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On the opening weekend of 2025, Forest beat Wolves 3-0 to consolidate their position in the Premier League’s top three.<\/a><\/p>\n That was a sixth straight win, something the club had not achieved in the top flight in a single season since 1966-67, and they sat five points ahead of Newcastle<\/a> in fifth.<\/p>\n Now, it is four straight defeats for the first time since November-December 2023 – a run which ended with Steve Cooper losing his job at the City Ground.<\/p>\n Dyche is already Forest’s third manager of the season and the SOS went to him in October after Ange Postecoglou’s brief and damaging reign.<\/a><\/p>\n The former Everton<\/a> and Burnley<\/a> boss started well, but the drop-off in organisation, focus and form – especially of late – has been drastic.<\/p>\n At Villa they were undone by simple errors: a collective switch-off to allow Ollie Watkins to open the scoring was followed by John Victor’s ill-advised foray 40 yards from goal which allowed John McGinn to add a killer third goal.<\/p>\n “You can’t give basic errors away to teams like this in the Premier League,” Dyche told BBC Match of the Day.<\/p>\n “The mentality is there, but you can’t keep giving yourself a mountain to climb. Players were switching off to the basics. We have worked on it and shown them, but this is the job. I never expected it to be easy when I got here.”<\/p>\n Until Watkins struck in first-half stoppage time, Forest’s plan was working, even if it was pragmatic in the extreme. Villa had been restricted to one chance – a golden one – when goalkeeper John denied Watkins early.<\/p>\n But Forest fell apart. McGinn scored the first of his two goals in the 49th minute to give high-flying Villa a handy 2-0 cushion.<\/p>\n Although Morgan Gibbs-White’s goal made it 2-1 and briefly gave Forest hope, there was little to suggest they would mount an improbable comeback.<\/p>\n Gibbs-White told Sky Sports: “I feel like we stuck to the gameplan in the first half. There were lots of positives to take. I know we need points, but we showed a work ethic and desire.<\/p>\n “We always know Villa start with a high press. So the key was to absorb that pressure and silence the fans a bit. We were unfortunate to concede right before half-time.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n