We asked for your thoughts after Thursday's Europa League semi-final first leg between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa at the City Ground.
Here are some of your comments:
Forest fans
Ben: First blood, Forest! A strong performance without being dominant, but what a penalty! You won’t see a better one. We played well with the ball and did enough to deserve a lead going into the second leg, but this tie is nowhere near over. Villa Park will be a tough place to see this through. But if Forest play with the same commitment, they will give themselves every chance of doing so!
Steven: We just about deserved the win. It was a very cagey game, but we played at a good tempo. I’m looking forward to next week. Stefan Ortega needs to be given a new contract ASAP.
Kris: Very composed, very assured and very professional. That’s what Vitor Pereira has brought since he came in, and now the players are thriving. The right call was made on Elliot Anderson’s brilliant tackle and our penalty was the most obvious one you’ll see, so nothing to grumble about in terms of VAR or the officials. Can every match be like this please?!
Ian: This result gives Forest something to believe in. The 1-0 is OK, so long as our defence is as good next week as it was in this match. Elliot Anderson was lucky, I thought. Those little bits of luck are needed for the second leg. I think we can do it.
Villa fans
Mossy: So frustrating! Once again we failed to take our chance to score. The one golden chance Ollie Watkins got he missed, like so many other times throughout this season. We looked a bit toothless up front, but in all honesty we were second-best all night in terms of passing, tackling and winning one-vs-one duels. Forest looked us in the eyes and we melted a bit. It will be very hard to turn it around if we don’t play a lot better next week. Thank God for Emi Martinez, what a save that was! Incredible reflexes.
Phil: Villa had no attack! We had nobody to cause concern and, when we lost Amadou Onana, we lost control of midfield. It is more obvious than ever just how much Boubacar Kamara was the bulldog in midfield. He did all the dirty work without asking for plaudits. That’s our biggest loss.
Blake: Compact but no end-product. Ollie Watkins couldn’t stay on his feet and lacked a clinical edge. Unai Emery chose to complain about a 50-50 challenge rather than focusing on our toothless performance. Forest will shut Villa out in the second leg.
Andy: It felt like we were stuck in third gear and happy with a draw. The referee had a poor game and gave everything Forest’s way. A harsh penalty on Digne, but why doesn’t goal-line technology come into play along the whole touchline? Chris Wood’s penalty was unstoppable, but if it wasn’t for Martinez’s worldie earlier on we would’ve been in deeper trouble. The second leg will be rocking at Villa Park next Thursday. We will play so much better than this.
