Sean Dyche hits out at Nottingham Forest ‘errors’ as verdict delivered on Aston Villa defeat

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Sean Dyche cut a frustrated figure after Nottingham Forest slipped to a 3-1 defeat against Aston Villa at Villa Park, pointing to a catalogue of costly mistakes that once again proved decisive.

The loss marked a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat for the Reds, who remain just above the relegation zone and now face a crucial away trip to fellow strugglers West Ham United next week.

Forest looked set to head into the break on level terms with in-form Villa, but Ollie Watkins struck right on half-time to hand the hosts the advantage. John McGinn then doubled Villa’s lead shortly after the restart, leaving Dyche’s side with a mountain to climb.

Morgan Gibbs-White reignited Forest’s hopes with a well-taken goal just after the hour mark.

However, any momentum was quickly undone when a costly mistake from goalkeeper John Victor allowed McGinn to score his second of the afternoon with around 15 minutes remaining.

Reflecting on the defeat, Dyche admitted large parts of the performance were encouraging but stressed that repeated basic errors are undermining his team.

“A lot of the performance was right in terms of what we were trying to do,” Dyche said. “But you simply can’t afford to make the number of mistakes we’re making at the moment.

They’re very basic errors — tactical issues, coming out of positions too early, and giving the ball away in simple areas.

“That’s what’s frustrating for me and my staff. We keep stressing how vital it is to get the basics right. Against any side you’ll get punished for not doing that, and especially against teams like this who are playing so well.

“We gave them far too many easy chances. The mentality was good — I thought we responded well and got ourselves back into the game. We wanted to put their back line under more pressure than we managed.

“The third goal we conceded was poor, clearly, but even after that we showed good character and Morgan nearly scored again. The mentality is there — we just can’t keep making these simple mistakes.

“It’s something that’s crept in over the last four games. Before that, our performances and results were very strong. Now these basic errors are costing us, and we have to keep reinforcing just how important it is to cut them out.

“There’s absolutely no lack of effort or commitment from the players. But we made too many basic and game-management errors today, and that’s what’s hurting us.”