Pressure continues to grow for Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi ahead of Bristol City visit

The infamous Brian Clough once said “when you get to a certain age, there is no coming back” and that message could well be applied to football management.

With no wins from their opening three matches of the season, Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi faces an uphill challenge to keep his job that only Tour de France riders would take on.

The Frenchman’s side has stumbled across the starting line and seemingly fallen flat on their face this term.

Fourteen summer signings have improved the squad – one that certainly lacked strength in depth at moments last season – but, it seems, the mass influx of additions has hindered Lamouchi’s chances this season.

Last week’s defeat – a 1-0 loss to Huddersfield Town live on Sky Sports – featured eight new signings in the starting eleven. A new-look defensive line included debuts for Loic Mbe Soh and Cyrus Christie; meanwhile, Scott McKenna was thrown into the squad just two days after joining the Reds.

Even the newest signing, defender Nicholas Ioannou from Cypriot side APOEL, has only had a week to settle into life at The City Ground.

Sabri is aware that a large number of signings will require time to embed but reiterated his confidence that Forest can stop the Robins from taking maximum points.

Speaking ahead of the match, he said: “The last game against Huddersfield, there were eight new players on the pitch and it is one game they have played together.

“Some players have only had three or four sessions, so we need time to recreate the same team spirit as last season.

“But I am sure about one thing, we have a better squad and I am sure that at the end this squad will get us to where we want to be.”

With pressure inevitably mounting on Lamouchi, the Reds face an uphill struggle against high-flying Bristol City on Saturday.

Under the guidance of Dean Holden following Lee Johnson’s departure late last season, the Robins have swooped into an early promotion challenging spot.

With their best start in 19 years, City are unbeaten in their opening three matches – winning a maximum of nine points from the nine points available – and sit second in the standings, joint-top with Reading.

More concerningly for Lamouchi will be the attacking prowess of Holden’s side. On average Bristol City have scored two goals and limited their opposition to just 3.3 shots on target per game.

Whilst City are enjoying an excellent start to the season, boss Holden is fully aware of the individual threats that lie among the Forest squad.

He said: “They’re a team in a poor run of form so they’ll be looking for a leg up early, of course, to get some confidence so we have to make sure we don’t give them that.

“Then we have to play to our style. They’re dangerous in attack and Luke Freeman is another very good player to add to that so we know their threats, we just have to make sure we’re on our game.”

One clear threat is that of Lewis Grabban. The 32-year-old netted 20 goals in 45 Championship appearances for the Reds last term, scoring on average 0.4 goals per game.

The Reds also have Lyle Taylor among their ranks. The ex-Charlton Athletic man contributed 11 goals and one assist in 22 appearances last season.

On the overall team, Holden said: “They’re a good team. They haven’t scored a goal or got a result but, plus a cup game, it’s only been four games.

“They have front players who can cause any teams damage if you allow them to so there’s that to take care of, as well as ourselves guarding against complacency.”

With pressure seemingly growing on Lamouchi, victory will certainly alleviate some of his personal concerns about job security because a draw may only prolong the inevitable.

Victory for Bristol City, meanwhile, could be the perfect morale booster ahead of the first international break of the season.

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