Nottingham Forest boss Nuno demands more after impressive Newcastle win | OneFootball

Portuguese boss Nuno Espírito Santo is making a fine early impression in his new role with English Premier League club Nottingham Forest.

Tuesday’s victory over Newcastle United at St James Park represented a rare away win for relegation-battlers Forest, in what was Nuno’s second match in charge of the East Midlands side.

Nuno took over at Forest last week, replacing popular outgoing manager Steve Cooper at the City Ground on a two-and-a-half-year contract. The ex-Porto man’s first match at the helm three days later resulted in a controversial 3-2 home defeat to Bournemouth, which saw Forest impeded by the highly-contested early red card issued to former Braga and Porto defender Willy Boly.

On Tuesday, Forest travelled to Newcastle hoping to improve on a league away record which had seen them win just 1 of their previous 19 matches on the road. Thanks to a Chris Wood hat-trick, Nuno’s side secured all three points and reignited their fight against relegation from England’s top flight.

“The credit needs to go to the boys,” Nuno said after the final whistle. “We haven’t been here a long time, but credit to them for their work. Congratulations to the players and to our supporters. They were amazing again and they help us so much. Let’s enjoy this moment, but let’s not stop here. We know we have to rest now and there is a quick turnaround.

“I think we had a lot of chances. We were able to break the first moment of Newcastle’s press, they press very hard. It requires the players to be brave and have the ball and find the right spaces, and they did that.

“We had very good spells of possession, but we defended very well too, we were aggressive in the box unlike last week.

“This improvement is the way we need to proceed and move forward.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe conceded the visitors had been the better side in the second half, with an early convincing away showing the perfect way for Nuno to convince any doubters of his suitability for the role. Cooper’s departure caused some objection within the Forest fanbase, meaning a strong start was particularly important for Nuno in winning over his new supporters.

Next up for Nuno is an intriguing home meeting with Manchester United on 30th December. Nuno’s Wolverhampton Wanderers side often matched United in what were typically closely contested matches during his time in charge, while United travel to Nottingham in the midst of an erratic season.

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