🚨REPORT :Nottingham Forest coach shares what Nuno Espirito Santo hates to call some of his players

Nuno Espirito Santo has won his harshest critics after a very solid start to the 2024/25 season with Nottingham Forest.

   The Reds are undefeated after five games, four of the nine points they collected in away games at Liverpool and Brighton.

   Espirito Santo had the unenviable task of replacing Steve Cooper at the City Ground, but to be fair he took it all in stride.

   It was claimed over the weekend that Forest considered sacking Espirito Santo last season, but luckily Evangelos Marinakis took the plunge.

   Now, Forest head into their sixth game of the week – a home game with Fulham – looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign, with another international break looming.

   Espirito Santo has been impressive this season.    He made some good changes in games and the appearance instilled a really positive mindset in the locker room.

   Nottingham Forest manager shares what Espirito Santo refuses to call his players

   Rui Silva is Espirito Santo’s right-hand man and is likely to lead Forest’s first-team squad on Saturday, with the head coach facing suspension.

   Silva is Espirito Santo’s valued lieutenant and has also been with him at Valencia, Porto and Wolves in the past.

   Fuming after Sunday’s sending off, Nuno sent Silva to do his post-match duties and the assistant coach explained something the head coach doesn’t want to call his players.

   He told The Athletic: “We’ve got a great group of players. We don’t even want to call them substitutes. I know they are because they’re on the bench. But for us, all the players are involved in the process. If they come into the game, they know what’s expected of them  expects.

   “We just have to make them feel important;    to have their role.    If we can do that, they will give the team what we want.    The way we changed with the substitutions gave us more control of the game while also creating chances.    It gave us the momentum we wanted going forward.    Even with 10 players, we had a chance to win.”

   Team spirit can take Forest far this season

   If Forest were to avoid a tough relegation battle this season, it would be considered a success in the eyes of many fans.

   In the two years since Forest have been back in the Premier League, things have proved a real struggle at times.

   But there is a real sense that this season could be different, with the club reaping the benefits of quality over quantity in the transfer market.

   Silva and Espirito Santo know each other very well and with the latter suspended this weekend, his assistant will take the spotlight.

   This group looks like a band of brothers at the moment and that alone could take Forest far this season.

   Forest’s challenge is how they respond to adversity this season.    The Reds can’t afford to falter when someone comes in and hopefully the team can stay united.

   Fascinatingly, Espirito Santo does not like the term surrogate to be banished.

   For two consecutive games, players introduced from the bench have helped Forest pick up points, which only underlines the strength in depth this season.