Nottingham Forest coach shares what Nuno Espirito Santo hates to call some of his players

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Nuno Espirito Santo has won over his harshest critics after a very solid start to the 2024/25 campaign with Nottingham Forest.

The Reds are unbeaten after five games, with four of the nine points accumulated from away trips to Liverpool and Brighton.

Espirito Santo had the unenviable task of replacing Steve Cooper at the City Ground but in fairness to him, he’s taken everything in his stride.

It was claimed over the weekend that Forest considered sacking Espirito Santo last season but thankfully Evangelos Marinakis decided against it.

Now, Forest go into game week six – a home game with Fulham – looking to maintain an unbeaten start to the campaign, with another international break just around the corner.

Espirito Santo has been impressive this season. He’s made good changes in matches and looks have instilled a really positive mentality in the dressing room.

• READ MORE: Two Nottingham Forest player rave about Morato

Nottingham Forest coach shares what Espirito Santo refuses to call his players

Rui Silva is the right-hand man of Espirito Santo and he will likely lead the Forest charges from the dugout on Saturday, with suspension looming for the head coach.

Silva is a respected lieutenant of Espirito Santo and has also been with him at Valencia, Porto and Wolves previously.

With Nuno furious after being sent off on Sunday, he sent Silva to do his post-match duties and the assistant boss explained one thing that the head coach hates to call his players.

He told The Athletic: “We have a fantastic group of players. We do not even like to call them subs. I know they are because they are on the bench. But to us, all of the players are involved in the process. If they come into the game, they know what to do. They know what is expected of them.

“We just need to make them feel important; that they have a part to play. If we can do that, they will give the team what we want. The way we changed by making the subs, put us more in control of the game, while still creating chances. It gave us the speed we wanted up front. Even with 10 men, we had chances to win.”

Team spirit can take Forest a long way this season

If Forest avoid a rigorous battle against relegation this season it would be deemed as successful in the eyes of many supporters.

At times during the two years that Forest have been back in the Premier League, things have proved a real struggle.

However, there is a real sense that this season can be different with the club reaping the benefits of quality over quantity in the transfer market.

Silva and Espirito Santo know each other very well and with the latter banned this weekend it will be up to his assistant to take the limelight.

Position	Team	PlayedMP	WonW	DrawnD	LostL	ForGF	AgainstGA	DiffGD	PointsPts
6	NewcastleNewcastle	5	3	1	1	7	6	1	10
7	BrightonBrighton	5	2	3	0	8	4	4	9
8	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	5	2	3	0	6	4	2	9
9	FulhamFulham	5	2	2	1	7	5	2	8
10	TottenhamTottenham	5	2	1	2	9	5	4	7

This group look to be like a band of brothers right now and that alone could take Forest a long way this season.

Forest’s challenge is how they respond to setbacks this season. The Reds can’t afford to sulk when one comes along and hopefully, the team can remain united.

It’s fascinating that Espirito Santo doesn’t like the term substitutes to be banished around.

In two successive games now the players introduced from the bench have helped Forest win points and that only serves to highlight the strength in depth this season.