When Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis watched this game on television in Greece, he probably looked at Aston Villa boss Unai Emery and wondered how his team might perform with the Spaniard in control.
But clubs with Forest’s flawed structure do not get to hire coaches like Emery and as Marinakis ponders whether to remove the embattled Steve Cooper this week, he will do well to remember that.
When Forest first considered sacking Cooper last October, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino’s names came up.
Tuchel is a Champions League winner, Pochettino a Champions League finalist.