Ty Bracey: Nottingham Forest clash is must-win game for Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome Villa View host Ty Bracey as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
The game against struggling Nottingham Forest is a “must-win” for Aston Villa amid a difficult period for the club, according to Ty Bracey.
Steve Cooper’s job appeared to be on the line with his newly-promoted team bottom of the Premier League and having lost five games on the bounce, including a 4-0 thrashing at the only side previously worse off than them, Leicester City, last Monday (3 October), until a new contract was announced on Friday.
But still, in that context it feels like if Villa are going to get a result against anyone it would be them when the two sides meet at the City Ground (10 October), so it has to be a win, although he isn’t especially confident.
He exclusively told Villa News: “There’s a lot of pressure on [Forest’s] manager to perform. He’s spent a substantial amount of money and bought a substantial amount of players.
“They’ve taken a huge gamble and spent their entire budget from coming up on buying players. So it all depends on what Villa shows up.
“It really does depend on that. It’s a must-win game for me.”
Three games unbeaten for the Lions looks pretty good, especially when compared to the dreadful run the next opponents are on.
But since the surprise performance against Manchester City on 3 September the games have got increasingly worse in terms of quality.
The win over Southampton was a game that even Villa fans struggled to enjoy (16 September), and the failure to break down 10-man Leeds over nearly 45 minutes in the previous match (2 October) hasn’t inspired a huge amount of confidence in Gerrard’s side.
With injuries mounting up there isn’t a very positive atmosphere around the club, so he has to get the kind of morale-boosting victory out of Forest that his former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers did or the doubts are going to majorly increase.
In other Aston Villa news, Bracey wants Ollie Watkins to do will but feels a change is needed in attack.