Nuno Espirito Santo faces a difficult challenge at Nottingham Forest
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Nuno had a dream. Or so the song that used to reverberate around Molineux went, anyway. The soundtracks to Nottingham Forest games, even the 5-0 thrashing at Fulham, has been choruses of “Stevie Cooper”, paeans to a manager whose sacking came to feel an inevitability but whose popularity remained undented.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s challenge as his successor is considerable. Replacing Steve Cooper is part of it: the danger is that he seems the man foisted on Forest, the uncharismatic choice to take over from the cult hero who elevated them from the foot of the Championship, ended their exile in the Football League and kept them in the top flight.
The Tottenham supporters never warmed to Nuno’s beard-stroking passivity but four years at Wolves suggested that, as Cooper proved at Forest, he could be a transformative figure at a Midlands club with a great past, but which had spent most of its recent history in the doldrums.
The most pertinent part of the Portuguese’s record may not be the Saudi Pro-League title he won with Al-Ittihad or the Champions League qualification he secured for Valencia but the twin seventh-place finishes he achieved with Wolves. Given Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ ambition to push on into the top 10 this season, that has obvious appeal, even if it came before the rise of Newcastle, Brighton and Aston Villa. But Nuno’s Wolves could be the best of the rest: Forest, in 17th, have been the worst of the rest this season, with only the three promoted clubs beneath them.
And yet Nuno has to counter perceptions he is appointed less because of his CV than his agent. Forest have felt a particularly profitable club for agents in the last 18 months and Nuno, Jorge Mendes’ first client, has a famously powerful one. And part of the problem with managing Forest is that they have been too active in the transfer market.
The 49-year-old has signed a contract with Forest until 2026
Half of the team Cooper led to promotion were either on loan or leaving. An immediate overhaul was needed. Yet the signings have kept on coming and coming: 29 of them last season, a further 13 in the summer, including seven on deadline day. Conflicting power bases, between Cooper and Marinakis and various transfer specialists, are a reason why they can end up with multiple and different players in the same positions, but there have been too few successes. Morgan Gibbs-White was Cooper’s best buy but has had less of an influence this season when not deployed as a No 10. Taiwo Awoniyi was a club signing who has proved so integral that Forest now struggle to play without the injured striker. Some of the others have come and gone – in some cases to Olympiakos, Marinakis’ other club – while some are marginalised, some veering in and out of the team.
Forest have spent £250m and Nuno inherits a quandary. There is potential and talent but, perhaps, no obvious team. His preference for a back three was apparent at Wolves, but Cooper switched between systems. Forest have pace on the break, but have shown no signs of developing into a dominant, passing side. Arguably, instead, they have relapsed during a run of 13 matches that produced a lone win. Now there are only two teams with fewer goals, only three with fewer shots or a smaller share of possession.
Nuno will require a clarity of thought he displayed at Wolves, though not Tottenham where his tactics came to feel confused. His Wolves side oozed class in the centre of midfield, with Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho. At Forest, Ibrahim Sangare was supposed to be a £30m upgrade in the middle, Nicolas Dominguez an Argentina international who would add another dimension. Neither has really come to pass. In goal, Matt Turner has been a liability, Odysseas Vlachodimos little better. A bloated squad requires both tough decision-making and deft man-management.
Nuno’s most recent job was in the Saudi Pro League
It feels pertinent that the two spells last season when Cooper found a formula amid the madness, when he flourished – taking 18 points in 10 matches part-way through the campaign and then 11 in six at the end – began long after transfer windows closed, indicating the time required to gel after spells of frantic incomings.
Now Nuno has been parachuted in, perhaps needing an early impact at a point where the fixture list is getting tougher. Eight of Forest’s next 11 games are against top-half teams. Factor in a wretched away record – and the fact they have already played the bottom three at home, winning only one of those matches – and relegation could be a risk.
Part of his task is managing upwards, and Cooper’s relationship with Marinakis deteriorated. He twice seemed on the brink of the sack last season and was protected each time by his relationship with the fans. Nuno has no such insurance policy and his bland public pronouncements may not forge such a bond with the supporters. It means he has taken on the potential and the problems of Marinakis’ Forest, with the mercurial owner’s seal of approval but without his predecessor’s power base.
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