Former Nottingham Forest Manager Nuno Esperito Santo shakes hands with newly appointed Ange Postecoglouplaceholder image
Former Nottingham Forest Manager Nuno Esperito Santo shakes hands with newly appointed Ange Postecoglou
It’s not the first time this year that Evangelos Marinakis has hit the headlines for making a controversial decision, but here’s why this one could prove to be a costly mistake for Nottingham Forest.
Despite Nuno’s brilliant 20-month tenure at the club, in which he kept Forest up in his first season before securing European football for the first time since the mid-90s, the decision to let him go didn’t come as a complete surprise.
Nuno’s relationship with Forest owner Marinakis has quite clearly, and publicly, hit a breaking point. From Marinakis seemingly questioning Nuno on the pitch after a home game at the back end of last season to Nuno’s recent interview where he admitted the pair are no longer on the same page, it’s been a sour end to a glorious period of success for Forest.
And while we can’t argue that from a neutral’s perspective, Ange is box office, and the league is better off with him in it, from a Nottingham Forest point of view, losing Nuno doesn’t make a lot of sense.
History has told us that Nuno is the perfect man to take Forest forward this year. You only have to look at the mirroring situation he found himself in at Wolves six years ago.
When Nuno took Wolves back to the Premier League for the first time in six years in 2018, the consensus was that his side should have enough quality to stay up. This would prove to be a wild understatement.
In a similar fashion to his more recent counterattacking football at Forest, he took thirteen points off the big six before finishing just behind them in seventh. It was Wolves’ stability the year after, though, that Forest ought to have looked at before sacking the Portuguese manager.
Now facing a Sunday-Thursday schedule at Wolves, just like Forest will be this year, Nuno miraculously managed to maintain the same level of performance and results, this time doing the double over Champions Manchester City, all while winning games and progressing on a Thursday night.
When Covid-19 led to the postponement of football in March 2020, Wolves were placed inside the top six and ready for their two-legged European quarterfinal affair with holders, Sevilla.
With Wolves, Nuno has already proven in this league that he can take a team that’s overachieving and make them even better.
His style of play gives his side a chance against any team in the league and is perfect for going away in Europe, soaking up pressure, and picking up results.
There was nothing in a footballing sense to suggest that Nuno wasn’t the right man to take Forest forward this year, and an off-field disagreement has robbed Forest fans of a side that would have been a dark horse in the Europa League.
There's no doubting that it will be an exciting honeymoon period for everyone at the City Ground. On the surface, you can’t argue with the current Europa League-winning manager taking over and playing an exciting, attacking brand of football.
Despite all this, there would be no surprise at all if people look back in six months and realise that consistently beating the best by being hard to break down and then hitting teams on the counter isn’t ‘boring’ or ‘negative’ football in the slightest and has been used by Nuno for years as a blueprint for punching above your weight.
Continue Reading