How Nottingham Forest lost that loving feeling for Sabri Lamouchi

Just a little over a year ago, Nottingham Forest was sitting top of the EFL Championship following an impressive 3-2 away win at Stoke City.  As ‘What is Love’ echoed around the Britannia Stadium to the tune of Sabri Lamouchi, not many would have predicted that twelve months on, Forest would be sitting in the relegation zone.  So where did it all go so wrong for the Frenchman?

Arriving as a relative unknown in English football in the summer of 2019 having replaced Martin O’Neill, Lamouchi quickly hit the ground running. After a series of steady results, his Forest outfit looked organised, hard to beat, and possessed the all important killer instinct further up the pitch.

The lack of resilience that had plagued Forest teams from previous seasons looked to have been put behind them. Players were buying into Lamouchi’s philosophy and there was a sense of togetherness on the pitch that had not been seen for years.

As a result, the supporters quickly gravitated towards Lamouchi.

With the revelation of Matty Cash, being converted to all-out action full-back, the revival of forgotten man Ben Watson as the team’s quarterback, and the impressive form of goalkeeper Brice Samba, Lamouchi had laid the foundations to build from. Many had the feeling that the Frenchman was onto something at the City Ground.

Whilst the foundations had been laid defensively, Forest struggled to get out of third gear for most of the season in terms of weekly performances. It was solid more than spectacular.

Apart from the 4-1 destruction of Birmingham City in August 2019, there was not another performance that came close to that level of dominance with the ball. There were no signs from that game onwards that a side was going to come to Nottingham and be on the receiving end of a stuffing. 

Ball retention had been an issue for Lamouchi almost since day one of his tenure.

Unable to sustain periods of possession in just about the entirety of the season and into the next, his tactics to let the opposition have the ball grated on many fans, brought up on a particular brand of football at Nottingham Forest.

Whilst a 3rd round Carabao Cup tie at Arsenal shouldn’t be a benchmark of Lamouchi’s tenure, the 5-0 defeat, showed more than just a gulf in the scoreline. The two footballing philosophies couldn’t have been any further apart.

On an evening where nine thousand Forest fans traveled to North London, to see their team have a go at a Premier League outfit, Lamouchi showed a lack of ambition, as Forest barely got over the half-way line and struggled to pass the ball in a sustainable or meaningful way.

The opposites in philosophies didn’t stop with Arsenal of course. Relegated sides in Charlton, Hull City, Wigan, and Barnsley (who survived on the last day) all played Forest off the pitch in at least one, if not in both of their meetings over the course of the season.

A poor run of form in November and December had some fans questioning for Lamouchi to be sacked, concerned by the style of play. A shocking 4-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday had fans leaving in their droves by half time.

The frailties under Lamouchi had been laid bare in the run-up to Christmas. Opposing managers had wised up to Lamouchi’s tactics. If Forest conceded the first goal, they would struggle to create and get themselves back into games.

To his credit then, Lamouchi rallied the squad and turned things around over the Christmas period and into the New Year, culminating in a storming 2-0 victory against Champions-elect Leeds United at The City Ground. There hadn’t been many better nights on Trentside for many years. Forest were competing at the business end of the table and was looking good for at least a Play-off place.

 

Freshening up the squad a few days later backfired badly, losing 1-0 to struggling Charlton Athletic at home.  The depth of the squad simply was not there to produce what Lamouchi was demanding. And that’s where it all seemed to go wrong.

The January recruitment had quite frankly been a shambles when it was clear the team was running on empty. The hugely influential Samba Sow was struggling with injury and the likes of Joe Lolley, Sammy Ameobi, and Lewis Grabban were carrying the sides attacking threat with nothing in reserve to give them a break.

Forest limped along in the league through February and whilst they were still very much in the mix for the play-offs, their home form was an issue.

A few tweaks to the formation in employing a No.10 failed to produce wins against QPR and Millwall (on the receiving end of a 0-3 defeat) with Joe Lolley and Joao Carvalho having a minimal impact in the coveted role.

The pandemic hit and for Forest, the opportunity to rest key players should really have done them some favours, getting much-needed rest into wary legs and allowing injured players such as Samba Sow and Tiago Silva optimum recovery time.

When football recommenced, Forest started reasonably well, going unbeaten in their first four games but they haven’t won a game since beating Bristol City at home in …June. Late goals at Sheffield Wednesday, Derby, and Barnsley were all hammer blows to the season’s hopes. 

The fact that this particular weakness had been shown since the turn of the year, pointed towards the manager’s inability to eradicate those problems.  Whilst individual mistakes were costing the side dearly, in truth Forest’s lack of ambition with the ball was ultimately more damaging.

Fatigue soon quickly returned with the players spending so much time in games without the ball. Playing without flair or rhythm, it didn’t look a set up that was overly enjoyable to play in as the approach was labored and devoid of creativity.

It might even be considered that behind closed doors football had really not suited Lamouchi’s approach either. No longer able to frustrate a home crowd and play on that advantage, Forest failed to record another away win from March 2020.

Lamouchi bemoaned a lack of ‘quality’ in many games but it’s very difficult at Championship level for players to hit that level of perfection that the Head Coach insisted on his players producing. Out of practice almost when rare chances did come along, they were often missed as the pressure to convert became too much. 

The writing was almost on the wall as Forest crawled towards the final day with a dreadful performance in a 1-0 defeat to Barnsley.

Needing only a draw with twenty minutes left of the season, Forest capitulated in the 4-1 defeat to Stoke City. The manner of the defeat had completely pole-axed the club with players in tears and Lamouchi speechless in his final interview. 

Whilst many thought that’d be it for the Frenchman, Forest owner Evangelos Maranakis surprisingly backed him over the summer and allowed him to turn things around with 13 new players coming in.

However, five successive defeats have borne more resemblance to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder than a hangover from last season.

Forest hadn’t played badly in all five games but the results were dire.  Saturday’s performance against Bristol City was ironically their best so far and if it wasn’t for a man of the match performance from Bristol City’s goalkeeper Dan Bentley, Forest might have come out of the game with something, and Lamouchi possibly still in a job. 

A previous Forest manager was once laughed at for his ‘fine margins’ comment to defend a series of defeats but Lamouchi had found himself in the same territory. Once going behind in games, Forest rarely looked like getting themselves back into them. The hole was being dug deeper by the game and he couldn’t find a way out. 

Refusing to give up, Lamouchi can hold his head high that his tenure at the City Ground wasn’t all bad.

Although his time will be deemed as a failure, he momentarily brought back a feel-good factor to the club handing Forest their best league finish in ten years.

Those with a glass-half-full outlook will remember big performances against promoted sides Leeds, West Brom, and Fulham. Undefeated against local rivals Derby, he also beat Brentford at home and away. The failure to do it against the ‘lesser’ sides was ultimately his undoing and he isn’t the first to have trodden a similar path.

Owner Evangelos Maranakis has assembled a squad for the here and now and Lamouchi knew there was no room for excuses. Some of the Forest players have suffered a similar fate as the Frenchman as the Premier League remains Marinakis’ ultimate goal.

There is no doubt that Nottingham Forest can turn it on when they need to but can they do it at Wycombe on a cold Tuesday night? Forest fans are about to find out under Chris Hughton.

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