Life after Cooper – Is complex Nuno capable of turning around fortunes at Forest?

The phrase ‘all good things come to an end’ never felt more appropriate than on Tuesday afternoon, when Nottingham Forest confirmed the departure of their head coach Steve Cooper. Reports had been circulating in the days and weeks beforehand that the former Swansea City boss was on the brink of a City Ground exit, and in truth, given the volatile nature of football, it’s a surprise Cooper lasted this long under owner Evangelos Marinakis.

That doesn’t make the news any easier to digest for Forest fans, most of whom worship the ground the Welshman walks on after he guided them back to the Premier League in 2022 after a 23-year absence.

The sadness around Cooper’s departure is as much to do with his personality as it is his coaching prowess. Brian Clough is the most revered manager for those of a Garibaldi persuasion in Nottingham, and while he and the recently-departed 44-year-old were wildly different characters, something about Cooper just resonated with the Reds.

The decision to relieve him of his duties hasn’t been helped by the subsequent appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, who seemingly divides opinion in England. The ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach does have back-to-back seventh-place top-flight finishes at Molineux on his CV, though, and there is certainly an argument to be made that the squad is set-up for him to succeed in the same way that he did at Wolves.

But will that be enough for Forest to, firstly; avoid relegation to the Championship, secondly; push up the league and break into the top 10, and thirdly; get the supporters back on board and in love with their club?

One of Nuno’s first tasks will be to assess the rather overflowing squad. Cooper’s 2022 Championship play-off final squad had 13 players from the UK, with the side mainly made up of loan signings and cheap transfers. The Welshman had them all pulling in the right direction and the spirit he created seemed to be one of the biggest factors in driving them up the second-tier table and into the Premier League.

Cooper also had success playing three centre-backs, two wing-backs and two industrious central midfielders, providing a solid base for the trio in attack to do their thing. That’s how Forest began life in the Premier League, and they were a force to be reckoned with at the City Ground last season, picking up 30 of their 38 points at home as they secured survival in their penultimate game.

But identity issues have been a problem for Cooper. The influx of players, on a scale never seen before in the Premier League, appeared to have caused division behind the scenes. Signings were made from all over the world, and while variety is the spice of life, it all looks to have been too much, too soon.

The identity under Cooper looks to have eroded away, and that’s been evident in the tactical set-up. With success, money and higher-quality players comes expectation, and whether the pressure has come from above or not, there certainly appears to have been an attempt to play more expansive football and entertain the masses. In the long-term, a variation of a 4-3-3 is probably the way to set up a side searching for more creativity. But changing the mindset of a team within a short period isn’t easy, and the chopping and changing of tactics and personnel has hurt Forest, and ultimately cost Cooper his job.

So now to Nuno, whose last two jobs have ended with the sack after promising starts. That’s ultimately the way for most managers, but it’s the rapidity of good to bad which will concern Forest fans. Nuno was Premier League Manager of the Month for August 2021 after winning his first three matches in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, but the ex-Porto goalkeeper was out the door by the start of November after it all unravelled.

His next job came in Saudi Arabia, at Al-Ittihad, whom he led to Super Cup success before winning them their first league title in 14 years. But despite adding the likes of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Fabinho during the summer transfer window, the Portuguese head coach was relieved of his duties last month after a poor run of results.

That’s a worrying downward trend for someone whose stock was so high at Wolves, and a perceived lack of personality has also been levelled at him by dissenters. Cooper reportedly had a few falling-outs with players at Forest, though that should be no surprise given the size of the squad he had to deal with. However, he was generally praised for his man-management skills and the warm relationships he enjoyed with players. That’s in contrast to Nuno, who has been painted as a more cold and calculated operator, who has been helped hugely by his relationship with super agent Jorge Mendes.

There are reasons to be positive, though.

Given his links to Mendes, and his accomplishments with Wolves in the Premier League, one would think that Nuno will be afforded the opportunity to operate as he sees fit. That could see a more regular return to the five-man defence which Cooper initially favoured, and then seemed to try to move away from at times.

Nuno regularly deployed a 3-4-3 with wing-backs, or a 3-5-2 against the so-called elite sides like Manchester City. His success was borne out of a solid defence, with a low block a consistent feature - the regains they made in the defensive third almost doubled the total of those made in midfield [The Coaches’ Voice].

The make-up of Forest’s squad certainly looks suited to Nuno’s demands. He won’t lack for centre-backs, with one of his former stalwarts at Wolves, Willy Boly, a regular in the side under Cooper. There are also plenty of wing-backs to pick from, and the likes of Nuno Tavares and Gonzalo Montiel, frozen out under the former boss, could come back in to provide added technical ability out wide. Fellow loanee Andrey Santos will also hope to earn more minutes in a role akin to that of Ruben Neves at Wolves, while Nuno can count on Anthony Elanga to provide the sort of pace on counter-attacks that Adama Traore did for him at Molineux.

Forest are currently priced at 2/1 to be relegated from the Premier League this season, with Sheffield United, Luton Town (1/5) and Burnley (2/7) all valued at lower odds. The thinking remains that there are three clubs infinitely worse off than the Reds, and in truth, it would be a shock if any of those sides were to finish above Forest now. The calibre of players at Forest dictates that they should be aiming towards the upper-half of the bottom 10. Indeed, they are only five points off 12th-placed Brentford, and Chelsea aren’t much further off in 10th.

But whether Nuno can engage the fanbase like Cooper, and make the City Ground one of the most hostile places to visit in the Premier League, remains to be seen. There’s a huge Cooper-sized hole at the club now, and Nuno needs to make a positive start to gain the goodwill of those around him and eradicate any possibility of a prolonged scrap for survival.