Pereira's Half Time Tweaks v Aston Villa

A gamble to go man-for-man helped Forest restrict Villa's access to the middle of the field, but also had its drawbacks too.

Throughout the first half on Sunday, Aston Villa’s 4-2-3-1 system with narrow wingers really caused Forest some big issues. They were able to take advantage in two key ways:

• Omari Hutchinson’s weaknesses and inexperience to adjust when Forest don’t have the ball.

• Forest’s centre back pairing of Murillo & Milenkovic not being brave enough to jump out of the line to put pressure on pass receivers.

Whilst John McGinn was arguably Aston Villa’s best player on the day, it was the movement of Morgan Rogers on the other wing that was causing Forest the biggest problems.

Playing narrow from the left flank, he would regularly drop deeper as Lucas Digne would push high on the touchline. Hutchinson wouldn’t go with him, which meant Ola Aina needs to be passive and stay back. This gives Rogers an easy opportunity to receive the ball, turn, and progress the play forwards.

Forest would experience issues on the other flank too. There’s no doubt that Vitor Pereira for the most part asks his players to be much more proactive when they’ve not got the ball. This relies on players making smart decisions though, and it only takes one player to make the wrong call to give top opponents like Aston Villa the chance to exploit the error.

Hudson-Odoi wants to make something happen, so he eyes up pressing Victor Lindelof. However, Igor Jesus has this passing lane covered, so he needs to react and retreat. Villa then take advantage of the 2 v 1 on Neco Williams, and suddenly have easy possession on the left.