ninth.
Player ratings
Nott’m Forest: Henderson (6), Aurier (6), Cook (6), McKenna (7), Toffolo (7), Kouyate (6), Yates (6), Freuler (6), Gibbs-White (7), Johnson (6), Dennis (6).
Subs: Williams (6), Surridge (6), O’Brien (n/a).
Aston Villa: Martinez (6), Cash (6), Konsa (6), Mings (6), Young (7), Luiz (6), McGinn (6), Ramsey (6), Buendia (6), Watkins (5), Coutinho (5).
Subs: Ings (6), Dendoncker (6), Archer (6).
Player of the match: Scott McKenna.
“It’s a step in the direction,” Cooper told Sky Sports. “It’s not the ambition to be drawing games at home and not having much of the ball.
“But the circumstances meant we had to accept that it was a forward step.
“There were lots of things we need to improve on but we really need to look at the things we did well. We can keep building.
“For all the tactical things we do I haven’t loved the fight in the team.
“We are trying to put a team together but that’s not an excuse for not running or fighting.
“We did that better tonight. We were deeper and more compact. Is this my favourite way of playing? No. But it was something that was right for tonight.”
š£ļø “It’s definitely a step in the right direction”
Steve Cooper reacts to Forest ending their run of five losses in a row with a draw against Villa š³ pic.twitter.com/uf4iLEnCeQ
ā Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 10, 2022
“I thought we were the better team but we still need to create more in the final third, more quality,” said Gerrard.
“I have challenged the forward players to add more in the final third because up to that point there is not much wrong.
“It is not an application thing.
“We need more quality from our big hitters.
“I seem to be talking about our final third play too much. Hopefully, players can get into form.
“If not, I am going to have to change things, whether that is personnel, system or shape.
“The names are there, the talent is there, I have seen them do it a lot, consistently.
“We have certainly got the names.
“We have recruited big in that area of the pitch.
“It is only right that we demand more in that area of the pitch.
“I am aware we should have more points, more goals.
“I have not got my head buried in the sand.
“We are playing against a team that give a lot of chances up.
“We had a chance to go from 16th to ninth.
“The fans deserve for us to win that game.
“I don’t think we have created enough or enough clear-cut chances to say we deserved to win, but it’s a certainly a game we came here expecting to win.
“I wanted to create more chances, outside of two or three decent opportunities, we need to create more and need more quality in the forward positions and final third. If we did, we would have got three points, but we never got that.
“I don’t think there was much wrong up to a certain point but I seem to be saying that too much of late. All week we have spoken to the players on getting more bodies into the box. We tried to change our system to be more bold, we finished with a bold team to find magic in the final third, but it wasn’t there today.
“The important thing is how I can get this team to be more potent, find that quality, and we challenge our forwards to give this team more threat. Application and a lot of our performances are ok up to a certain point.
“You look around our changing room and see Coutinho, Buendia, Ings, Bailey will be back quick, I need these players to step up and be headline writers for us.
“I don’t want to sit here and talk about four games unbeaten, because it’s not enough, the last two performances we need to be taking maximum points,’ Gerrard said.
“There is a lot of frustration there. I have challenged the forward players to give us more in that area of the pitch.
“We just need more quality from some of our big hitters. When we get that and when they step forward with more for us I am sure we can turn these draws into wins. Tonight was an incredible opportunity for us to really jump up the league and we haven’t grabbed it.”
“I need these players to step up and provide big moments!” šŖ
Steven Gerrard says he has faith in his Aston Villa team to turn draws into wins in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/BI9ws66dOZ
ā Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 10, 2022
Roy Keane has tipped Villa to back Steven Gerrard in the January transfer window to solve their attacking issues.
“He’s having the same conversations after Leeds last week when they played with ten players for most of the second half,” said Keane.
“They’re playing a Forest team that have conceded record numbers of goals and it’s the same type of interview afterward, they’re not finding a way.
“And these are against teams that were there for the taking. That’s when you need courage, your attacking players to get a desire to show a goal.
“It can be different, you can come off the pitch and it’s 1-1 and the goalkeeper made six brilliant saves and he’s man of the match – that happens. But when you walk off and it’s 1-1 and you’re thinking ‘we haven’t even tested the goalkeeper’.
“You’re thinking about your attacking players, they are key to him. The bottom line is you’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net, that’s what you’re in the team for.
“If you’re not doing it and you get to January, hopefully he does, then you have to get the players in who can score the goals for Villa because these lads aren’t doing it at this moment in time. You can’t keep waiting.”
Roy Keane also challenges Steve Cooper and makes a stark Nottingham Forest prediction.
“There were always going to be a lot of players coming into the club, I don’t think anyone would have imagined there would have been 22 or 23, that is crazy really,” Keane said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football coverage.
“Of course they had a lot of players on loan last year and they were going to have to invest and when you invest and bring in that many players you need a decent start. “It is just, I think what you want from a promoted team is survival if you can, stay in the PL and you want a bit of team spirit and fight.
“It is very hard to create that when you bring 22 players into a club so yeah I have got great sympathy for him. “But if we are led to believe he is a brilliant coach, then we need to see more of that, certainly in terms of tightening up at the back. If they keep conceding the goals they are, then they will be relegated by Christmas.”
This is what Twitter users wrote as Aston Villa fans voice anger while Steven Gerrard calls out four players after the draw at Forest…
ššš itās what we want pic.twitter.com/zIe6Dau9FE
ā Lucia Grace (@Luciagracee_) October 10, 2022
š pic.twitter.com/eAd7H8FMg1
ā MB šæš¼ (@MattyBirddd) October 10, 2022
@_CJAV: Thanks for coming to appreciate the fans at full time Steve. Donāt hit the door on your way out
@RobertRyan1874: Had enough. Get out of my club
@_EthanAVFC: Itās just really boring football ngl
@ThomAR5E: petition to ban the phrase āmoment of magicā please, youāre a MANAGER, tell the team what to do
@JayMTDee: Seriously, you can’t rely on moments of magic and actually use this in your excuses. Blaming another player for not belting a 30 yard screamer is not good enough.
@HolteendHorizon: Heās literally saying he has no pattern of play or a build up strategy & is just looking for a moment of magic, this is Steve Bruce esc & weāve had enough
@s4myoung: Why are we relying on āmoments of magicā from players rather than you coaching a style of play that creates chances and goals? Itās no surprise that no matter who plays in the front 3 under your management struggles for goals and assists.
@FPLJOHNBOY: Moments of magic, isnāt what modern winning football is based on, drilled and well coached systems of play is the modern way, he canāt seriously blame his attacking players for not doing something off the cuff and unexpected, the best moves involve 3 or 4 players
@harrywr: For gods sake, anyone can be a manager if when you start playing badly you just blame the players for not producing moments of magic. Even though Ashley Young did, he just needs MORE moments of magic.
@JordHunt98: Thatās an interview of a man whoās jobs on the brink
@AndrewAshburn: This “moment of magic” line is an all vibes no tactics Steve Bruce response.
@CommonSenseThx: Moments of magic are very rare in football, you cannot rely on that to be your attack, there’s a reason we barely create any half chances let alone clean cut chances. Our players have no idea what to do when we have the ball, and that’s on Gerrard
@GRtweets7: āThere wasnāt much wrong with our performanceā. Says it all. He needs to be sacked first thing in the mornings
@deniswhite1114: Your draining the energy and depressing the fan base so much, youāve gotta leave Steve. Your bleeding us fans dry. Our fans have been subjected to enough negativity for years and your only piling on the misery and insulting us fans. We deserve more.
@wilsterdavies1: Same old. Tell me a side that plays a worse brand of football? Whatever he does-overseer whatever that means-isn’t working. Continuous improvement?
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