‘The fans should be excited’ but Nuno Espirito Santo keeps Forest grounded

Posted Saturday, October 26, 2024 by PA

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo says he will not get carried away with his side’s start to the season, but the fans can.

Forest climbed to fifth in the Premier League table after Chris Wood’s second-half double fired them to a 3-1 win at Leicester as they enjoyed a happy reunion with former boss Steve Cooper.

After scraping to survival in their first two seasons back in the top flight, a much better year looks on the cards as they have been beaten just once in their nine games.

‘The fans should be excited’ but Nuno Espirito Santo keeps Forest grounded — Chris Wood scored twice against Leicester (Mike Egerton/PA)

But Nuno remained typically pragmatic after the match.

“It doesn’t mean anything, what is important is Monday,” he said of his club’s league position. “We are going to prepare for West Ham. It’s going to be tough.

“It’s not what guides us. It’s how we do things, how we correct details – you can see the goal we conceded, we have to look and try to improve the team.

“The fans should be excited. They should enjoy it. Today was a beautiful day for the club, to play this football and win the game. Now we go back to Nottingham celebrating.

“They have given us so much since we arrived. Let’s not forget where we’ve come from, how hard it was.

“Now is the moment to enjoy it. We try to give back all the support they have given us.”

All of us rn: pic.twitter.com/fwSOIFKVlc
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) October 25, 2024

It was a tough night for Leicester boss Steve Cooper, the man who lead Forest back to the Premier League before being sacked in December last year.

He bizarrely refused to even acknowledge his time at the City Ground before the match in an attempt not to annoy Leicester fans.

It was at this ground two years ago that Forest fans sung Cooper’s name after a 4-0 defeat which saved him from the sack. The packed away end again serenaded him, but this time it will have hurt.

His new side, who came into the game with back-to-back wins, put in an inept defensive display which will have annoyed the home fans far more than any pre-match comments might have.

Asked whether the defeat hurts more because of the opposition, he said: “Yeah, definitely.

“You don’t want to be losing any games and we don’t want to be losing games to local rivals.

“We have to not shy away from that. There’s real frustration and disappointment at how the game went, it didn’t need to be that way.

“Clearly, everybody’s really disappointed and frustrated, everyone around the club and supporters and everything like that. We get that.

“It’s a setback. We’ve done a lot of good in the last couple of games and this is a real setback, and we have to accept that it was on us and and we have to take responsibility for that.”