Nottingham Forest rediscover form with clean sheets and set-piece power in true Dyche fashion
It took two days. After winning a football match, Sean Dyche had two days to no-nonsense his way to something that Ange Postecoglou and all the nonsense couldn’t accomplish in 39.
Additionally, Forest’s clean sheet has been something they haven’t accomplished in nearly six months. One clean sheet, three points, and two qqqq¹qpenalties.
There isn’t much more Dyche that could have been involved in this 2-0 victory over Porto. Not another Dyche.
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Furthermore, this much-needed and long-awaited success wasn’t even a “tougher tests await” ploy. This was not your typical clear-cut chance to start something that the Europa can provide.
This was a tough test against a squad that has started their own season, both in this tournament and domestically, almost perfectly. Before facing Dyche, they had never even been behind in a match.
Given that the opposition had a fantastic centre-back combination of Jan Bednarek and Barclays Jakob Kiwior, this victory was extremely promising and requires little explanation.
Bednarek participated in two significant events. His reckless pass awarded Forest the first of the two penalties that ended the match, and VAR disallowed his attempt to equalise for an earlier offside.
These moments were instructional not only for this game but also for what Forest under Dyche will likely do in the future.
The score, goals from the penalty spot, and Forest’s first clean sheet since April Fool’s Day against the blatantly unwise Manchester United make it easy to laugh and infer that Dyche has already figured it out.
Although the Bednarek equaliser was correctly disallowed, it did draw attention to the fact that Dyche hasn’t had enough time to simply solve all of Forest’s set-piece issues in the two days that have passed.
It will take time for him to dispel all the scepticism and outright woke bullshit, but this impressive victory over respectable opposition gives plenty of reason to believe he will.
With Dyche’s arrival, it’s already simple to identify some possible huge winners.
The huge center-backs, who were so successful under Nuno Espirito Santo the previous season and exposed during Postecoglou’s short and disastrous rule, were back in their element here, and Douglas Luiz and Elliot Anderson make a strong midfield duo.
Even though there isn’t a clear reason why they shouldn’t be the best engine-room partners, they compliment each other in this way in a way that hasn’t happened yet.
Late in a match where a very talented Porto team was still very much in the game, the second goal from the second penalty considerably calmed the understandable concerns surrounding the City Ground.
However, given that there hasn’t been a personnel change to necessitate it, we do suppose Dyche may have some thoughts about switching penalty takers.
We’ll wait for the next podcast edition to confirm whether it is, in fact, complete gibberish of some intolerable sort.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s first goal of the season would have been somewhere not too far down, and there was evident relief after he scored emphatically enough from the penalty spot even if the victory was the most important thing tonight and the clean sheet was a very welcome second checkmark on the list of ideal outcomes.
Given the speed and nature of their changing circumstances over the past few months, all of Forest’s players may be experiencing whiplash, but none more so than Gibbs-White, for whom the season’s faltering start has felt more than just understandable—it’s completely predictable.
With the second penalty kick, Igor Jesus increased his Forest total to five and his Europa League total to three.
Not only does he score his first goal at the City Ground since moving there in the summer, but it’s also his first Forest goal that isn’t marred by comebacks, too.
Although there was little reason to believe that Dyche would surprise anyone tonight, he did provide some strong evidence that what worked for Nuno would still work for him.
That was always true, and there was never any valid reason why it wasn’t.
The most positive thing to say about this performance was how much it resembled one from the previous season. It wasn’t difficult, but there were many things that worked really well.
With wingers who made life difficult for the opposition and midfielders who sought to pass the ball forward quickly when the chance presented itself, the defence was well-organised and disciplined.
Given how skilfully this team works with precision and organisation, it will always remain a puzzle why Mr. Marinakis ever desired something so different.
