Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira would be forgiven for being very smug on Monday morning.
The Portuguese head coach replaced Sean Dyche with 12 games of the season remaining, and with two of those still to play, survival has been secured.
Pereira arrived amidst a backdrop of ridicule, with pundits and rival fans mocking Evangelos Marinakis for appointing a man who had failed to win any of the first 10 games of the season with Wolves to replace the media darling, Dyche.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST ARE SAFE!!!! What advice would you now give to Evangelos Marinakis ahead of next season?
However, Agbonlahor didn’t completely dismiss Pereira – unlike Sam Matterface and Alex Crook – who blindly defended Dyche and instead offered advice to the incoming Forest head coach that has now been proven right.
What Gabriel Agbonlahor said Vitor Pereira must do at Forest
Whilst Crook and Matterface belittled Pereira after his Wolves exploits, Agbonlahor had a more positive outlook for the head coach upon his appointment.
He said on TalkSPORT: “I do just think, why? This Pereira appointment, are they going to give him all 12 games or will he just get eight like Ange did?
“I tell you what he does need to do that Dyche couldn’t do and that’s maybe to get his team scoring goals.
“Forest have scored 25 goals in the Premier League this season, Leeds have scored 36, and West Ham have scored 32.
“How much money have Forest spent on strikers and attacking players? He’s got to get them firing.”
Pereira has proved smug pundits wrong
Some of the stuff written about Pereira when he was appointed was, to quote Dyche himself, ‘Utter woke nonsense!”
Pereira didn’t enjoy a good start with Wolves this season, but his hands were massively tied after big-name players were replaced with inadequate alternatives.
That said, over the course of his managerial career, he’s proved himself as a good coach and man-manager, with some of his methods resembling those which made Nuno Espirito Santo so popular.
Forest have found the way to go in recent weeks, scoring five against Sunderland, four against Burnley and three in games against Tottenham and Chelsea.
What did Vitor Pereira get right during the Nottingham Forest draw against Newcastle?
The Reds have now scored 45 goals in total, the same amount as Tottenham, two less than Leeds and five more than West Ham.
Agbonlahor wasn’t quite so quick to dismiss Pereira, and it would appear as though his advice in terms of goals was adhered to by the Forest head coach as he proved himself a far better Premier League gaffer than Dyche.
Once again, Marinakis – and Pereira – have left the smug pundits quick to dismiss one of his decisions completely and utterly wrong, with Agbonlahor’s point standing up to the test of time.
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