With Ola Aina wounded and Alex Moreno is not eligible, Nuno Espirito Santo must find a new solution against Unai Emery's Aston Villa on Saturday. But variations in tactics and staff have been an important feature of the success of Nottingham Forest this season.
When trying to explain the extraordinary form of Forest, a run that brought them to third place in the Premier League table and supporters who dreams of the Champions League, and not to mention FA Cup Glory, it is the continuity under Nuno that has often been cited.
There is truth in that. No team in the Premier League used so few different players this season, only 23. In total, Forest has made 49 changes to their starting line-up. Again, that's low. Only three teams in the competition have made less.
But those figures mask the moments when Nuno intervenes, whereby the position of players or changing formations of player changes. Morgan Gibbs-White can move deeper. Elliot Anderson and Nico Dominguez can become wide. Anthony Elanga works everywhere in the front line.
It is clear that there is the use of Morato, the 23-year-old defender signed at Benfica in the summer. He only started four Premier League matches, but was introduced 17 times from the bank, his arrival often indicates a change in the forest formation.
That was the case in the 1-0 win over Manchester United on Tuesday. Already ahead after Elanga's early goal, the injury to Aina de Katalyst, not only for a like-for-like switch, but also for Nuno to go to a rear three. That adaptability has become a force.
“What we have is the concept why,” Nuno tells Sky Sports. “Everyone knew the reason behind the change. It was not only the injury – we changed two players, changed the form and you can only do that if the players understand your message.
“Because you don't have time to tell them:” We're going to do this and do this. “It is something we have done before and we are ready to do it and apply it during the game.
“That is a large process in terms of progress, in terms of understanding the game itself, so that the players know what we are doing and they adjust accordingly.
“We can only do that because we did it earlier. We worked for many hours on the training field and we put it during the competition. It would be absurd for us to make a decision, to do something that we have never made before.”
It is a product of the work that Bos did in the summer. “In the preseason I think that almost all the games we started with a back three. It was not our main shape, but that was the time to test it because we have to see the mistakes so that we can correct them.”
He speaks about Morato “who gives us many good things” and he believes that this ability to change the defensive form has won forest points. “Since the start of the season it was a form that we used many times during games, especially to close games.”
That ability to move seamlessly between systems is proof of his players, but also for their coach and the confidence he has earned. Forest won against United. If they didn't believe in his work, they might have wondered why a change was needed.
“If you ask me, the reason behind it against United, it wasn't the result,” Nuno explains. “We had no control over the game. We were not dominant without the ball. We had vulnerability, we had problems. United created problems with the ball.”
The purpose of the change then? “First solve that and then try to stay in the game and the progress. I think we have adjusted better during the break and we played a close second half.”
It is that one rule – 'dominant without the ball' – who reveals a lot about how Nuno sees the game. For some of his Premier League colleagues, this can be considered a contradiction in terms, such as the obsession with modern football.
But Nuno, the newly crowned manager of the month before March – certainly the manager of the season when Forest ends in the top five, let alone third – achieves all this with the lowest ownership numbers of the Premier League. This is where he heats for his theme.
“You don't have to have the ball to have control. It is absurd to think that you are driving the game because you control the ball.”
He adds: “Control or dominance of the game is, if you want in a very personal image, when the game goes as you think it goes. You predict something that will happen and see if things happen as you think you expect.
“You have control, you are in dominance, even if you don't have the ball. But if you have no control over anything and you do not realize what is going on, you have lost control of the game.” And for Nuno that is the moment when he has to act.
“I think it is important to recognize that and then adjust it. In principle, when something works well, why do you have to change? That is the basic principle of life. But when it comes to problems, there will be a need to create a new solution.”
Nuno can be a bit reluctant to talk tactics. There are those coaches willing to offer chapter and fresh about the details, but at least in the record, the Portuguese monitor his ideas closely. At one point he stops himself. “I give you too much,” he says.
Perhaps this unwillingness to sell his idea to the media can lead to unfair criticism. As recently as last weekend, Wayne Rooney described Nuno's team selection for the FA Cup quarterfinals against Brighton as “Beyond Belief”, but Forest still won the game.
Nuno is not worried. He has his methods and they make the conversation for him. And by the way, those who matter the most are all in it. “The more crucial aspect, I think, is the players,” he says in the conversation at a certain moment. Players who keep improving.
He not only mentions Elanga, but Callum Hudson-Odoi, Jota Silva and Ramon Sosa can play anywhere at the front. He speaks of the midfielders behind those who “can play wide, higher in the pockets” and the possibilities that this entails.
It is always about how these players deal. Chris Wood moves to the ball and Elanga who, for example, run outside the defense. “Not a piece itself, but how two or three pieces come together.” And that is now the buy-in, they are all ready to work.
“That was one of the things we needed to improve. Our off-ball work is now much better. It requires knowledge of the game, the spaces to occupy, the lines you want to cut, how you can make the right time for the other teammates to press. It is hard work.
“I think that everyone nowadays, as a professional player, realizes that the game is not only at the ball. So we don't have to worry about players who do not compete if we don't have the ball. It is the joy of having the ball versus the joy of good competing.”
Forest certainly competes. They surprised everyone this season. Even Nuno? “Yes, of course. I think the first expectations about us as a club were not these. Just look at the previous seasons, even last season, the problems we had.”
From one place above the relegation zone at the end of last season to two places outside the top while it reaches its climax, forest remains confused. Thanks to their tweaks, it seems that their Premier League opponents have still not found no way to stop them.
“Looking for them behind it? I don't know,” says Nuno. “Ask them.”
View Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest Live on Saturday evening football from 5 pm on Sky Sports Premier League; kick -off 5.30 pm. Stream with now.
Comments