Nottingham Forest are up and running for the 2025/26 campaign after comfortably dispatching Brentford 3-1 at the City Ground.
Chris Wood scored twice for Forest, with Dan Ndoye earning praise from Nuno Espirito Santo after bagging on his debut in the Garibaldi.
Nuno Espirito Santo has called for more players and on Monday, Ross Wilson and Edu delivered once again, with Arnaud Kalimuendo signing for Forest.
With Ndoye, the only new signing to come in and replace Anthony Elanga in the starting eleven, the team against Brentford had a familiar feel to it.
Espirito Santo might have praised Ndoye after the game, but it was perhaps the performance of another player that deserves more of the plaudits, given how he’s transformed himself at Forest.
Nottingham Forest v Brentford - Premier League
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Ibrahim Sangare proves critics wrong with Forest performance
It’s been a rough couple of years for Sangare at Forest, and yet it would appear that in the eyes of some supporters, the Ivorian simply can’t catch a break.
Espirito Santo placed his faith in Sangare ahead of club captain Ryan Yates for the season curtain-raiser and the Ivory Coast international put on a midfield clinic alongside Elliot Anderson.
There has been an awful lot of nitpicking when it comes to Sangare and the fact that he gave the penalty away that led to Brentford’s consolation goal didn’t escape the attention of those critics.
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However, after a dominant 90 minutes on the pitch yesterday, Sangare should be allowed to celebrate a fine display and forget all about that one minuscule error.
Sangare dispels common myth with Forest masterclass
The eye test was the only thing needed yesterday and anyone who couldn’t see that Sangare was vastly improved yesterday simply must hold a pretty harsh vendetta.
One stick that has been used to beat Sangare with since he signed for the club is that he’s not progressive in possession and merely passes backwards.
Yesterday, Sky Sports showed that Sangare played 25% of his passes forward, with a further 46% being played to the side – typically to Anderson, who was given the freedom to glide forward because of Sangare.
Another thing that Sangare gets tarnished with is the need for him to be a box-to-box midfielder and frankly, that is complete and utter nonsense.
The 27-year-old is the very epitome of a defensive midfielder and once again, he showcased against Brentford that, given the opportunity to be that player, he will do it superbly well.
Despite some critique still being made by his pedantic critics, Sangare won 100% of the tackles he attempted and won 83.3% of all duels he contested on the floor and in the air.
Forest now look to have a squad to be proud of, and with Sangare starting to step up, it looks as though people need to suck it up and appreciate that Espirito Santo sees Sangare as a crucial cog in allowing this team to be more forward-thinking on the pitch.