Pereira must ditch Nottingham Forest flop who makes Lucca look like a good signing

Nottingham Forest have lost their way. As Evangelos Marinakis prepares to appoint the club’s fourth manager of the season, supporters are concerned that their European campaign is jeopardised by a genuine relegation scrap.

A win over Wolves would have been nice, but 90 minutes of dominance and 35 shots at goal could not break the Old Gold’s resolve, and it resulted in the sacking of Sean Dyche.

Vitor Pereira, who started the campaign in charge of beleaguered Wolves, is the man for the job. Regarded as a galvanising figure, he lifted Wolves away from the relegation zone in 2024/25, with a six-game winning run through March and April propelling them to a 12-point buffer by the end of the Premier League season.

Pereira will have his work cut out, but he shares core principles that Steve Cooper and Nuno Espirito both wielded at Forest. However, he will have his work cut out, with problems in attack threatening to consume their season.

How Pereira can fix Forest’s attacking issues

Dyche’s overly pragmatic tactics created disconnection between the club and the fanbase. Nuno wasn’t exactly Pep Guardiola, but he was intelligent and whittled a counter-attacking system to the finest point.

Of course, Dyche wasn’t helped by Chris Wood having been injured since his appointment, but 6 foot 7 striker Lorenzo Lucca was signed in January on loan until the end of the season, with an option to make it a permanent move for around £35m.

The 25-year-old scored on his debut as Forest were well beaten by Leeds United, but on Wednesday evening, he was all over the place, lumbering about and missing a glorious opportunity to put his team into the lead after a fast break, sending his shot careering off into the crowd.

Wood won’t be back in action until at least after the March international break, so Pereira will need to hope that he can get a tune out of the Napoli forward, especially with Igor Jesus having scored only two Premier League goals all season.

However, not everyone in the starting line-up deserves to keep on playing from the opening whistle, with another star having flattered to deceive for a while now.

Pereira must drop struggling Forest forward

Dyche’s football has blunted Nottingham Forest’s frontline. However, the players must be held accountable too, with Omari Hutchinson among those to have struggled and thus contributed toward Dyche’s sacking.

Hutchinson is fleet-footed and smart on the ball, nifty in tight spaces. He has a lot of potential that has yet to be tapped, and while the Tricky Trees could see him bloom in the coming years, that doesn’t mean Pereira should glue him down to the right flank if he’s struggling at this time to produce the goods.

It was during the first half that the Trent End roared in frustration as Hutchinson’s corner embraced the side netting. It fanned the flames of the fanbase’s discontent.

There have been a few signs of progress since the 22-year-old left Ipswich Town and joined Forest, managed by Nuno at the time, for a fee just shy of £30m, however, Nuno excluded the new recruit from his Europa League squad and did not want his signature – this supposedly played into the breakdown in relationships that led to the Portuguese’s departure.

Pereira’s new approach may well rekindle players such as Lucca and Hutchinson, but the latter man is clearly at a low ebb right now, having regressed from his early-season form.

With that in mind, it might be worth Pereira dropping him as one of his first ports of call, taking him out of the firing line and offering the likes of Dan Ndoye a chance to play a starting role once again. Dyche was a fan, but Hutchinson currently isn’t proving himself worthy of a fixed place in the line-up.

Interestingly, Newcastle have emerged as contenders to sign Hutchinson. There is an understanding that his name has been considered, as former Forest forward Anthony Elanga continues to flatter to deceive at St. James’ Park.

Lucca struggled against Wolves, but Hutchinson hasn’t been offering enough for some time, and Pereira might want to shuffle the pack as he looks to guide Nottingham Forest away from relegation danger in the Premier League.