Sean Dyche began his stint in the Nottingham Forest dugout with a 2-0 win over FC Porto in the Europa League.
Forest went into the fixture on a 10-game winless run, while Porto were yet to lose a competitive fixture in 2025/26.
Despite the form clearly favouring the away team, goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus saw the Premier League strugglers emerge from the City Ground with all three points.
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After handing Porto their first defeat of the campaign, Sean Dyche’s tactics have been assessed by the national press in Portugal.
Sean Dyche during Nottingham Forest FC v FC Porto - UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD3
Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images
Sean Dyche’s tactics praised after Nottingham Forest beat FC Porto
Publico claimed that Porto were not prepared to deal with Dyche’s ‘aggressive’ Forest team, whose simple style under their new manager delivered a key result.
They wrote: “FC Porto wasn’t prepared to deal with an aggressive Forest, much like their new manager – the style of play played by Dyche’s teams isn’t usually pleasing to the eye, but it usually delivers results.
“Pressing, simplicity, and speed were the British team’s plan, while Porto, with a clear lack of creativity in their starting eleven.”
The outlet went on to highlight how Forest’s defensive approach was too tough for Porto to crack.
They added: “Forest managed to destroy everything FC Porto tried to build.”
Sean Dyche assesses Nottingham Forest’s performance vs Porto
Despite the Portuguese press being quick to mention Dyche’s unpleasing style of football, the manager believes his team put in a good performance on Thursday night.
Speaking to the club’s media post-match, he said: “It was a good performance and a strong performance for many different reasons, so I’m especially pleased for them.
“I would’ve taken an ugly win, but we delivered a terrific performance — which is the one thing I asked the players for. I asked them to give a performance for themselves, for the fans, and for the badge, and I think they’ve done that, which is really pleasing.”
After replacing Ange Postecoglou, Dyche will now take charge of his first Premier League game for Forest on Sunday versus Bournemouth.
Chris Sutton thinks Postecoglou would have kept Forest up, but they go into the weekend’s action sat 18th in the top-flight and winless in the league since August 17.