Nottingham Forest hope their fourth head coach of the season can ensure they secure Premier League survival
Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White(Image: PA)
Getting to know his Nottingham Forest squad will be the first task for the new man at the helm – and he will have to work fast.
With 12 games of the Premier League season remaining and a two-legged Europa League play-off to come, there is little time to waste at the City Ground. There is also little margin for error given the Reds are battling for survival in the top flight.
Wednesday night’s 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers marked the end of Sean Dyche’s tenure. He was axed with Forest just three points above the relegation zone.
Vitor Pereira has been earmarked as Dyche’s successor. The Portuguese knows all about scrapping at the bottom end of the table as he steered Wolves to safety last term.
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One of the criticisms of Dyche was his lack of flexibility. He stuck with the same system, rarely made in-game tweaks and (when he did turn to his bench) had a habit of making like-for-like substitutions.
Players who struggled for game time under the last regime will be hoping they get more of a look-in in the final months of the campaign. And with the Reds still fighting on two fronts – and aiming to go far in Europe – Pereira will need to utilise his squad more than his predecessor.
During his time at Molineux, he deployed a three-man back line with wing-backs. It could be he opts to use that formation on the banks of the Trent, too.
Podcaster Ryan Leister, host of The Wolves Report, told NottinghamshireLive: “He (Pereira) started off with five at the back, which was a bit of surprise to us all. Matt Doherty played right centre-back in a three, it was wing-backs to start with, it worked and that was our default setting.
“Then you’d have two floating No. 10s, not wide players, (Matheus) Cunha and kind of (Pablo) Sarabia playing off (Jorgen) Strand Larsen. But granted you had Joao Gomes and Andre as the holders Rayan Ait-Nouri, a super talent, Nelson Semedo, they had good players for that system.
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“I think Forest are ready made for that system, particularly with Neco Williams, he’s very much a Vitor player because he can put a ball in, he can get up and down and he can defend as well. I think he’d give Forest a real good chance, that’d be interesting.”
So, how could the Reds line up if they switched to a three-man defence? Doing so might depend on Murillo being fit, with a calf problem having kept the Brazilian out of the last two games, but it could definitely be an option in the coming weeks and months.
A switch in formation might give summer signing Jair Cunha an opportunity for minutes at some point – something he has struggled with so far. Likewise, if Pereira goes with two floating No.10s, as he did with Wolves, it might open the door for James McAtee.
After impressing against Ferencvaros last month, McAtee hasn’t been involved since. Prior to that he hadn’t exactly put pressure on Morgan Gibbs-White for the No.10 spot, but perhaps a change at the helm can be a turning point for him.
Potential Forest starting XI under Pereira: Ortega; Cunha, Milenkovic, Murillo; Aina, Sangare, Anderson, Williams; Gibbs-White, McAtee; Jesus.
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