Vitor Pereira has recently changed his Nottingham Forest system and made a good team even better.
The Tricky Trees defeated Chelsea and made it 10 games unbeaten across all competitions. They have now won each of the last five as well.
And yet, despite enjoying a great run of performances and results, manager Vitor Pereira thought there was still room for improvement.
Forest started the current run playing mainly in a 4-2-3-1, sometimes shifting to a 3-4-2-1. Ahead of the Sunderland game, however, he made some massive changes to his first XI. Igor Jesus and Chris Wood, ho had never shared a starting lineup together, led the way alongside each other.
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It worked wonders and by half-time it was already 4-0 in favour of the Tricky Trees. Pereira maintained this formation for the Aston Villa match in the Europa League and it worked again as they won 1-0.
And the same once more against Chelsea. Even with an alternate lineup, resting a few key players ahead of the European semi final next Thursday, he had Taiwo Awoniyi alongside Igor. Both scored in a huge 3-1 away victory.
That has been the norm, actually. Both Igor and Awoniyi scored against Chelsea and both Igor and Wood found the net against Sunderland. The Nigerian also won the penalty that the Brazilian scored at Stamford Bridge.
The exception was at Villa Park, where only the New Zealander got in the scoresheet. Though Igor Jesus had the best open-play chance of the match, but Dibu Martinez performed a huge save to deny him the goal.
So it’s well established that this change has worked perfectly and somehow turned a good, in-form side into an even better team. It made the collective better while also getting the most out of each individual striker. But how has that been reflected beyond the goals?
Like most of the teams in modern football, Nottingham Forest ‘respect’ game states. They mainly retract while ahead – and since them being up has been a common trend recently, their possession tallies have dropped massively.
They are averaging just 40.4% possession in this recent stretch, compared to a season average of 49.2%. But having two proper number nines and target men also contributes to them seeing less of the ball.
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14.5% of their total passes over the last three games have been long, an uptick of 3.4 percentage points compared to their season average. Having Igor, Wood and Awoniyi fight for long balls is a big part of how they get out of their own half and into the opposition’s.
There is also a clear trend to go long for one of the strikers to flick it on to the other waiting in close proximity with a winger running down the touchline to receive and look for the cross. Usually from the right-hand side.
Awoniyi’s first goal against Chelsea showed this exact emphasis. They wanted to get the right-winger (Dilane Bakwa) in position to put the ball in the box. Omari Hutchinson did that many times against Aston Villa and Sunderland as well.
Since Forest are seeing less of the ball, they are also taking less shots (9.0 per game, below the season average of 13.9).
But they are still creating better opportunities overall. They are averaging 2.7 big chances per game in this recent run (2.1 for the whole 2025-26 campaign). 30% of their attempts have been clear-cut goalscoring opportunities, compared to just 14% for rest of the season.
Likewise, their expected goals per shot tally has also gone up: 0.18 as of late, 0.10 being their season average.
The presence of two striker has also meant that they play more down the middle third of the pitch. 27% of their attacking actions have come down the central corridor, well above the 22% they average in 2025-26.
It’s obviously not enough to represent more of their touches in either wing. Teams are always willing to give wide actions and protect the heart of defence. But they have started using the right side more than the left, inverting their previous ways of attacking opponents.
Now, 42% of their attacking actions have come from the right (36% for the season). It used to be more from the left (41%), but this number has dropped to 31%.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see a pairing of two ‘old-school’ strikers. And also to see a manager not fully comfortable despite enjoying a massive unbeaten run.
It would have been easy for Vitor Pereira to try and not mess with the recipe. Especially with Nottingham Forest around the relegation zone. But credit to him for making a big and unorthodox change that has payed off massively so far.