Nottingham Forest travelled to face Aston Villa with several selection issues to deal with, but one addition to the starting lineup had a nightmare evening.
After Ola Aina was ruled out for the Villa visit, Nuno Espirito Santo was always going to struggle to formulate a plan that didn’t stifle his side’s consistency.
The obvious solution would’ve been to bring Alex Moreno into the line-up but he was ineligible to play against his parent club, leaving the Forest coaching staff with plenty of thinking to do.
Problems were also apparent further forward as Chris Wood was injured and Taiwo Awoniyi was absent from the team sheet, leaving Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi to play as unorthodox strikers.
The main issues were clearly at the back, though, with the chosen Aina replacement producing an error which had Forest fans absolutely enraged on social media.
Nottingham Forest fans fume over Morato error against Aston Villa
It was Morato who came in as the defacto Aina replacement, with Espirito Santo adopting a three-at-the-back system in an attempt to give his Forest squad a sounder structure.
However, in the first half especially, it seemed to have the opposite effect as Morato was caught napping for Villa’s opening goal, leading to some furious reactions from Forest fans on social media.
One fan said: “What was Morato doing there? Other than not a lot,” while another added: “Morato playing with his socks.”
Another Forest fan said: “Morato was sleeping,” with one fan adding: “Morato was too busy pulling his socks up!”
More Forest fans reacted, with one saying: “Morato totally asleep at that goal,” and another adding: “That’s horrific from Morato, in complete no man’s land, completely switched off.”
Morato had a performance to forget for Nottingham Forest
With the change in formation, it was expected that Forest would lose a little in the attacking areas but at least be solid defensively. However, Morato’s display showed the very opposite.
| Statistic | Morato vs Aston Villa |
| Tackles won | 0/3 |
| Fouls committed | 2 |
| Duels won % | 3/6 (50%) |
| Dispossessed | 1 |
The Brazilian didn’t win a single one of his three attempted tackles, leading to two fouls that earned him a yellow card.
Morato also only won half of his defensive duels, whilst also losing possession once in the encounter. Since starting in the 7-0 win over Brighton at the City Ground, Morato has been limited to just one Premier League start before Saturday’s clash with Villa, due to Forest’s consistency at the back.
If the 23-year-old was attempting to win a place in the Forest manager’s plans over Nikola Milenkovic or Murillo, this performance wasn’t quite the one to stake that claim.
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