Villa beat Nottingham Forest to reach the Europa League final. Dave Woodhall watches in disbelief.
There were times on Thursday evening when I thought there were eleven imposters on the pitch at Villa Park. They must have been, because what they were doing was something that I have never, in all my years watching this frustrating, annoying, infuriating and wonderful football club seen from a Villa team.
They were in a big match, a European semi-final no less, and they weren’t just doing well, they were doing it with ease. The Villa don’t do things like that. They sometimes win them, more often than not they let us down, but I’ve never seen the team dominate a game of such importance, so easily. This is not the Villa Way at all.
But then again, it was preordained. Outside the ground there was resolution. The criticism Unai and the team had got for that Spurs capitulation seemed to have galvanised everyone. Us against the world. Inside, and the pre-match build-up was just the right side of inspiring. As the teams came out the crowd were ear-splittingly loud. Forest’s supporters, in contrast, seemed overawed. And that feeling spread to the teams.
The first inkling that this was going to be one of those nights came after a couple of minutes, when not only did Matty Cash put in a crunching tackle to win the ball but the ref let play carry on. From then on Forest, masters of the niggly foul, knew they would be out-battled until the final whistle.
The only slight problem in the first half came after 25 minutes when Ollie Watkins got a bang to the head after being assaulted for the second time during the tie but even though it took a while for him to get back up, there was no way he was going off, not tonight. And just as well, because thirteen minutes later Emiliano Buendia skipped around the Forest defence to lay on the inevitable first goal.
At half-time there was a lot of upbeat talk at how well Villa were playing, mixed with a bit of justified pessimism that Forest couldn’t be as bad after the break. Well, it is Villa. But Forest could be just as bad, or rather Villa wouldn’t let them improve. The surprise midfield selection of Victor Lindelof proved inspired as he provided a solid base for Youri Tielemans to get forward, Buendia to perform better than he ever has before and John McGinn to be John McGinn.
An appeal for a penalty was ignored by the ref only for the wonderous innovation that is VAR to flag up the offence and Buendia, under immense pressure, to hit the perfect spot kick.
2-1 up and Villa had to soak up a bit of pressure but then came a goal that was prime Villa – a long ball, two quick short ones and McGinn was there to settle what nerves there might still have been. Three minutes later and Forest were in total disarray as the party could really begin with Super John getting his second.
The rest of the match was part-celebration, part-disbelief. Villa hadn’t just won, they’d totally destroyed the in-form media darlings. The players had been magnificent and Villa Park had worked its magic once again. We’ve had many nights when the planets have combined and the Villa become unbeatable, but never have I know one as straightforward as this. Sometimes, they can do things the easy way.
