Brighton vs Nottingham Forest: Vitor Pereira on ‘big problem’ for Premier League strugglers

New Nottingham Forest manager Vitor Pereira says his tired players had a “very difficult” first half because of tactical mistakes in their 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Sunday.

Forest have lost three matches in a row in all competitions since Pereira’s opening win at Fenerbahce in the Europa League, trading three goals in the opening 15 minutes at the Amex Stadium.

Morgan Gibbs-White’s 13th-minute strike drew Forest level for two minutes before Danny Welbeck hit the winner for Brighton, who went ahead through Diego Gomez and left the fourth-bottom side two points above West Ham.

Forest tactics: Pereira reveals pressing problem

“To press in the way we want to press, we need energy,” said the Portuguese, speaking three days after Forest lost at home to Fenerbahce in the Europa League but reached the last 16 on aggregate.

“We tried to press as if we had a full tank of energy, pressing and pressing to win the ball as soon as possible.

“What we learned from the first half is about the trigger to press together. We started the game by conceding space that we cannot afford against these kinds of teams: between the lines, on opposite sides.

“They pressed us and we didn’t find the proper spaces. We adjusted the system in the second half, controlling the spaces out wide and inside.

“We need to learn from the first half and take the good things from the second half. If we play without energy and you open the game to a full pitch, it’s a big problem. You will make mistakes and [opponents] will have chances.”

Here are Forest’s results under Pereira.

Why is Pereira unhappy with Forest’s press?

Pereira played with a strict back three and implemented a mid block on his way to reviving Wolves’ fortunes last season, with his team waiting for opponents to provoke them to press and then attempting to take possession.

The 57-year-old instructs his players on a ‘box’ in the half space in the middle of the pitch where creative players link defence and attack.

“We need to have a tactical culture to understand the proper times to press and wait, go fast and keep the ball,” said Pereira, reiterating one of the key aspects of his approach.

“I’m very happy with my players because they try. I must believe that, with our help to organise and show them the way we must play against this time of team, they have the spirit. I can’t say that we were not trying to win the game, especially in the second half.”

Gibbs-White and striker Igor Jesus were among the players initially rested by Pereira on Thursday. “If I hadn’t made changes in the last game, imagine today,” he suggested.

Forest face a daunting-looking trip to Manchester City next as part of a run of five matches in three weeks.

“We cannot be thinking about the future [beyond City], because we do not know what will happen,” warned Pereira.

“The future is against City. We’ll try to have more than one system. Without full energy, we need to be compact… and try to be organised.

“After playing for 90 minutes every three days, we start to make individual mistakes.”

Nottingham Forest team vs Brighton

Forest starting XI: Matz Sels, Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams, Ibrahim Sangare, Elliot Anderson, Omari Hutchinson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus

Substitutes: Angus Gunn, Taiwo Awoniyi, Dan Ndoye, Nicolas Dominguez, Ryan Yates, Jair Cunha, James McAtee, Luca Netz, Dilane Bakwa

Brighton vs Nottingham Forest

Brighton starting XI: Bart Verbruggen, Mats Wieffer, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Ferdi Kadioglu, James Milner, Pascal Gross, Diego Gomez, Jack Hinshelwood, Kaoru Mitoma, Danny Welbeck

Substitutes: Jason Steele, Solly March, Georginio Rutter, Yankuba Minteh, Carlos Baleba, Charalampos Kostoulas, Olivier Boscagli, Maxim De Cuyper, Joel Veltman

What’s next for Forest and Brighton? Fixtures, schedule

These teams take on the top two next, with Forest travelling to second-placed City and Brighton hosting leaders Arsenal. Times are GMT.

How many managers have Forest had this season?

Forest started the season under Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided them to contention for Champions League qualification last season.

They finished seventh and are in the Europa League because Crystal Palace were demoted to the Conference League after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a UEFA ruling over a breach of multi-club ownership rules.

Santo, who has since taken over at West Ham, was sacked in September after 21 months in charge following a disagreement with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.

Former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou then took charge for the shortest-ever managerial reign at Forest, lasting 39 days and failing to win any of his eight matches.

Ex-Everton head coach Dyche succeeded Postecoglou in October and achieved the highest win percentage of any of Marinakis’ nine managers since his takeover in 2017, including qualification for the Europa League knockout round play-offs.

Forest were ninth in the form table over six matches when Dyche departed after 114 days, with the final straw for Marinakis a 0-0 draw at home to bottom side Wolves on Wednesday in which they failed to score from 35 attempts at goal – the most by a Dyche team in the Premier League.