Nottingham Forest Boss Blames Defeat to Aston Villa on Absence of Awoniyi, Key Players
Nuno Espirito Santo felt Nottingham Forest suffered without injured strikers Chris Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi in the defeat at Aston Villa.
Villa beat Forest 2-1 to boost their chances of returning to Europe’s biggest stage next season thanks to goals from Morgan Rogers and Donyell Malen in the opening 15 minutes.
Jota Silva got Forest back into it in the second half but they missed a host of opportunities to level with Nuno unable to name a striker in the matchday squad.
Asked if the result would have been different had one of those players been fit, boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “We never know. What we tried was to try and find solutions.
“But for me, football is strikers, you know what I mean. So we miss Chris and you miss ‘T’, because the way we play, the way we do things, we need a reference player.
“It’s very harsh on Anthony (Elanga) and Callum (Hudson-Odoi) and Jota (Silva) and (Roman) Sosa to do the same. It’s not the same.
“This was probably one of the matches that we created more chances. Disappointed. Disappointed, not only of the chances that we created and didn’t achieve.
“I thought the way we started the game first half, not so good, much better the second half. But the feeling is of disappointment.”
Sky Sports
