No regrets for Nuno over team selection

BOSS DEFENDS CALL TO START NIAKHATE AT LEFT-BACK IN AWAY DEFEAT AGAINST VILLA

HEAD coach Nuno Espirito Santo insisted he had no regret over his team selection after Nottingham Forest suffered a 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa.

With Nuno Tavares injured, the Portuguese opted to play Moussa Niakhate at left-back in his place – leaving Harry Toffolo on the bench. Niakhate has played in that position before but endured a torrid first half as the Reds found themselves 3-0 down after 40 minutes at Villa Park.

Niakhate got one back for the visitors before the break and looked more comfortable when he reverted to his more familiar centre-back spot for the second half.

Forest were better all round after the break and they pulled it back to 3-2 through Morgan Gibbs-white before they shot themselves in the foot with another defensive mistake.

“I think Niakhate can do the job there,” said Nuno.

“We know (Leon) Bailey is a strong opponent and there would be a lot of one-v-ones. We decided to go with Niakhate in the beginning. We also had Harry. It was not a problem.

“Tavares is injured. He got injured in the West Ham game and is going to be out for a while.”

Nuno did bring Toffolo on at the break as one of three substitutions. Centre-backs Murillo and Felipe were hooked after each picking up a booking, while Taiwo Awoniyi also came off, with Divock Origi and Andrew Omobamidele entering the fray.

Asked if he had any regret about his team selection, Nuno said: “No.

“If you analyse the subs, both centre-halves had yellow cards. You are 3-1 down, you want to go again for the game.

“We have to squeeze, press high and have many one-v-one situations and you are on the edge of a second yellow card. It was all about that. It was to manage the game and to try to go.

“We started really, really badly. The beginning of the game was bad. It was too easy for the opponents to score.

“We didn’t play well. It was a very bad first half.

“The goal gave us some hope and we started the second half really well. At 3-2, we had a good chance – if it had been 3-3, the game was there for us.

“But then again we had a bad situation. At 4-2, it was game over. To sum up, a bad performance.”

Moussa Niakhate with the ball after pulling a goal back for Nottingham Forest against Aston Villa. Inset, above left: Reds head coach Nuno Espirito Santo (left) and Villa boss Unai Emery make points to their players on the sidelines.