For a club where time is forever in short supply, Nottingham Forest’s reversion to a no-nonsense manager may take a while yet to pay off. Still, not every opposing team will play like Bournemouth, where Forest lost 5-0 last season, and have not won since 2014. Andoni Iraola’s team climbed to second, delivering portions of the football from the gods that makes their manager one of the hottest properties in the game.
After scoring directly from a corner through Marcus Tavernier – set pieces continued to haunt Forest – there was further evidence of Bournemouth’s ability to find top talent when their second came from Eli Junior Kroupi. The teenager from the Cherries sister club, Lorient, followed up last week’s double at Crystal Palace with a lashing finish.
The was a familiar feeling for Sean Dyche at the scene of his final match in charge of Everton, January’s 1-0 defeat. While beating Porto on Thursday means he has already banked one more win than Ange Postecoglou, the demise of his predecessor shows that the owner, Evangelos Marinakis, will not shirk from Liz Truss-length managerial reigns.
Unlike Postecoglou, Dyche has Forest heritage. To set aside Nigel Clough at Mansfield, the last of Brian Clough’s former players in the management game is accompanied by two far more distinguished wearers of the Garibaldi red in Ian Woan and Steve Stone, 90s playing legends at his side again. How long can that protect him? A manager whose reputation lies in survival suits Forest’s current plight – they remain in the bottom three – while the club president is a man of far loftier ambitions.
