REPORT :Nuno Espirito Santo proved Chris Sutton wrong in just 11 minutes during Nottingham Forest win vs Liverpool

Nuno Espirito Santo was behind Nottingham Forest’s stunning win over Liverpool on Saturday.

   It was the first time the Reds had won at the famous stadium since 1969 and Espirito Santo did something that even Brian Clough had failed to do.

   Winning at Anfield is something that has eluded many teams in recent years, but without Jurgen Klopp, Forest could have benefited from some early transfer woes under Arne Sloto.

   Callum Hudson-Odoi scored his first goal of the campaign against Liverpool, stunning the home crowd and helping Forest to a massive three points.

   As Espirito Santo established his game plan, he proved many of his harshest critics wrong during a memorable game at Anfield.

   Nuno Espirito Santo proves Chris Sutton wrong against Liverpool

   How experts can change their mind.    Within six minutes, Forest introduced both Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga – and it paid off.

   Both wingers were introduced after Espirito Santo surprisingly left both players on the bench, but they still had a big impact on the game this weekend.

   When they were revealed, Chris Sutton shared his concerns with BBC Sport about the changes – he felt they would benefit Liverpool more than Forest.

   He said live on BBC Sport: “I think Nuno Espirito Santo took a risk, he has more attacking players – Liverpool will have more space to capitalize.”

   Elanga and Hudson-Odoi combined to provide the winning momentum during the match and after the latter fired the Reds in front, Sutton were in the mood to hit back.

   Just 11 minutes later, he said on BBC Sport: “Nuno Espirito Santo played with his substitutes.

   “Anthony Elanga with a brilliant cross to Callum Hudson-Odoi, Conor Bradley lets it in but the finish is brilliant.

   “Hudson-Odoi bends the ball into a long corner and Allison is nowhere near it.

   “It’s smash and grab from Forest.”

   Espirito Santo quietly goes about his business at Forest

   The head coach was not the first choice of many Forest fans when he replaced the much-loved Steve Cooper in December.

   To be fair, he got a pretty dull game last year and did well to keep the Reds in the Premier League with a string of solid results towards the end of the campaign.

   To be fair, the club were lucky that the three teams that were relegated were so bad, and some of the pundits’ predictions before the ball was kicked were probably close to correct.

   However, Espirito Santo is not living up to the hype.    He is not a man for long press conferences, he just wants the team he puts in to improve every week and do what is best for the football club.

   The head coach was clearly delighted that his game plan against Liverpool worked to perfection.

   Now he unanimously deserves respect and any talk of him not being the man for the job should be dismissed as nonsense and everyone connected with Forest should show their support.