Nottingham Forest face Porto in Sean Dyche’s first match in charge.
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Sean Dyche vowed to restore the will and desire among the Nottingham Forest players as he begins the biggest job of his career with a Europa League match against Porto.
Dyche was appointed on Tuesday as a replacement for Ange Postecoglou, who was sacked on Saturday just minutes after a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Postecoglou failed to win any of his eight games in charge, leaving Forest with just five points from eight games in the Premier League and one point from two in the Europa League.
Dyche takes over at the City Ground having left Everton in January, and returns to the club where he started his career in football as a youth player.
But there is no time for sentiment, with Dyche focused on delivering an immediate upturn in form.
“We need to get back to winning ways,” Dyche told a press conference.
“I won’t bore people with the stats but they weren’t winning at the end of last season particularly. Maybe run out of steam, it was a big season.
“It hasn’t been a great start to this season, we understand that so there were a few signs about what was needed and the changes.
“But I think there is a very good group here, a talented group. Last season they showed the will and desire to be a good group – now we’ve got to reignite that and make sure it’s intact gong forward.
“I have managed 300-odd games in the Premier League. You can’t be lucky for all the 330 games. You got to know the way around it. And if you know it, it’s about how far you can take it.
“I have had spells in my career where we had very, very strong spells. To take a small club like Burnley and get to Europe was incredible. But it’s all past me now.
“This is Nottingham Forest. This is bigger than all of that.
“The staff, the team, the ownership – they are all in an awkward place for the first time in a number of seasons. It’s our job to find a way back from that. The first point of call is can we get this team to remember very quickly how it was finding wins and can we add our own imprint on that. That’s the challenge now.”
The immediate task in front of Dyche is a clash with Porto, who are top of the Primeira Liga in Portugal and have claimed two wins from two to start their Europa League campaign.
Porto’s flight to East Midlands Airport was reportedly delayed to allow for an inspection by Portugal’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Such an inconvenience will quickly be forgotten on Thursday if Porto can end their long wait for an away victory in England in European competition, a feat they have never achieved. Francesco Farioli and his side will see a meeting with a team in Forest’s position as the perfect opportunity to change that.
Team News for Nottingham Forest v Porto
Ola Aina is still recovering from hamstring surgery, while Forest are without the ineligible Taiwo Awoniyi, Omari Hutchinson, Jair Cunha and Angus Gunn.
Luuk de Jong and Nehuen Perez remain sidelined for Porto following knee injuries.
Expected line-ups for Nottingham Forest v Porto
Nottingham Forest: Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Zinchenko; Ndoye, Yates, Anderson, Hudson-Odoi; Gibbs-White; Wood
Porto: D. Costa; A .Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Moura; Froholdt, Varela, Veiga; Pepe, Samu, Sainz
How to watch Nottingham Forest v Porto
Nottingham Forest v Porto kicks off at 8pm UK time. It will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1. It is available to stream on Discovery Plus and on Sky Go for Sky customers with a TNT package.
The Stats for Nottingham Forest v Porto
- This will be Forest’s first major European meeting with a Portuguese opponent. English teams are unbeaten in the last 10 Europa League games against Portuguese sides (W3 D7). Sporting Braga’s win over Wolves in 2019 marked the last triumph for a Portuguese team.
- This is Porto’s 50th major European match against English opposition. They will be the fifth team to reach that number, after Barcelona (87), Bayern Munich (67), Real Madrid (60) and Juventus (53).
- Porto have lost more games against English teams than anyone else (27).
- Porto are aiming to win their first three major European matches in a season for the first time since the 2012-13 Champions League campaign.
Prediction
Dyche will look to quickly instil the defensive solidity that has been severely lacking for Forest this season, but Porto are a side with Champions League experience and more than enough quality to break the hosts down.
Prediction: Nottingham Forest 1-3 Porto
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