Nottingham Forest are heading into the opening weekend of the Premier League on the back of a week of major transfer breakthroughs, but there remain issues at the City Ground.
Forest’s pre-season was underwhelming on paper with only one goal scored in seven games, but the agreement to sign James McAtee helped change the mood in the fanbase.
On top of this, Forest are set to sign Arnaud Kalimuendo from Rennes as an exciting addition up front, with long-term target Omari Hutchinson following close behind.
All is looking positive, then, but in a remarkable interview with Sky Sports, Nuno Espírito Santo has revealed his true feelings on the Reds’ pre-season preparations.
Nuno Espírito Santo on ‘major problem’ at Nottingham Forest
While all of this transfer activity is exciting, the Forest manager would’ve preferred to have his new recruits in during the season preparation, rather than mere days before the club welcomes Brentford to the City Ground.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Espírito Santo echoed this sentiment, expressing his worries over the current state of his squad ahead of the big kick-off.
On the preparations, he said: “We are very far, very, very far. The plans that we had didn’t come through, the preparation in terms of squad was not ideal, we didn’t have the chance to create the bond because we didn’t know what squad we’d have.
“We have players here who know they are leaving on loan; we have a major problem. […] We have a squad that is imbalanced, that doesn’t have options in many positions.”
It’s no surprise to hear Nuno so worried about a less-than-ideal pre-season, given how much emphasis was put on the work the players did in preparation for last season.
Nuno Espírito Santo puts great emphasis on preparation
Nuno has been experimenting with new tactics ahead of the new campaign but, by the sounds of it, any attempts to truly implement a new style have been hampered by the state of the squad.
This is particularly disappointing as, when Forest were pushing for Champions League football last season, players were quick to credit their manager’s work to set them up for success.
Callum Hudson-Odoi said in March: “For me, I think it was more pre-season. Obviously, at the end of last season we were like: ‘Ok, we’ve survived, cool’, but before the start of this season we were all talking like we can’t be where we were last season, we can’t do that.
“We have crazy ability as a team, crazy talent that we have to go and win games and hopefully win competitions. So for us, we were looking at it and thinking ok, this season that comes up we have to make sure that we’re either in the top ten, top eight or even competing for Champions League football or European football.”
With the manager clearly concerned, Forest fans will be hoping that those already at the club will be able to play their part in the early weeks while significant transfer business ensues.
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