Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist
Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche, whose tenure begins against Porto tonight, has already laid down a marker by banning snoods and hats from training – but there’s plenty more that needs fixing at the City Ground.
Establish a clear playing style. Forest thrived last season by defending deep and breaking rapidly on the counter-attack but their summer recruitment and the ill-fated appointment of Postecoglou demonstrated the club hierarchy wanted a more possession-focussed style. That clearly hasn’t paid off and hiring Dyche is an admission they need to go back to basics.
Organise the defence. Forest were a tough nut to crack in 2024-25 but have yet to keep a clean sheet this term and conceded 11 times from set-pieces in their eight games under Postecoglou. Given the aerial ability of centre-backs Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo, Dyche will be confident of improving that dismal record.
Get Chris Wood scoring. The New Zealander netted 20 Premier League goals last year, a total bettered by only three players, but has just two in the current campaign, both coming on the opening weekend. While he turns 34 in December, Wood enjoyed plenty of success playing under Dyche at Burnley so could prove a key figure, though he is doubtful for tonight’s game because of a knee issue.