Worries Subdued And A Big 'Tree' Points

Football Park’s Louis Wheeldon writes…

Isn’t it just wonderful how good a win can make you feel the day after?

Here I am, at my desk on a rainy, miserable Monday morning (at time of writing) filled with enough caffeine to kill a baby elephant and dismay at the working week once again rolling around, but here I am sat very happily on Cloud Nine nonetheless.

The power of a three points is a fantastically healing, and our gravelly-voiced patron saint has allowed me to nurture some worrying wounds left by Nottingham Forest’s, quite frankly, mental start to the season.

After a fairly dull affair over in Autria by way of a 0-0 draw with Sturm Graz, it seemed fairly clear that the wish for our game with Leeds United on Super Sunday was given full priority, as a loss may genuinely have led to real, valid concerns of Forest being an official member of this season’s relegation battle, no less because two of the three promoted clubs this season actually look as if they can play football unlike… well, every promoted club since Forest, Fulham and Bournemouth came up.

But, thanks to one young man taking an opportunity with both hands and a wonderful all-round performance, us Forest fans can sit back amidst a small sigh of satisfaction going into the international break, with a worry-quelling win stopping our winless rot in the Premier League.

Hutchinson’s Big Day Out

It would be remiss of me to start off by talking about anything else in this piece – I am immensely happy for Omari Hutchinson to have made such a huge, telling impact in our win over Leeds.

The recently-turned-22-year-old is Nottingham Forest’s record signing, having joined the club at the tune of £37.5m from relegated Ipswich Town in the summer.

The arrival lifted a few eyebrows around Nottingham, mine included, but mainly due to the fee spent on his signature rather than the perusal of the player himself. Few would deny that Hutchinson has plenty of talent at his disposal and could be a great pickup for the club, but him breaking the transfer record left a couple of chins being scratched.

Until Sunday, we hadn’t had a huge chance to see what Hutchinson was all about. He has averaged around 23 minutes per game in the Premier League so far this season across his six showings thus far, with no starts among them, and had shown a few glimpses of the player that lies within, particularly against Sunderland.

However, he seemed to really come alive with the half-hour afforded to him against Leeds on Sunday.

Aside from the excellent assist for Morgan Gibbs-White to put us in front, and the excellent run preceding the winning of a penalty to put us in the ascendancy, Hutchinson’s all-round play displayed the air of a talent gasping to show what he can really do. He won the majority of his duels, of which there were many as Leeds battled, and added a real threat into a team that was searching for its first Premier League win since opening day.

With injuries hitting the Forest squad in places, the more players on song, the better. Should Hutchinson be rewarded with a first league start when Forest return to Anfield in their next Premier League outing? Coming off the back of a strong performance, his confidence will have been done the world of good, so why not?

Sangare Gets His Goal

Another man who I am particularly happy with is one Ibrahim Sangare.

The big Ivorian has divided opinion pretty consistently across his entire City Ground stay thus far. Some viewed him as a much-needed ‘proper’ defensive midfielder providing a necessary brick-wall-esque edge to the Forest engine room, whilst some portrayed him as a clunky figure who hadn’t added much of what we were all excited to see after his arrival from PSV two years ago.

But recently, Sangare has left me very impressed, even though I do still hasten to watch him through the gaps in my fingers should he be on a yellow card. Which he was against Leeds. Am I contradicting myself? Ah, who cares.

Sangare was great against Leeds, I thought, and I also thought he came away from the 0-0 in Austria with plenty to be happy about. Against Leeds, I felt we saw a bit more of the forward-thinking threat from him that he isn’t necessarily credited with. He was plenty progressive in his playmaking and added a solid threat when putting attacks together, supplemented with his first goal in the Garibaldi upon gobbling up a rebound to get Forest immediately level after Nmecha’s opening finish (which was a beauty, I’m comfortable with saying).

Like we saw at the end of last season under Nuno, Sangare is starting look plenty more like the player we thought we were getting. He was dealt a rough hand on arrival in Nottingham, what with illness, injury, AFCON and whatever else playing a part in his struggles to get going, but he’s looking sharp now and we look better for it.

Dyche’s Start And A New Hope

There are more players I can speak on after Sunday, of course. Neco Williams dropped his standard day’s work, at his consistent and battling best in the backline whilst Elliot Anderson was, of course, sensational in the centre of the park. Taiwo Awoniyi looked sharp when coming on as well, and we all know how much we’d like to see him at the peak of his powers once again.

However, one win against a relegation contender does not a successful season make. Forest will have to ride this high into a trip to Anfield upon the return from yet another international break, which is not an easy return to domestic life even with their own struggles this season so far.

For Forest, now, the goal is consistency. The Ange era, short as it was, left a heavy blow on the start of our season and Sean Dyche is the man tasked with getting Forest away from any reasonable danger. His first win in the Forest dugout was against one of the most in-form teams in all of Europe, and we looked creditable in a draw with Manchester United. I’m not fretting over the draw in Graz now, either, as the Leeds game was clearly the one taking priority that week, and it paid dividends in one of our best performances over a full match the season so far.

If we look beyond Anfield, there are some key fixtures ahead. Malmo at home in Europe is one that pulls on the heartstrings, but is a must-win game as favourites as we look to get some consistent points in Europe. Our next three in the Premier League are against a Brighton side with one away win in the league all season and that we put seven past last season, a Wolves side emerging as favourites for the dropzone this season and an Everton side also aiming for consistency to get away from any troublesome positions at the business end.

All those games are winnable, and have come at a time where Forest will be looking to build up a head of steam. Would it be a touch greedy to expect Europe again this season? Yeah, I think so, and did before a ball was kicked this term.

After three seasons of being tagged as a relegation favourite since our top-flight return in 2022, last season provided more than just a European adventure, it gave Forest the chance to remove themselves from those sorts of conversations for years to come. A within-reason good season, for me, would be a solid mid-table finish and a good account shown in Europe. From there, the club can springboard into being a near-permanent resident in the top-flight with the platform to kick on to more consistent treats in the future.

On we march, then, into a weekend with no Forest to look forward to. Alas, we can rest on a well-earned three points that has knocked the confidence back into the stands and, keyly, the players and staff.