Finally, Fortress Gtech was breached, its ramparts and keep torn asunder by the pragmatism of Nuno Espírito Santo. The Premier League’s surprise package took down its best home record as Nottingham Forest solidified the top-four place they had kicked off in after Manchester City’s latest meltdown.
The highest-ranked visitors yet to the stadium where goals and victories had previously rained down for the home team kept Brentford at bay with a mix of discipline and cutting edge. The goals from Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga were pincer movements seizing on defensive disorganisation.
“We’re very proud of all the things we’ve been able to achieve, but we’ve achieved nothing yet,” said Nuno. “It’s not about the table. It’s about improving, realising there is still a long way to go and that we’ve achieved nothing yet.” Not that his words could dampen the excitement of the raucous travelling Forest fans. Or his players. “It’s a bit of a dream,” said Aina, the goalscorer.
As is habitual, Brentford went right at Forest’s throats only to be methodically picked off. “It’s annoying, but it happens,” said Thomas Frank of a first home defeat of the season. “We were on top in a lot of moments, but we had more dangerous moments without having clearcut chances.” Mikkel Damsgaard, Brentford’s playmaker, forced Matz Sels’s first save in the fourth minute.
Forest had appeared light in midfield ballast as they attempted to ride out that early storm. Ryan Yates, Forest’s chief agitator, was fit enough only for the bench, leaving Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson as a callow pair. “Even though they are young,” said Nuno. “It’s their knowledge of the game.”
That Nuno employed pace to counter and support Chris Wood will surprise nobody acquainted with his management style. There were some nervous moments. Morato, making a first Forest start in that defensive trio, shanked a ball high, inviting Yoane Wissa to volley just over.
Forest fans, never slow to attack officialdom, occupied themselves with barracking Michael Oliver, the referee, for booking Murillo for a perfectly bookable offence, a high boot on Wissa. Their team’s first chance came when Wood’s header forced a clawing save from Mark Flekken, though the New Zealander might have done better.
A momentum shift had Frank reaching for his notepad, trying not to smudge his words in soaking conditions. Such danger signals proved correct as Forest’s opener arrived. Neco Williams’s ball came in from the left, Wood’s run acted as dummy and Aina met his fellow wing-back’s assist with a low finish.
Nuno being Nuno, his three-man defence soon began to operate as a five, rarely becoming a trio, Williams’s wings clipped if Aina remained an occasional raider. Only Chelsea have won more away points than Forest’s 17. A goals-against tally is of top-four standard, only Liverpool and Arsenal’s defences more stingy.
Three more away points were heading up the M1 once Elanga scored, seizing on Keane Lewis-Potter’s misread of a wind-redirected ball, expertly placing his shot into the bottom corner.
That had been made possible by Nikola Milenkovic’s composure in stopping Damsgaard’s dangerous solo run. A further tackle on Kevin Schade showed off the Serb’s elite reading of the game.
The Gtech’s honour would not be surrendered meekly. Brentford pushed for a way back, though ineffectively. The pattern of the last 30 minutes of the game settled into battering on the Forest door but only lightly. Kristoffer Ajer’s volley forcing a fine save from Sels was as good as it got for a team that usually find goals easy to come by. “Huge for us,” said Nuno of the goalkeeper’s key contributions.
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“He’s been fantastic,” said Elanga of Nuno. “He speaks many languages, so I think that helps the players.”
On came Yates to resume ratting duties and see out a fifth away win of the season. A storming of the previously impregnable added Champions League dreams to Forest’s festive celebrations.
