Aston Villa: Player Grades from the defeat to Forest

Aston Villa conceded a costly 90th-minute winner to 17-year old Ben Brereton. Nottingham Forest inches itself closer out of the relegation zone.

Steve Bruce’s revamped Villa squad took a wrong turn on Saturday. Another frustrating league loss makes it four defeats in six. Aston Villa are now officially closer to the relegation zone than they are to the playoff top-six.

Villa started the match off brilliantly. Jonathan Kodjia shot from seemingly every single angle possible until his 18th-minute opener. Things took a turn for the worse, however. Forest dominated play from there on after – amassing a gaudy 71% total possession during the match.

Steve Bruce has some questions to address before the club’s home match with Ipswich Town this weekend. Below are our player grades:

Horrific, forgetful match from the Manchester United goalkeeper. Britt Assombalonga scored a sitter after Sam Johnstone dropped the ball into his path. Johnstone did himself no favors on the late winner, either.

Very impressive match from a nineteen year old. Bree was asked to play a system he surely has never player before. Wing back positions are extremely demanding, but Bree composed himself nicely. Completed 82% of his passes.

Nothing noteworthy from the Villa captain, aside from emergency defending from the unit as a whole.

Elphick put himself into dangerous attacking positions on set pieces. Attempted three total shots, two of which were on-target. Somehow did not score on two chances one minute apart.

Baker resulted to emergency clearing for most of the match – as evidenced by his 52% pass completion rate.

Bjarnason should be given credit for being asked to play a position he surely has never played before. He did his best, though, as reactive as it might have been. Bjarnason completed zero key passes with most passes being of the simple variety back to the defenders.

Villa can not wait for the return of Mile Jedinak. Henri Lansbury is not a holding number six. His box-to-box skills are wasted so far back.

Hourihane was probably Villa’s best player on the evening. According to WhoScored, Hourihane completed a match high 4 key passes.

Sent-off for kicking the ball away after fouling a Forest player. Only reason Grealish did not drop further was that he set-up Kodjia on a lovely weighted ball.

Bright start from the new man Scott Hogan. Everything was there for him except the finishing.

Kodjia delivered the good and bad on Saturday. The good? He scored a wonderful first half goal and nearly scored a couple more. The bad? 41% pass completion rate, leaving the supporters angry he is not spreading the ball around. Still, we are not going to complain about three shots on-target.