Unai Emery must axe Nicolo Zaniolo as Jan signing needed – Three things learned in Aston Villa defeat v Nottingham Forest
Aston Villa fell to their first defeat in the Premier League in seven matches against Nottingham Forest on Sunday (5 November).
An early goal from Ola Aina was complemented by a second-half strike from Orel Mangala to secure a 2-0 win for the hosts at the City Ground.
There are plenty of aspects that Unai Emery will not have been happy about as Villa lacked composure in front of goal to really threaten Forest.
Here is what Aston Villa News learned from the defeat in Nottingham.
Zaniolo must be axed from the starting lineup
There has been some debate around Nicolo Zaniolo lately as he has been largely hit-and-miss since joining Villa on a season-long loan deal from Galatasaray.
Despite being known for his prowess in the final third, the Italian international has now gone 13 games without finding the back of the net for his new club.
The 24-year-old won just one of his eight duels and only touched the ball 22 times before being subbed at half-time by Leon Bailey after making zero accurate crosses throughout the afternoon [SofaScore].
It’s now surely time for Emery to drop the attacking midfielder after he once again failed to justify his selection in the starting lineup.
Overly reliant on Watkins
Although the Villans do have some strong attacking options, there could be an over-reliance on Ollie Watkins doing the business every time he steps out onto the pitch.
The 27-year-old really wasn’t at it against Forest as he won just one of his four duels and had just one shot on target throughout the game.
The England international was largely anonymous as he touched the ball just 31 times despite playing the entire 90 minutes at the City Ground.
With Jhon Duran currently sidelined through injury and there being no alternative on the bench, Emery is short on options as another forward could be needed in January.
Lacking game-changing options
After Villa went 2-0 down just two minutes into the second half, Emery will have looked around at his bench to see how he could change things and get his side back into the game.
The Spaniard had just brought on Bailey and the only other attacking option at his disposal was Bertrand Traore, who he didn’t bring on despite the Villans lacking a cutting edge in the final third.
With Emiliano Buendia out for the majority of the season, the squad could be in need of a player who can come on and change the game when they aren’t firing on all cylinders offensively.
Youri Tielemans is a player Emery will be looking at to fill that gap in some way, but despite having 50 touches after coming on for Matty Cash on 59 minutes, the Belgian midfielder failed to make a key pass or really create anything to show why he should be more involved.
As the season goes on, this could be something that becomes more of an issue as Villa look to progress into the later rounds of the Europa Conference League and players become more tired as the volume of games takes its toll.
In other Aston Villa news, a journalist has detailed what he has heard about Emery’s contract situation.