Ashley Cole gives ‘brutally honest’ opinion on Nottingham Forest that Nuno Espirito Santo has completely flipped

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There’s been plenty of doubts surrounding the ability of Nuno Espirito Santo and Nottingham Forest, which has made the rise up the table this season even sweeter.

After Forest’s 7-0 thrashing of Brighton on Saturday, Espirito Santo’s side continue to maintain their position in the Premier League table in the hunt for European football, a sentence that nobody would’ve predicted this time last year.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	23	17	5	1	56	21	35	56
2	ArsenalArsenal	24	14	8	2	49	22	27	50
3	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	24	14	5	5	40	27	13	47
4	ChelseaChelsea	24	12	7	5	47	31	16	43
5	Man CityManchester City	24	12	5	7	48	35	13	41

A six-point gap has emerged to give Forest some safety in the Champions League positions which is largely down to the work of the Portuguese manager, recognised by Stuart Pearce who sees Forest’s appointment of Espirito Santo as a ‘masterstroke’.

Gael Clichy thought Espirito Santo succeed at Forest but that wasn’t the commonly held opinion within the football world, as highly respected pundits like Gary Lineker predicted Forest would get relegated.

It hasn’t worked out that way though which will continue to surprise many away from the City Ground, including Ashley Cole who held strong opinions after watching Forest earlier in the season.

Ashley Cole had early doubts about Nottingham Forest this season

Speaking on the Could It Be Magic podcast with Forest legend Pearce and Joe Cole, the Former England left-back admitted that he wasn’t sure about Espirito Santo’s side after analysing their display against Brighton in September.

Cole said: “I watched them [Forest] against Brighton and if I’m being brutally honest that first game I was like, little bit direct and the midfielders couldn’t catch the game up quick enough.”

Whilst Graham Potter has praised Forest’s tactics this season, Cole was clearly more sceptical of the Forest manager for his style of play that isn’t replicated by many Premier League sides.

However, even Cole couldn’t ignore the remarkable uptake in form Forest have experienced by utilising that very same tactic.

Cole continued: “I’m not saying they shocked me because obviously the work the gaffer has done there to get this team to play the way he wants them to play, you definitely see the improvements.”

However wrong Cole may have been about the tactical style of Espirito Santo, there are parts of the Brighton performance that he referenced that wouldn’t have pleased the Forest boss.

Nottingham Forest’s draw with Brighton did raise concerns

Forest drew 2-2 with Brighton in the game that Cole is referencing, with the now-recognised counterattacking ability of Espirito Santo’s side not on show in September.

To best demonstrate this, the table below compares Forest’s attacking output in the Brighton game to the weekend after, when Forest actually lost to Fulham.

In the Brighton game, Forest struggled for shots compared to the Fulham defeat and were unable to prevent their opponents from mounting sustained attacking pressure, highlighted by the number of corners Brighton had in the game.

Another key aspect of Forest’s counterattacking style is the ability to go long to Chris Wood at times, which was poorly executed against Brighton but better against Fulham, highlighted in how Forest had over double the touches in Fulham’s box compared to the previous week despite not scoring.

Therefore, Cole may have had a point about the directness and the Forest coaching staff evidently put the work in to ensure they were more efficient with their play, work that showed glimpses of paying off against Fulham before eventually becoming a staple of the team’s form.