Sean Dyche hits out at ‘errors’ from his Nottingham Forest side, but calls for perspective after the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
Nottingham Forest have slumped dramatically in the past year, they sat third in the Premier League table and chasing Champions League football this time last season.
But now find themselves sitting just four points above the relegation zone, experiencing a drop-off in organisation, focus and form more recently.
It has been a damaging few weeks for Forest, suffering four straight defeats (to Fulham, Manchester City, Everton, and Villa), but despite this recent winless run.
Head coach Sean Dyche was appointed in October and it started well (winning 7 of his first 12 games), and he insists his side had shown consistency and improvement until late.
He feels the current streak distorts the bigger picture, views the team as a work in progress, and remains confident in their ability to stay up.
Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche, speaking to Sky Sports: “The whole game-plan was to frustrate them. It’s tough as a manger because the players did everything we asked of them in the first half.
“Simple, basic errors. It’s unfortunate because we’ve done that too many times. We gave away the third – a mix-up and mistake. It’s a tough one because the players put a lot into that. We can’t keep making basic errors like that. We have to change and learn from it.
“Our shape was good. I don’t think they hardly laid a glove on us until they scored.”
On goalkeeper John Victor: “He will be alright. He has come out too far.”
On West Ham on Tuesday: “This is a juggling act. Lots of games. I knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. There was a lot of honesty and hard yards. But it’s a big learning curve over these four games.”
Dyche speaking to BBC MOTD: “Very frustrating for us. We delivered the first half as I wished they would until the last moment of truth. Credit to them, really good turn and finish. The second goal was a basic mistake and we could have defended better. We scored a very good goal and then gave away another poor goal. You can’t give basic errors away to teams like this in the Premier League. The mentality is there but you can’t keep giving yourself a mountain to climb. Players were switching off to the basics, we have worked on it and shown them but this is the job. I never expected it to be easy when I got here.
On goalkeeper John Victor who went off injured after he was at fault for the third goal: “I think he is injured and he has hurt himself. He knows it is an error but sometimes it happens. Basic errors are hurting us at the moment. We’ve got a good group here.”
On whether there is a pressure to score goals: “They weren’t scoring goals in pre-season and at the start of the season. There is a lot of good in the team but you can’t keep giving goals away like this.”
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery, speaking to Sky Sports: “I am so happy. We had to recover our energy and our confidence. Here, at Villa Park the energy we create was really important.
“Forest are competitive. After the Arsenal match we met. The players and staff, how we are doing this season, how we are feeling, how we needed to keep the same consistency as before. How we needed to be together and strong.”
On the transfer window: “The players we have at the club are the most important players. But we are always competitive in the transfer window.”
Emery speaking to BBC MOTD: “So good, three points. We needed rest and work to get ready for this match. The players responded fantastically to the demands we set. We needed to score one goal when we had chances to do so. The key was that we didn’t concede a clear transition. We dominated with the possession, the positioning and we did it with our mentality to keep our momentum.
On John McGinn’s goals: “We need goals from the players, the strikers, the midfielders, everybody. I try to set ambitions individually. They have their targets and John McGinn needs to score goals like he did today.
On winning 11 consecutive matches at Villa Park: “It’s very important to have our supporters and how we are feeling today. Each match is a new challenge and how we are competing is the key. We are focusing on each match. Very important to get back to winning ways.”
“Very happy” 😃
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is delighted with how his side responded after a heavy defeat to Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/ayu9726P5L
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 3, 2026
Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White, speaking to Sky Sports: “I feel like we stuck to the game-plan in the first half. There were lots of positives to take. I know we need points but we showed a work ethic and desire.
“We always know Villa start with a high press. So the key was to absorb that pressure and silence the fans a bit. We were unfortunate to concede right before half time.”
On facing fellow strugglers West Ham on Tuesday: “I am sure the gaffer is going to get us working this week. We will have a game-plan and we’ll aim to get three points. It’s a difficult period. We’ve got games coming up, we just need to get points on the table.
“You want to be clear of it. We have been in this sort of battle before. We know what it takes to get out of it.”
Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn speaking to BBC MOTD: “It was a tough first half, Forest sat in and tried to make it difficult for us which they did. To go in at half-time 1-0 up changed the game and made us freer.
On what Unai Emery expects: “The manager pushes us a lot and says I should be scoring a lot more goals. Thankfully I managed to get two goals today so hopefully he’ll get off my back a bit! I saw the keeper out so I managed to get it round him and into the goal.”
“We’re building something special here, breaking more records and becoming more complete as a team. Hopefully we can continue this run. Villa Park is a fortress at the moment. Exciting time to be a Villa player and a Villa supporter. We just keep riding that wave.
“It was just a wee joke in the dressing room”
John McGinn talks through his celebration for his first goal against Nottingham Forest 😂 pic.twitter.com/1nk6Gmknsv
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 3, 2026
Here’s how fans reacted as Sean Dyche hits out at Nottingham Forest ‘errors’ but calls for perspective after defeat to Aston Villa…
@maxpalace03: Would be unreal if they sacked 2 managers in one season. The amount of karma they’ve got since the summer is incredible. I’m sure they’ll file a complaint about the game.
@poyserno1: Marinakis and Edu have a lot to answer for, self imploded the club from the start of the season when it should have been our year to establish ourselves in the Premier League for good! Can’t see us getting any result for the rest of the season.
@nffcJS: Most disconnected I’ve felt with the club in a long while. Tragic on and off the pitch in what should have been our most exciting season this generation with European football
@themkjones: Can’t blame anyone. This is what Dyche does! He’s terrible, blames everyone else and lowers expectations. You reap what you sow.
@84Blads: Awful. About time we asked some questions of the owner, Edu, the players. Where is the pride and the fight we had last year. Our greatest season for a generation ruined by things out of our control. This is our club and this is what happens when you run before you can walk
@OMathuna89: Shambles. Not the result, which i expected, but the performance. The attitude. The tactics. All an utter farce. Can’t help but feel today was the day we booked our ticket back to the Championship. And we deserve no better after the hubris from the board over the Summer. @NFFC
@ruanmarques__: Remember that the options were Roberto Mancini and Marco Silva, but both were “expensive”, so we chose this one. What will be really expensive is relegation. #DYCHEOUT
@mallyslife_: Dyche sort this sh*t out. Give us some hope as currently there isn’t a team in the Prem I can see us beating. Deserved to lose, only positive is Aina returning and getting minutes in #NFFC
@s4myoung: Comfortable win for us but I can’t get over how poor Dyche’s set up was. Forest have enough quality to at least come to VP and give us a game but didn’t bother until 2-0. Be fuming if I was a travelling fan today. But I’m not, so I’m buzzing.
@ALCQ20: Can someone take me back to last season when I used to enjoy watching Nottingham Forest play football? I’ve never felt so disconnected from this team before
@ChrisIWeaver: It’s not the result it’s the nature of the performance that is a massive disappointment.
@d_p_ball: Gifting teams wins. Absolutely atrocious and it’s clear the managers having little impact now #nffc
@Forestfan03: Jus get rid of dyche and dont have a fucking manager. Let the players do what they fucking like who cares
@CJ93NFFC: Thank fuck for that. Make John run back to Nottingham, he was almost halfway anyways.
— Joey (@joeycpfc) January 3, 2026
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