Matt Maher analysis: Aston Villa and Emi Martinez brought crashing back to earth
Few things have the capacity like professional sport to bring you back down to earth with a bump.
Not even a week since standing on a stage in Paris having been crowned the world’s best goalkeeper, Emi Martinez was staring into space at the City Ground, the cheers and chuckles of home supporters ringing in his ears having committed one of the most glaring errors of his Villa career.
Attempting to save Orel Mangala’s well-struck but nonetheless speculative shot, Martinez had succeeded in only parrying the ball over the line for a goal which gave Nottingham Forest the 2-0 advantage they saw through to the finish.
The mistake merely proved Martinez is human, just as the defeat was a reminder Villa, for all their exciting progress during Unai Emery’s first year in charge, remain far from the finished article.
Unstoppable at home, they are rather less electric on their travels, where they have now taken just seven points from six matches. So eager had Emery been to stress the need for improvement away from home in the build-up, you might almost think he saw yesterday coming.
But then the Spaniard also later claimed to have watched 27 hours of Forest during the past week and yet there was a definite sense his team, unusually, weren’t quite ready for what confronted them. Ola Aina fired in the opener inside five minutes and Villa looked rattled.
