It is not often Unai Emery gets it wrong with substitutions, but his decision to take off Nicolas Jackson at half-time may have ultimately cost Aston Villa a point or more in their 2-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The reason given by Emery for Jackson’s half-time hooking was the fact he received a yellow card shortly before the break, with referee Andy Madley apparently warning Villa the striker was walking a tightrope.
Jackson has had disciplinary issues during his career, so in one respect it may have been sensible to withdraw him, rather than risking him getting sent off and leaving Villa with 10 men.
However, the knock-on effect of swapping Jackson for Tammy Abraham ended up hurting Villa in multiple ways.
It was made clear this summer that Abraham was not in Emery’s plans and would be allowed to leave, but the striker decided to stay despite the fact he will likely be the third-choice at this position once Brian Madjo returns from injury.
Emery bringing on a player who he has obviously been unimpressed with is questionable in itself, and similarly to the other games this season in which Jackson has been subbed off in the latter stages, Villa lost something when Abraham came on.
It was a double-switch at half-time, as Alysson, who ended up scoring Villa’s first goal of the Premier League season, also replaced George Hemmings.
Because Abraham does not make the kind of runs in behind defenses that Jackson does, Emery told the media he needed to bring on a winger, hence Alysson’s introduction.
Villa were already forced into a change in the first half as Pau Torres limped off with a hamstring injury, leaving them with only two more subs to use in the second period, which they did by introducing Ibrahim Mbaye and Johan Manzambi in an attempt to get them back in the game.
Their injection of pace and quality in the final third did provide a boost as they eventually equalised, and in truth it looked like Villa may go on and win the game at that stage.
Then Ian Maatsen was scythed down in a challenge which remarkably was not reviewed for a potential red card. He had to come off with what Emery said could be a long-term ankle injury, leaving Villa with only ten players for the closing stages as they had used up all of their substitutions.
John McGinn was forced to fill in at left-back and the game quickly turned again, as it became clear it was only a matter of time until Forest restored their lead, which they did in the 88th minute through Igor Jesus.
In his attempts to make sure Villa were not reduced to ten men by taking Jackson off, Emery ultimately handicapped his team for much of the second half due to Abraham’s ineffectiveness, and they ended the game with one player less anyway once Maatsen went off.
It is impossible to predict something like that happening, but the fact Emery could not trust Jackson to keep his cool is concerning, and it was ultimately a scared decision by the manager which came back to bite them.
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