Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest questions answered as Nuno prepares for Newcastle clash

Published

7 months ago

February 9, 2024

Nottingham Forest are back in Premier League action on Saturday when they host Newcastle United in a big clash at the City Ground (5.30pm kick-off).

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side go into the game on the back of their FA Cup replay victory over Bristol City on Wednesday night. And they will be eager to get back to winning ways in the league, having not banked three points since beating Manchester United last month.

There was plenty to talk about when Reds reporter Sarah Clapson held a live Q&A on our Forest Facebook page ahead of the game. Below is a look at how it panned out.

A: He’s been excellent lately. He had a little dip in form not long ago – at least compared to the standard he set when he burst onto the scene earlier in the season – but he’s been back to his best recently. He deserved a bit of a break on Wednesday night after a hectic run of games.

He was really good defensively against Bournemouth. We’ve seen what he can do with the ball and the rampaging runs he goes on – sooner or later he’s going to ping the ball into the top corner. But on Sunday his defensive work really stood out.

The partnership between Murillo and Andrew Omobamidele is looking really solid. Considering how young and relatively inexperienced they both are, they’ve been fantastic. It is not very often you get two 21-year-olds playing regularly together at centre-back in the Premier League, but they have handled the challenge really well.

Niakhate, Felipe and Willy Boly have a fight on their hands to get in the team. Murillo and Omobamidele are not going to give the shirts up easily.

Having continuity and stability in the back line is so important. Those two seem to be feeling the benefit of playing a few games together now.

Nuno made it a priority to tighten things up at the back. It is an area still in need of work, but there has been improvement.

Q: There is a major difference from Cooper style and Nuno. The team looks more organised and are actually playing hard from start of the whistle to the final whistle. And that’s what was missing before.

A: Nuno has made a positive impact since coming in. Results haven’t always followed to the extent he would have liked, but generally it has been encouraging. Forest have been in games, whereas that wasn’t always the case earlier in the season.

Wednesday night – and probably the other FA Cup games, too – wasn’t pretty. But Forest got through, and that’s the most important thing. They also showed a lot of character, both individually and collectively.

There is still a long way to go. Nuno would be the first to admit that. He has said Forest are a long way from where he wants them to be.

But making small steps can be just as important. The challenge is to keep picking up results while making progress in terms of performances – and that is not easy to do. Hence the point at Bournemouth has to be seen as a good one because it keeps the tally ticking over.

I’d agree, though, generally the team does look more organised than towards the end of Steve Cooper’s tenure. It is going to take time for Nuno to really put his stamp on things. He has overseen a lot of games in a short space of time, which is good in one sense but also means he hasn’t had too much time on the training ground. He has also had to cope with being without a significant number of players at certain times.

Q: The biggest difference I notice between Nuno and Cooper is the substitutions he makes. He tries to be proactive in them instead of reactive like I feel Cooper did towards the end of his tenure. Tavares and Gardener were fantastic when they came on in the cup replay.

A: Interesting point. Nuno’s substitutions have tended to be attacking ones. He generally looks to go for games and brings on players who can make a difference. He wants to be on the front foot.

Nuno Tavares did well on Wednesday night and Joe Gardner was superb. Neco Williams was also outstanding. Getting substitutions right is so difficult. It is always easy to criticise with hindsight when they go wrong.

Having as many options as possible helps, too. Being able to turn to Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi, for example, as Nuno did against Bristol City is a big positive. The squad has been stretched quite thin recently, so Nuno hasn’t always had a strong bench to turn to. In some games he has had to turn to younger players to fill it out.

Q: Will we see Gio Reyna play if MGW is struggling?

A: He would be the obvious choice to come in if Morgan Gibbs-White isn’t fit. Reyna can play out wide but the No.10 role is where he’s most comfortable.

Gibbs-White seemed to be really struggling at one stage during extra-time. He was hobbling about and was talking to the coaching staff at half-time of extra-time. By the end, he was moving a bit more freely and he took his penalty well. Hopefully that is a positive sign and he will be OK for Saturday, but Forest won’t want to take any risks if there is even the slightest doubt about his fitness.

Reyna can be a decent signing. He has a lot of potential and looked bright when he came on at Bournemouth. He was eager to get on the ball and seemed keen to try to make something happen.