Transcript of Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa | MATCH PREVIEW

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Garibaldi Red Podcast, a Nottingham Forest Podcast. I'm Max Hayes, your host, and as Forrest welcome Aston Villa this weekend for another top of the table clash. Who'd have thought we'd have said that a couple of months ago or even a year really, ago. Mental, isn't it, where Forrest are at the minute? But high flying, and doing well, and we will hope to continue that run this weekend as we welcome, the Aston Villa to the city grounds, ready for this almost festive run-in.

It gets busy. The last home game as well before Christmas, and then obviously, it's Tottenham on that boxing day as well to discuss all of that. A few things around Forest this week, which was nice to see with Nuno and Warriors United, and the great work that Forest are doing as well this weekend with turning the fan zone into a food bank. That's a bit of a tongue twister. We'll discuss all of that and much, much more, joined by Mark Turner as ever from the States.

Mark, good to see you, mate. Back in your usual, hotspot of your home with that brilliant brown door in the background and brown sofa. How are you, mate? And we actually you text me, didn't you, after the Man United game to say you must be, like, living the dream in that away. And, and we didn't get you on, obviously, after, we, you know, we gave somebody else a chance for once.

What did you make of that United game, and just how are you feeling at the minute with everything?

Well firstly the the podcast that you did record after the Man United game was excellent and all the better for me not being on it.

Thank you.

I very much enjoyed that. Of of course it's easier to enjoy these episodes Max off the back of such an incredible victory. And it's funny in the lead up to the to the to the Manchester games, if you remember I said, I felt like we'd beat City and I felt like we'd lose to United. And I kinda posed a question to you, and I think it was Holly who was on the podcast at the time, you know, what would you rather have? Would you rather have that?

Would you rather have the reverse? Do you want 2 draws? I also speculated that despite the fact that City were, you know, I've been hitting bum notes recently, there's every chance that they batter us 3 nil, which, of course, came to pass. So I was I was then desperate. I was in the max camp for all 3 points at Old Trafford.

Please, thank you very much. Football gods. So, yeah, I can only imagine what the atmosphere must have been like in the away end at Old Trafford when Forest secured yet another historic victory this season. Tell us about it, mate.

Oh, it was it was incredible. Absolutely incredible. And I haven't stopped wearing my Forest shirt. I have worn it every single day that I've been in Manchester. On a honestly, I went on a run last night, which we had another story.

You're

being chased?

Running in the winter. And I made the silly decision to just kind of wear nothing else other than shorts and a t shirt last night because I thought, oh, there's there's no point putting, like, a, like, a, you know, a skin on or anything.

I just yeah.

I just yeah. I just thought I'm gonna be brave. And I I honestly got into about 4 k, and I was like, I am, insert the word, cold. And it was unbelievably freezing, but I still had my Forest shirt on, and I was still repping Forest in in Manchester throughout this week. It's been brilliant.

It's been nice just seeing the the salty tears from Manchester United, shall we say, and, just coming out of the ground. And I and I think, also, at full time, it was another just like away at Leicester, just like away at Liverpool, just like away at Southampton this season, even Chelsea and Brighton thrown into that mix, And and obviously many more games. There was just a re really special moment between, in particular, the players, Nuno and the fans, and, you know, Nuno's coaching staff that we're all not too familiar with maybe. But they were there enjoying the moment. They were celebrating.

You know, I think Nuno was 1 of Nuno's assistant that took his snood off and was throwing it around, like, was waving it around, to the on the, you know, with Nuno. So, yeah, it was it it it it was brilliant. It it honestly was amazing, and I think it just sums up how far we've come as a club this season, you know, to go to Old Trafford. And I was actually saying this to a good mate of the podcast. I'll give him a name check because otherwise, he'll be upset.

It's a bit like you with Trevor. But I was chatting to Pat, this week who also lives in Manchester. And he was saying, you know, this isn't just a 1 off that we beat Manchester United. You forget we beat them last season as well under Nuno. That's obviously 1 of Nuno's first few games.

I remember we talked about it after. I think you were on the the podcast aftermarket, which was during that that festive period. So, yeah, just excellent moment with the fans. Great to see. Still on a high from it.

I couldn't get to sleep till about 1, 2 in the morning that evening. And, yeah, it's just been a brilliant week. So lots lots to enjoy.

Yeah. And it it was I think it was a particularly momentous victory as well, Max, because, you know, there was a lot of chatter around how Forest were gonna line up versus City and versus United. And given that there are away games, you know, do we take the same kind of approach that we did with Liverpool? Right? Another historic victory earlier this season.

And I'm glad to see that Nuno didn't really seem to do that. May maybe against City, we were kind of forced to do that a little bit. We were sitting deeper than maybe we would have liked to have seen, but I don't know that that was necessarily the strategy. Certainly against United, the boys went for it. And so I hate to compare results.

Like, me, personally, I'd rather beat Liverpool than Man United, but absolutely,

I wanna beat both. Yeah.

Yeah. I wanna beat both. But when you look at the, again, both fine, fine victories. The tactics were executed perfectly. But I I think that that win win against United was that bit more special because Forest did Forest.

Right? We didn't we weren't asking the players to do something that's largely unfamiliar to them and sit really deep and absorb a ton of pressure. That's what we did the last 2 seasons. Now we're starting to get back into the forest groove. What does that mean?

Well, it means, you know, moving the ball quickly, those pretty triangles, using the width of the field, counter attacking, you know, just beautiful silky football, the kind of stuff that I grew up on watching Brian Clough teams. I'm not saying for anyone who's gonna freak out and start dropping notes in the comments below that I'm suggesting Nuno is cluffy and this is the, you know, the high point of the seventies eighties yet. But that is certainly more familiar to me. What we saw against United, that's the Forest DNA, and it was exciting to see.

Yeah. Absolutely. I spot on. I agree. And I think we could have had 2 or 3 more.

And I just think, yeah, I think there's that confidence in the team. And, you know, and and and I know it's a completely different situation here, but hear me out. It it reminds me of the season that we went up to the championship. And following Forest, I I missed 2 games that season. It was Millwall and 1 other.

I can't remember which. It could have been Barnsley, actually. Was it

Millwall away?

Yeah. Yeah. Good good choice. Yeah. Too scared to go down there.

They won't make it out alive. Yeah. And I and I can remember that that that season following Forest away, you had every faith that we'd go into games and not necessarily win, but give a good account of yourself and at least score and at least you you just felt confident, and you kept you you kept buying away tickets because that that enthusiasm was almost back and and and that passion. And I'm not saying that that wasn't there the 1st season because there was a bit of the surprise factor of visiting the big grounds. But the fact that we're going to these big grounds, the so called top 6, big 6, and Forest are giving a good account of themselves and picking up points on the board, and not being afraid to go, actually we're Nottingham Forest and we're not gonna, you know, we're not gonna roll over here.

This isn't just like a cup game and, you know, United have lots of the ball. Forest had chances. Forest had lots of the ball in that game. There was stuff we could've worked on, particularly in the first half. But other than that, we've I just thought, you know, excellent performance and just kinda the the the point of that we can go to these top 6 clubs now, and we can do well.

So long may it continue, mate. Rant over. Well Yep. Not run. Not a run.

We

have a positive run.

Positive run for 1.

Easy as yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. Makes a change to when we had to do a rant last season when Forrest put that social media post out. We won't go there. Right.

Let's talk Villa, because another big game. They all seen Champions League action on Tuesday night. They come out victorious, against, RB Leipzig. So a big win for them, but fitness potentially a concern. Is this a game, Mark, that you'd have maybe thought 6 months ago, Forest would struggle?

But now when you look at the table, similar to we were just talking about the top 6, but similar to to the, you know, maybe the home maybe the game against well, I think maybe the last few games against United and City, you have confidence going into it?

Yeah. I mean, I do have confidence going into it. It's it's actually interesting looking at the top 6. You talk about the lofty heights Forrester in right now. You know, the top 6 are all European champions and Arsenal.

So that's that's kinda awesome really for for Forest and Villa to be rounding out that top 6.

You were level on points, by the way,

at the moment. Just to answer. On points. Yeah. The record's actually very similar.

Forest has scored a few goals fewer, but also conceded a few goals fewer, which gives them that 1 goal 0.1 goal positive difference, which sees them 1 place above filler. I can actually see this game. I know we've not gone to predictions. We usually wrap the pod with that, but I can see this game being a draw. And I can see any 1 of 3 of Brentford, Brighton, and Bournemouth, all of who are positioned below us, winning and leapfrogging us, but, that that'll be negative.

But but, I feel like, you know, it's interesting. If you look at Villa's season, I think I mean, obviously, they're doing great in the champions league, and and props to them. But if you look at their Premier League season, I think most I I can't speak for Villa fans, but in talking with, you know, fans in general, I think people would generally feel like Villa are not having that great of a season. It's okay. You know, it's but it's not it's not kinda what was expected.

And again, pressures of the Champions League no doubt having a bearing on that. And yet, Max, to your point, they're almost identical in their record in terms of points and so on with Forest. And Forest fans would say we're having an absolute bonkers season. So it is interesting with with, you know, perspective and perception, what fans are thinking about the respective teams. But, yeah.

It it it

That maybe that maybe shows, Mark, doesn't it, how open the Premier League season is this year? And and and I mean that in the the the fact of you haven't got City running away with it. Maybe Liverpool are too far ahead, but still catch catchable, if that's a word. Yeah. And you've got Arsenal into the mix that have got a good side and are doing well.

You've got Chelsea that have kind of maybe not the underdogs, but maybe unexpected, despite all the money they've spent. Then you've got teams like Forest and Villa and Brighton that are at the dizzy heights of, you know, 5th and 4th and 6th. So this season's very open, and that's where I think we were talking about on the podcast the other day, Mark. But that's where there can be someone that that that surprises a few this season, and and has a really good season and and and finishes in and around those places, and Forest could maybe be that, almost capitalizing on it being a bit of an open Premier League season.

Honestly, Max, I I'm struggling here to think of a streakier season, certain Premier League season, ever. And what I mean by that is, generally speaking, you know, you have 3 or 4 teams that are pretty solidly consistent, and they're sort of vying for those top spots. And then you maybe get a couple breakaway who really hit a rich vein of form, and you know the winner's gonna be 1 of those 2. And then below them, you have teams that, you know, they they kind of find their spot and then they just kind of battle it out within a few spaces of that spot. You know, that you outside of the top 6, the Premier League's then kinda broken up into tranches of 3.

Right? So you have those that are kind of jockeying for position, trying to get in those European spots, and you have those solidly mid table that, you know, might get threatened a little bit by relegation, might maybe bump themselves up into that top 10, but that's about all you're gonna get. And then, of course, those who are battling relegation all season. And that just tends to be how the Premier League settles down once you get sort of a month, certainly a couple of months into the season. This year, though, Max, look at the streakiness.

I mean, Chelsea started kinda all over the spot, and now they're hot on form. Tottenham, you know, they beat City and then they lose to everybody else. Can't hold on to a victory. Brentford had the best home record in this in the league, which is mental, can't do anything on the road, which is very Forest, if you think about last year. And then you look at, you know, you look at the the the the teams that are gonna be battling it out this weekend, Forest and Villa.

Again, similar story. They put together a couple of great wins, then it's a couple of disappointing performances. So it is a super streaky season. The only team, of course, that's bucking that trend is Liverpool. So it is gonna be fascinating to see not just what happens this weekend, but what happens this season because this Premier League's all over the shop.

It is. Absolutely, mate. It's gonna be it's gonna be an interesting 1. I think it's just enjoyable for once. Thank god sitting there not getting away with it.

He just gets

bored Absolutely. Absolutely.

Season. Who do you fear from Villa? And I think, you know, he hasn't featured that much recently, but I I still fear still fear Matika, you know, if he plays. I I And

he scored a goal the other night.

Did he did I I I think so. I'm I'm I'm I'm pretty sure. I don't I don't think it was in in the Champions League, but it I I think it was the game before. I think he always adds something to to it when, like, a former player returns, albeit that it's it's a good few years now. I remember the days of Matty Cash, Sabri LaMucci turning it turning turning him into a right back.

Mhmm. Excellent player. Who would you fare from from from Villa, Mark? They've they've got a strong squad, haven't they?

Yeah. They do. That Alex Moreno is a quality quality player for oh, wait. Hang on a second. Hey.

Honestly, Max, the 1 player that that gives me the juices more than any other, and I know they have, you know, great players across the board, you know, Ollie Watkins and and and a number of others. But it's John Duran. And when John Duran wasn't featuring at the start of the season, I was praying that Nuno would bring him in on loan. Can you imagine having John Duran in the mix right now with Taiwo and Chris Wood? That would be mega.

And he's just he's, you know, he's now started to establish himself with the villains and is scoring worldies just about every other weekend, and there's no chance he's gonna end up at the city ground, you know, here in the near future. Villa know what they have at this point. But he's the 1 who really concerns me because he's very hard to pigeonhole. I don't really know what he is. He kind of drifts around.

He goes out wide. He certainly sits in that number 10 spot. He can score for 30 yards. He can get on the end of things in the 10 yard box. He's a special player.

He really is. So, yeah, I think he's gonna cause our our defense some headaches. But, but, yeah, I mean, we'll see. Be interesting. Being I can't wait to see him up against Yates.

That's gonna be fascinating. Because he does drop into those holes. And when he does, it's gonna be interesting to see how Forrest address that, whether they have 1 of the center backs step out or whether Yates gets a hold of him, quite literally probably, and tries to address the situation.

Yeah. Duran Duran, brilliant player, and and I'm sure for for him and Villa. You know? I'm sure Villa will be hungry like a a wolf on

Oh, no. Here we go.

I had I had to do that. You'd set me right up. You'd thrown it in the core, Mark. Come on.

A little bit early for cracker jokes, Max.

We got

it's a couple of weeks till Christmas yet.

Yeah. True, actually. True. How do you see the game going, Mark? You mentioned that you could you could see it as a draw, and I agree.

I think both sides are very matched at the minute. And I I think Villa actually need to win more than Forest. I think if you speak to Villa fans, the producer of this podcast, Dan, is a Villa fan. Mhmm. They've had a bit of a mixed season as you alluded to earlier.

So Mhmm. They'll be open to come to the city ground and probably get revenge because we've had some standout performances against Villa back at the city ground, not necessarily at Villa Park. It will be an interesting 1, but I do agree with you, Mark. I I I think it will be tight. I think it will be quite nervy, and I can't really see, which is surprising because I'd say this season, I'd expect a lot of goals in a in a game that Forrester in the minute.

I can see this being quite a low scoring game.

Yeah. I have this pegged as a 1 1, with your boy, Silva, popping up and getting the goal. He's so desperate to score. You know, it's interesting actually on the last part, you were talking about, obviously, you guys spent some time talking about the Milenkovic header. Delighted to see him finally got on the board for Forest.

He's been an absolutely outstanding player for us this year. But you mentioned, yeah, Jota's winning headers against against, you know, Van Dijk's and other similarly sized defenders. And it is mad, the vertical that boy has. So whether it's with his feet or with his head, I'd love to see him notch 1 this weekend. Of course, I'd love to see Forest eke out a victory.

It's not beyond us. But Villa are a d they are a really decent outfit, and and, we've seen again what they've done in the Champions League this season. They've taken down some quality opposition. So we want a win at home, but it's not the end of the world to end up with a 1 1 and, Giotto Silva on the score sheet.

Yeah. Absolutely. Sorry. I was I was gonna insert another gerundra I'm referencing, but I'm not I'm not. I promise.

I'm not. I can't I can't anymore, though, as we get close. Yeah. I agree.

I'm amazed you even know who they are.

Oh, come on. It's absolute I'm I'm I'm actually big into my eighties music. Rio? What a song. What else did they have?

Ordinary World?

Yeah. Wait.

I

think so.

I'll have to ask my mom. It what else? There there was 1 of the obviously, hold on. Do you have a song called Notorious maybe?

You're really throwing the dynamic of the podcast. Like, you're supposed to be appealing to the youth man. Yeah.

To the youth of of today. And here I am talking about Jiranjara. Do you

talk about The Streets or Taylor Swift or I don't know. Anything else that appeals to the the teens, the tweens, and the young ones like yourself?

Taylor Swift. Not for me, man. I'd still say I was born in the wrong gen I would still say I was born in the wrong generation. You should listen to my radio shows whenever I get called up to do commercial radio at the minute or community. It's just like an eighties, eighties lovefest.

I I were

you like Smashy and Nicey? Do you even know that reference? The smashy and nicey. I know. Oh, others watching this, we're now the, Backman Turner Overdrive.

Let's go. Anyway, yeah, check it out, the Fast Show. I think it was on. Couple of radio k. Smashy and Nicey.

Anyway, I feel like you're

getting off topic a little bit here. Yes. Talking about eighties music. Yeah. Predictions.

I agree. 11. In in terms of team news, Mark, you've got to stick with you've you've got to stick with what beat Manchester United. I I I cannot see any changes. The only 1 I'd throw in there, which people may be surprised, Aussie Davies is gonna love this.

Potentially dropping Ryan Yates, which is painful to say, but, you know, a few poor performances and maybe Nuno will look at, is this a game for him? But then you were just on about it then against Duran Duran. I think, you know, I think he's gonna I think I I think it's his type of game to to try and break up the midfield, but he but he has come under criticism recently, hasn't he?

I mean, against City, he did. I don't really see they did too much wrong against United. I don't know you guys are speculating again on the last pod. Boy, am I sending traffic that way or what? On the last pod, speculating, you know, does Ryan Yates struggle against the against the top 6, which is a fair question, but it's also kind of a redundant question.

It's like saying, you know, am I gonna struggle more defending somebody who plays for Ipswich than I am Lionel Messi? You know, by definition, when you come up against better players, you're gonna have a tougher time of things. It doesn't mean that Ryan Yates is incapable of performing in those matches. And again, though he struggled against the city, I think he played well against United. But Max, I actually wouldn't hate seeing Yates being dropped, although I don't like using the word drop because I think what we're starting to see from Nuno now is some intentional rotation.

And certainly we're seeing it on the flanks. And so, you know, I I can see Alain Galangi coming back in. I honestly think that Sosa's gonna get his day in the sun as well, whether that's this weekend against Villa or not, I don't know. But I think Nuno is starting to do some intentional rotation now. And so, you know, why why would you not want Dominguez back in the team?

He's done nothing wrong. And if that means benching Ryan Yates for a game or 2, then it's not the end of the world. I mean, you wanna try and keep this team happy. You wanna try and keep these players on their toes. Everyone has stepped in just about has contributed.

So I don't think there's anyone with exception of, I wouldn't be a fan of breaking up our central defensive partnership unless needs must. Outside of that, I don't think there's anyone who's undroppable, even Chris Wood. Like, Chris Wood obviously is vitally important to us, but I think Taiwo needs to get minutes under his belt. Needs to be done at the right time. But and there's no doubt Chris Wood is, you know, our number 1 up top.

But, but again, I think even giving Taiwo a few additional minutes and giving Wood a little bit of a rest, I wouldn't hate to see that too at the right times.

Yeah. Not going off topic, but but a slight tangent here, Mark. Do you think Ryan Yates is harshly criticized from the Forrest fan base? Whereas there are some other players that might get away with it. You know, when Morgan has a bad game or even has a consistent run of bad games, he wouldn't get the same criticism as Ryan Yates.

Is it almost because he's maybe 1 of our own? And with all due respect to him, of course, we love him. But, you know, he isn't he isn't a name, and I wonder if that is maybe why people jump on the back of him quicker than than other players. Or

Yeah. I mean, I I I think there's 3 very quick things I'd say about that. 1, we cover that ground a lot, right, about him being 1 of our own and about any player that comes through our system. Fans love them more than maybe they should when they break into the team because they're 1 of our own, but then they get more heavy criticism as soon as they start to make mistakes. We we've covered that ground and then some.

And And I think there's definitely there there's legitimate legitimacy in, in those observations. I also feel like, you know, Ryan Yates is not Paul Scholes. Right? He's not Roy Keane. He's he's he just is what he is.

I I think fans need to be careful about making the distinction between Ryan Yates not being a world beater and Ryan Yates not being a Premier League player. Ryan Yates is a Premier League player. He's demonstrated that time and again. You know, is he a world beater? Will he ever end up in the in the in 1 of the top 6?

Oh, we're in the top 6 right now, but you know what I mean. Probably not. Probably what we see from Yates right now, especially his age is as good as it gets, but he's a Premier League player. And then the final thing I would say is just look at Twitter after every day Forrester have a win and Yates has, you know, been in that team, and look at what the opposition team fans are saying. They hate him.

They hate what he does. They hate what he brings to the party. They hate the fact that, you know, he gets the job done. It's not pretty, but it is effective. And so I'm I'm delighted that Ryan Yates plays for us.

Aussie Dave might not be a fan, but I always will be.

Absolutely, mate. Same here. Totally agree. I think that does us nicely. Lots of ground covered.

The Man United game, the Villa game, everything else in between, including a bit of Duran Duran. So I'm off to go and listen to them now.

Look look out for, Mac Minor Match's next podcast, Garibaldi Rad, where we cover all the music from the eighties nineties.

Yeah. Well, I was gonna say, yeah. You know what? There'd be a be a decent age gap in between us. We could talk about young and old music and everything.

Like, I mean,

you know, you know, you know away from, from Duran Duran all the way back to Tchaikovsky.

What's your favorite ever song, Mark? Oh my goodness. On the spot here. You can tell we're struggling for content and I'm just

Next week, we'll be doing favorite Christmas recipes. I don't know what my favorite song is. You know, I'm a big I'm a big indie fan. I came through in the nineties scenes, so, you know, anything by Oasis. Yeah.

I mean,

a lot of these bands are having a resurgence right now. It's weird to think that my music that I came through on is now considered nostalgic, like Oasis, Shed 7, Pulp, Radiohead. Kinda crazy.

Like they need a bit of money mark so they just go on tour again.

Seems like. I mean, I I do like the classics as well though. I love, I love My Girl. That's that's a cracking tune. I love, talking of 80s music.

I do love, Take On Me by Yeah. 1 of the greatest songs ever written, period. End of story. And and if anyone else has seen it, go YouTube the, the intro from Family Guy, the the TV show Family Guy. Have you seen it?

No. I haven't. It's mega where, I'm not gonna spoil it, but, 1 of the characters in Family Guy ends up in the take on me video momentarily. It's phenomenal. So, yeah, folks need look at look at all the great content you get when you follow Garibaldi Red.

Amazing. Recommendation. Money.

Music. John, I always listen to the other day, and I realized how much of a clapsy. This is this is an old, tune, right, Journey. Don't stop believing. What?

What a song. I just it's been stuck in my head the last

few years.

I've I've been I've been I've been writing university essays this week, and, 1 coping mechanism is just blasting music out. So apologies to my neighbors who live below and above because, they've probably not been sleeping the past few nights because I've just been blasting out 80s music while I was trying to get writing.

0, 0, 0, another absolute fave, read from desire.

Yes. Of course. What a tune. Just takes me back to 1 minute. Banging.

Right. That's enough music recommendations before we get copyrighted for, promoting the wrong music or something. As always, we will be back on either late Sunday evening or Monday morning, for our villa review. Yeah. We shall be joined by a couple more people as always to discuss that 1, then we'll be back throughout next week as well.

Lots of stuff happening as always. Keep up to date with us. Garibaldi Red and Nottingham Forest News on Facebook. Like, share, and subscribe on YouTube. Give us a follow and like on Spotify and Apple podcasts from your 2 eighties boys.

We'll see you later. Bye bye.