Season Preview: Can Chris Hughton revive Nottingham Forest’s fortunes?

It’s very much a case of a new season and new hope down at The City Ground, as summer developments behind the scenes hope to change the trajectory of the club’s fortunes under the ownership of Evangelos Maranakis.

A New Dawn

Having endured the train crash of Sabri Lamouchi’s 2019/20 campaign, Chris Hughton stepped in to replace the Frenchman only to try and navigate the aftermath of the wreckage.  Following a relatively lacklustre first season at the helm, Hughton has had the summer to re-evaluate his squad, with a number of players going out of the door. He will be hoping for more new faces in the coming weeks before the end of the transfer window.

A change of strategy behind the scenes has been positive news for fans with Chief Executive Dane Murphy coming in from Barnsley. The Tykes have played a particular brand of football in the last couple of seasons that was once synonymous with Forest once upon a time.

Signing up and coming talents from the lower leagues and watching them flourish at Oakwell was a large part of Murphy’s success, and given Forest’s more miss than hit transfer activity in years gone by, a new approach has been needed.

Management

The ultimate objective for Hughton to achieve last season was stopping the runaway train of defeats after a dreadful start that saw Lamouchi fired. Having completed this by Christmas with some mean defensive displays, Brice Samba and Tobias Figueiredo were as commanding as ever once Joe Worrall came back into the side from injury.

Forest failed to build on the platform having improved in midfield once James Garner and Filip Krovinovic arrived in January. On a positive note, what was more noticeable with Garner’s arrival was that Forest were moving the ball much quicker in midfield and offered greater hope to supporters that Hughton’s style of play could be more pleasing to the eye.

The Reds’ lack of goals however was their ultimate downfall despite bringing in veteran Glenn Murray to help. They couldn’t kick on enough to even threaten a late surge for the play-offs. The challenge will be for Hughton to get Forest firing if they are serious about their promotion aspirations.

Hughton may well find himself in new career territory at The City Ground as seemingly there isn’t a great deal to spend and the squad still looks some way off from being able to execute his tried and trusted method of winning games by the odd goal. The Nottingham Forest manager has not lived up to expectations so far but there is no reason why he can’t replicate what he has achieved elsewhere in the game given the time and the right backing.

Ones to Watch

Brennan Johnson

Johnson has come off the back of a highly successful season at Lincoln City where he has been given the opportunity to express himself on the left-hand side of the attack.

Possessing a quick turn of pace, he can accelerate past full-backs with ease. Of course, it is going to be a step up for him in the Championship, but as he continues to develop physically, there is absolutely no doubt Forest have a gifted player on their hands who can strike up an understanding with his teammates, play intricate balls, but most importantly, can weigh in with goals.

Still not finished the article in the final third, the Reds have been desperate for a player to contribute further from midfield. It remains to be seen where Chris Hughton will deploy him and whether he will be a starter, but two goals against Port Vale in pre-season will certainly have increased those chances. Hughton had kept close tabs on him whilst at the Imps so he will know plenty about the talent he possesses.

Alex Mighten

Alex Mighten has a big season ahead of him also. The youngster has slowly started to get to grips with life in the second tier. His pace and ability to go past defenders could be such a potent weapon for Forest if his strengths can be utilised. There is potentially so much more to come if Hughton can get him playing consistently.

Ryan Yates

In midfield, it feels like this could be the year of Ryan Yates. The 23-year-old has improved a great deal since initially breaking through under Martin O’Neill.

On the pitch, there is still more needed from Yates, not just to become the first pick at Forest, but also in becoming a top-half Championship midfielder. As a predominately defensive-minded midfielder, his appetite to get into the box could easily have gotten him into double figures last season rather than the more modest two goals he managed.

“This season looks like it may well be the start of a proper building process. It might mean that we’re looking at an upper mid-table finish at best, but if it means we’re signing quality over quantity, then so be it.

Hopefully, the likes of Mighten and Johnson will emerge as real homegrown heroes, and we can add a bit of attacking excitement to the solid defence we had last season. With the squad yet to be finalised, I’m predicting 12th to 14th finish this time around.” – Chris Slack, Nottingham Forest fan

Resurrections

Perhaps the most positive news to come out of pre-season is the resurgence of Joe Lolley. The forward seems to have had a fairly torrid time in recent seasons with injury and disappointment. Having missed the final games of last season through injury, Forest fans will hope the extra time to recuperate can give him back that extra yard to skip away from defenders once more. When on form, there is no doubting that Lolley is one of the best wingers in the division.

Up top, it’s pretty criminal that both Lewis Grabban and Lyle Taylor only just managed to get into double figures of goals between them in the last campaign. For players of their calibre, 10 goals apiece should be a minimum.

Whether it is too late for Taylor to resurrect his career at Forest remains to be seen, but without a replacement, it would seem a mistake to let him go for now. Goals change strikers performances in a moment so an early goal or two from Taylor and it could kickstart his time at the club.

Summer Business

Fending off suitors so far has probably been Forest’s biggest success this summer with the likes of Joe Worrall, Brennan Johnson and Brice Samba still at the club. In many respects, it will have been a relief to many fans that it’s not been a repeat of last summer, with a number of players coming in.

Danish midfielder Philip Zinckernagel has joined on loan from Watford, and to have Premier League quality in the ranks is more than enough to get fans excited. Manchester United youngster, James Garner would also be a good acquisition if they can resign him on loan again.

American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath has also arrived from Belgian side Club Brugge to bring extra competition in between the sticks. Forest are still short defensively in both full-back positions and another striker would give them a greater competitive edge.

Predictions

Low expectations are always a good thing at Forest and with fans back in at The City Ground, who knows where the season could take them.

On paper for many years, the Reds have certainly underachieved with the resources at their disposal. Dane Murphy isn’t going to implement his new strategy overnight and so patience is going to be required.

With Hughton’s experience, Forest should certainly not be written off and with a few more incoming they will be looking towards getting into the play-off places.

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