3 days Ago
The highs and lows of Nottingham Forest ’s past three Premier League outings will have prompted emotional extremes among the fanbase. But just as the 7-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion did not confirm their long-hoped-for return to Champions League status, neither the 5-0 away defeat against Bournemouth that preceded it nor Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Fulham was sufficient to crush their dreams of playing in European competition next season. Advertisement Although these three matches did not provide concrete proof Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are capable of securing a top-four finish in May, they did deliver evidence of the intense and decisive tactical battles Forest’s head coach fights every week.
Against Brighton , the decision to play a rough 3-4-3 was one of the most astute calls Nuno has made during his 14 months in charge. With the visitors light in midfield — and 19-year-old Jack Hinshelwood frequently outnumbered in the holding role within their 4-1-4-1 formation — Forest rampaged to that seven-goal victory. “We said we wanted to play with courage.
We wanted to play offensively and, in the end, you could say it was a mistake,” Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler said. With that performance in mind, it made sense that Nuno would plump for the same approach in the next league game away to Fulham . More than that, there was a logical train of thought in his mind as to why the formation would work again.
“The idea was to have an extra body to control a situation that we expected — and was a reality — when it comes to Fulham’s strengths,” said Nuno in his post-match press conference last night. “They have good players in wide areas and they occupy the box well. So the idea was to have an extra body in there (the centre of defence) to control that situation.
Unfortunately, it did not work out.” It was Marco Silva, Nuno’s Portuguese countryman and Fulham counterpart, who came out on top. Down the home side’s right, powerhouse winger Adama Traore was frequently allowed to isolate Forest wing-back Neco Williams one-on-one.
Traore delivered nine crosses in the game, including the one from which Emile Smith Rowe headed Fulham in front in the 15th minute. Williams was not really to blame — the lack of cover by those in front of him too often left the Wales international exposed to Traore’s pace. Advertisement And when the crosses did come on — Alex Iwobi also delivered eight from the other wing — the extra body Nuno wanted in defence was not always evident.
Morato has frequently been a dominant figure when he has come off the bench to help Forest see games out since signing from Benfica last summer. But Smith Rowe managed to drift away from the Brazilian to score that first goal. Raul Jimenez , a striker Nuno knows well from their time together at Wolverhampton Wanderers , also repeatedly managed to elude a three-man central defence including Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic .
Jimenez had seven of Fulham’s 24 efforts on goal, 10 of which were on target. Fulham’s expected goals (xG) of 2.18 was the third highest among sides Forest have faced in the Premier League this season, behind Manchester City ’s 2.
41 in the 3-0 away defeat in December and Chelsea (2.46) in the 1-1 draw at the City Ground in October. Matz Sels , the Forest goalkeeper, was their outstanding performer on the day, making eight saves.
Chris Wood scored a hat-trick in that trouncing of Brighton two weeks ago. Against Fulham, he was allowed one shot. That he stuck it in the net adds to the story of his remarkable season.
After controlling a looping ball from Morgan Gibbs-White , Wood used his strength to escape two defenders and found the bottom corner, with the aid of a slight deflection off Calvin Bassey , for his 18th goal of the campaign across all competitions. Apart from that, Wood and Anthony Elanga were isolated in the final third, with Gibbs-White, the other member of Forest’s attacking trio, often dropping much deeper in an effort to get on the ball. Forest immediately looked more assured with the introduction of Callum Hudson-Odoi as Morato’s replacement in the 69th minute, when they switched to their more familiar 4-2-3-1.
Their slight improvement after that change supports a case that the three-man central defence should once more become the Plan B option — the one they turn to when they are looking to hold onto an advantage in a game. Advertisement The 4-2-3-1 allows so many key figures to flourish — Elanga and Hudson-Odoi on the flanks, Gibbs-White as the No 10 and Murillo and Mikenkovic as a proven pairing in defence — and for the likes of Ola Aina and Williams to support the counter-attacks that have become Forest’s trademark. Fulham are one of five sides to have beaten Forest this season and have now done so twice, having won the reverse fixture 1-0 in September, on a day when Nuno unsuccessfully tried to field Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi and Wood as a strike partnership.
Nuno’s men now face three of the other four sides to have defeated them in their next three league matches: Newcastle United away and Arsenal and Manchester City at the City Ground, with an FA Cup last-16 tie at home to Ipswich Town in-between the latter two. It is a run of games that will provide a further barometer of the progress made this season and will influence their hopes of retaining their current position within the top four. Coming up against Eddie Howe, Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola will test Nuno’s tactical acumen more than ever.
Forest’s head coach has got far more wrong than right since their 2024-25 campaign kicked off in August. He has been the inspiration behind what is their most remarkable season since 1995. Now he must find the right solution again.
(Top photo: Williams struggled against Fulham’s Traore; Clive Rose/Getty Images).
