Dan Bardell reacts to frustration-filled Aston Villa draw at Nottingham Forest
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Dan Bardell believes the tempestuous nature of the 1-1 draw between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest was a result of “sheer frustration” from two struggling teams.
The Villans made it four games unbeaten with the point at the City Ground, but it was another frustrating outing where they were unable to get the win against a side that came into the game bottom of the table and on a streak of five straight losses, and there were a number of times players reacted angrily with each other.
Aside from the moment of quality from Ashley Young for the Villa goal, Bardell felt it was like watching a Championship match and that Douglas Luiz was lucky not to get himself sent off from one of the flash points.
He exclusively told Villa News: “I think it’s just frustration to be honest. It was a horrible game of football to watch.
“Two really poor teams. Neither team could really string any passes together or really constructed a good footballing move throughout the game.
“Forest scored through a set piece. Villa scored from a moment of brilliance from 30 yards. I don’t think it’s sustainable, that kind of goal from Villa. It was just a terrible game.
“It looked like two sides who would be down at the bottom. At times I struggled to remember that Villa are in the Premier League. It felt like a Championship game it was such a low quality game.
“I think there’s just frustration from the players at the moment that collectively Villa as a football club aren’t good enough.
“It’s pretty turgid. Unbeaten in four but that’s three draws and it’s not like we’re really carrying any form. It’s just plodding along.
“And I think the players know that they’re better than what Aston Villa are serving up at the moment.
“So I think there was just pure frustration. I thought Luiz was actually quite lucky not to get sent off the way he went in with his head, so that was fortunate because we don’t need any suspensions on top of the injuries that we’ve got.
“All round it was just a horrible watch so I think there was just a sense of frustration. I think some of them are fighting for [Steven] Gerrard still, but overall I think it was sheer frustration.”
When the side that is now bottom of the table, Leicester City, can get a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Forest (3 October) and yet Gerrard’s side labour to a draw it is clear things aren’t going well.
The draw with Manchester City (3 September) is looking more and more of an outlier performance-wise, and while the team hasn’t lost since, there have been further injuries and the style of play has been thoroughly unenjoyable.
There is a significant risk that playing this way against better teams could get messy, which isn’t a welcoming prospect with fourth-placed Chelsea next up on Sunday (16 October), and the teams currently in fifth, sixth and seventh also to be played before the World Cup.
In other Aston Villa News, these were three of the things learned from a slog of a night in Nottingham.