Andoni Iraola has just told Nuno Espirito Santo how he can improve Nottingham Forest after Bournemouth loss

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Nuno Espirito Santo and Nottingham Forest will be feeling humiliated after the 5-0 defeat against Bournemouth and Andoni Iraola’s post-match comments won’t be helping the mood.

The Bournemouth boss was complimentary of Espirito Santo’s side in the buildup, with Iraola praising Forest’s ‘ridiculous’ away record in his pre-match press conference.

However, Forest’s 5-0 defeat to Bournemouth was a stark reawakening for the Forest squad, losing their first match of 2025 in damning fashion.

Murillo’s performance insensed Espirito Santo in particular but there wasn’t a member of the team that could hold their head up at the Vitality Stadium, leaving Espirito Santo with plenty of work to do at Wilford Lane to ensure things are put right next Saturday against Brighton.

Whilst Forest fans weren’t impressed with Jota Silva, Iraola didn’t seem impressed with the performance as a whole from his opponents, using his post-match interview to discuss how his side exploited Espirito Santo’s.

Andoni Iraola on Nuno Espirito Santo’s tactics vs Bournemouth

Speaking after the game to the Bournemouth Echo, Iraola was asked for his thoughts on the performance, producing a remarkable reply regarding his opposition’s tactics.

Iraola said: “I think it’s a great result. Considering especially who we had in front of us, I think it was a very good performance.

“For me, the key of the game probably was to score first, because it’s a team that they’ve basically been winning all the games from the first half, so the game becomes more difficult.

“And I think to be ahead and to make them change a little bit their approach. I think it was key.”

Clearly, Iraola thought that Espirito Santo the Forest coaching staff had not built a system that could adapt well enough if the defence were to be breached early on, which is hard to argue with based on the evidence.

Espirito Santo has been praised for his tactics this season, but Saturday’s result against Bournemouth exposed something he may need to address urgently.

Nottingham Forest had no plan B against Bournemouth

When Kluivert opened the scoring after nine minutes, it was clear that Forest’s defence wasn’t going to be able to contain Bournemouth as they would like to. However, the Forest manager didn’t seem to have an answer to this problem.

Bournemouth overwhelmed Forest, outperforming Espirito Santo’s side in tackles and duels won to make sure they had control of the pitch as much as possible to drive at the shakey Forest defence.

This is shown in The Cherries’ dominance in successful dribbles, with the majority coming through the middle of the pitch to overwhelm Ryan Yates and Elliot Anderson.

These two areas of control combined gave Bournemouth over double the shots on target than Forest, making their xG much more impressive.

Espirito Santo doesn’t need to rip up the tactics book as Alan Shearer is impressed with Forest’s style of play this season, but an alternative plan could be needed if other Premier League sides are able to replicate what Iraola did against Forest on Saturday.