Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo insisted he had no regret over his team selection after Nottingham Forest suffered a 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa.
With Nuno Tavares injured, the Portuguese opted to play Moussa Niakhate at left-back in his place – leaving Harry Toffolo on the bench. Niakhate has played in that position before but endured a torrid first half as the Reds found themselves 3-0 down after 40 minutes at Villa Park.
Niakhate got one back for the visitors before the break and looked more comfortable when he reverted to his more familiar centre-back spot for the second half. Forest were better all round after the break, and they pulled it back to 3-2 through Morgan Gibbs-White before they shot themselves in the foot with another defensive mistake
“I think Niakhate can do the job there,” Nuno said. “We know (Leon) Bailey is a strong opponent and there would be a lot of one-v-ones. We decided to go with Niakhate in the beginning. We also had Harry. It was not a problem.
