Vitor Pereira’s honeymoon period as Nottingham Forest head coach has lasted precisely 225 minutes. That was all it took for the home fans to show their disgust with their team.
They may have squeezed through to the Europa League last 16 but in Pereira’s third game at the helm, Forest were far from convincing and were booed off at half-time, trailing to Kerem Akturkoglu’s strike.
‘I took a risk,’ admitted Pereira. ‘I had to pick this game with one eye on our game at Brighton on Sunday. It’s not easy to make six changes but I could not think only about this game. We are not comfortable in the Premier League and it’s very important to get points so we can avoid a difficult situation.’
It threatened to become worse when Akturkoglu converted a penalty early in the second half but by then Pereira had sent on his main men and one of them, Callum Hudson-Odoi, scored in the 68th minute to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory. Forest will face either Real Betis or FC Midtjylland in the next round – even though they took on both clubs in the league phase.
Thanks to their 3-0 first-leg win in Istanbul last week, this should have been a comfortable evening for Forest. But like Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche before him, Pereira is learning there is a huge gap in quality between Forest’s best 13 or 14 players, and the rest of the squad.
Pereira made six changes to his starting XI and none of those players are likely to be included for Sunday’s crucial Premier League clash on the south coast.
Nottingham Forest survived a second leg scare in the Europa League, before Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal gave the Premier League side a 4-2 win on aggregate against Fenerbahce
Vitor Pereira’s side had earned a 3-0 win in the first leg away from home, all but sealing the tie
But Kerem Akturkoglu struck in the 22nd minute of the game to make it 3-1 on aggregate
The Fenerbahce star then netted from the penalty spot after the break to set up a nervy finish
The travelling Fener fans hurled multiple flares on to the pitch in the first minute, causing a brief stoppage in play. Captain Ismail Yuksek pleaded for calm yet it was Forest who looked jittery.
Nerves are one thing, competence is another. When he arrived, Pereira talked about using his whole squad. How does he stick to those words after this? Morato, James McAtee and Lorenzo Lucca looked way out of their depth and Forest were lucky to be only 1-0 down at the interval.
When Morato slipped on the halfway line in the 22nd minute, Forest were left two-on-two at the back. Neco Williams failed to cut out Sidiki Cherif’s cross, allowing Akturkoglu to steady himself and finish from close range. Trying to respond immediately, Elliot Anderson collected a pass from Omari Hutchinson and fired a fraction wide from a narrow angle.
Cherif – twice – and Akturkoglu failed to profit from Forest mistakes and when the whistle went for half-time, the home fans made their feelings known.
Forest made four changes at half-time only for Fener to win a penalty within 25 seconds of the restart when Jair Cunha tripped Akturkoglu and the Turkey international converted confidently from the spot. And when Cunha had the chance to make amends soon afterwards, Tarik Cetin saved his effort.
Despite the second goal, the arrival of first-team regulars Ola Aina, Ibrahim Sangare, Igor Jesus and Callum Hudson-Odoi revived Forest a little, and it was Hudson-Odoi who lowered the collective heart rate inside the City Ground when his angled shot from 10 yards crept into the corner midway through the second half. Igor Jesus and Hutchinson then wasted chances to level it on the night as Forest edged through.
