Friday’s briefing: Sean Dyche off to perfect start and Villa suffer shock defeat | OneFootball

Sean Dyche got his Nottingham Forest reign off to the perfect start with a 2-0 Europa League win over Porto at the City Ground.

Aston Villa, though, suffered a shock 2-1 defeat away at Dutch minnows Go Ahead Eagles and new Rangers boss Danny Rohl saw his side beaten 3-0 by Brann, while Celtic came from behind to see off Sturm Graz.

In the Conference League, Crystal Palace slipped to a 1-0 home loss against AEK Larnaca and Aberdeen were thrashed 6-0 defeat at AEK Athens.

Sean Dyche makes instant impact

Penalties from Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus sealed Nottingham Forest a first European victory in 30 years as life under Sean Dyche began with a much-needed 2-0 win against Porto.Having secured a long-awaited continental return under Nuno Espirito Santo and been led in their first two Europa League games by Ange Postecoglou, the Reds’ first win in the competition came under their third manager of the season.

Dyche’s side showed promise, fight and panache on Thursday evening as spot-kicks from skipper Gibbs-White and striker Jesus ended Forest’s 10-game winless streak in all competitions as well as Porto’s unbeaten start to the season.

“It’s pleasing for everyone concerned with the football club,” Dyche said.

“It is a step, that’s all it is, because the Premier League we have got to do well in that as well.

“We want a team that is competitive in all competitions, of course every manager does.”

Villa pay the penalty

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery feels his side must become more clinical from the penalty spot after slipping to a 2-1 defeat against Dutch minnows Go Ahead Eagles.

Emiliano Buendia missed a late spot-kick as Villa squandered an early lead in Deventer, where Evann Guessand had put Villa on course for a sixth successive win in all competitions.

After missing a host of chances to kill the game, Villa came unstuck as goals from Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl either side of half-time gave Go Ahead a famous victory.

Buendia blazed over from the spot in the 77th minute, which was Villa’s sixth missed penalty in the last 12 months.

“Today the responsibility was for Emiliano Buendia, and normally he has good numbers shooting penalties, but he missed,” Emery said.

“Of course, something can happen, and we will try to get more clinical in the penalty shoot than the last penalties we have had.”

Eagles fail to soar

Cypriot side AEK Larnaca secured a memorable 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park through Riad Bajic’s goal early in the second half.

The Eagles were hoping to make it two wins from their opening two European meetings after beating Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 in Poland earlier this month.

Jean-Philippe Mateta had the best opportunity to open the scoring before the break, clipping the crossbar late in the first half.

But Palace were left to rue plenty of missed chances when a defensive mistake led to Larnaca breaking the deadlock six minutes into the second half.

Jaydee Canvot was caught playing out from the back and gave the ball away to Marcus Rohden. The Swede swiftly found Bajic, who rifled a fine finish past goalkeeper Dean Henderson from 18 yards.

Danny Rohl feels sorry for Rangers fans

Danny Rohl’s sobering debut as Rangers head coach ended with him apologising to travelling fans following their 3-0 Europa League defeat by Brann in Bergen.

The 36-year-old German was installed as Russell Martin’s successor on Monday – but there was no quick fix to the Gers problems from their trip to Norway.

Emil Kornvig opened the scoring five minutes before the break and Jacob Sorensen added a second after 55 minutes, with Noah Holm firing in a late third to leave Rangers pointless in Europe.

“At first I apologised for this defeat and this performance. They travel a lot for the team, they are always there,” said Rohl, who went over to the Light Blues fans after the final whistle.

“This club has a lot of patient fans and they deserve this and it is also very important to show that I understand them.

“But I said as well, ‘I will work very hard to improve this group of players to step up and get results’.”

Bhoys back on track

Two goals in three second-half minutes got Celtic motoring in the Europa League as Brendan Rodgers’ side came from behind to beat 10-man Sturm Graz 2-1.

A wonderful long-range strike from Tomi Horvat gave Graz an early lead.

Celtic missed a series of chances before Liam Scales and Benjamin Nygren both scored from corners just after the hour mark.

Graz had Tochi Chukwuani sent off in the 70th minute for a poor challenge on Callum McGregor as Celtic saw out the win.

Aberdeen’s mini-revival, though, came to an abrupt halted with a 6-0 trashing in their Conference League tie away to AEK Athens.

What’s on today?

Leeds will be looking to kickstart their Premier League campaign against struggling West Ham in Friday night’s televised action at Elland Road.

In the Sky Bet Championship, Sheffield United head to Preston aiming to pull further clear of the bottom three following back-to-back victories.

There is also Women’s Nations League play-off games, when Northern Ireland host Iceland, the Republic of Ireland take on Belgium at the Aviva Stadium, while Scotland will play a friendly against Morocco in Casablanca.

Several Premier League clubs are holding press conferences on Friday – including Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Manchester City along with Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.