As he walked up to the entrance to the Nigel Doughty Academy building for the first time as Nottingham Forest head coach, Vitor Pereira’s first words were “It’s time to work”.
The club’s fourth permanent appointment of a turbulent campaign is looking to get his feet under the table — and his to-do list is not a short one.
The former Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach is tasked with turning around another club threatened by the spectre of Premier League relegation while also participating in the Europa League. His first game in charge is the trip to face one of his former clubs, Fenerbahce, on Thursday evening.
So what are the priorities for Pereira to address?
Time to work. 👊 pic.twitter.com/5NsdqGaL9G
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) February 16, 2026
Get the players back on side
By the end of Sean Dyche’s tenure at least, Forest’s players were not enjoying life. According to sources close to the squad, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, days on the training ground were viewed by players as involving too much running and faith in his approach on the pitch had eroded.
The sense of unity — not just within a team but within an entire city — that had been built during last season’s push for Champions League qualification under Nuno Espirito Santo feels like a dim and distant memory.
Dyche might feel a little hard done by that he was ushered out the exit for being the brand of manager history had suggested he would be. But, equally, the final act of his tenure was to make a 0-0 draw with a Wolves side already circling the top-flight drain feel like a defeat — 35 attempts and not a single goal.
When Pereira arrived at Wolves in December 2024, many of the players felt it was like slipping into an old, comfortable pair of slippers, such was the similarity between his persona and that of Nuno, who had brought remarkable success at Molineux.
Behind the scenes at Wolves, players and staff were struck by how Pereira shared Nuno’s ability to bring a group of players together; to galvanise the wider group and deliver clear, simple messages. Pereira’s most significant success was to lead Wolves out of the bottom three and to safety.
He did so by restoring the spirits of a club that had been drained of confidence. If he can bring the smiles back to the City Ground, it will not be a bad starting point.
Pereira forged a togetherness at Wolves (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Adding more attacking threat
Chris Wood — who last pulled on a Forest shirt in Ange Postecoglou’s last game in charge, in October — is still the third-highest scorer for the club in the Premier League, which tells its own story. The 34-year-old had only scored twice before suffering the knee injury that has kept him sidelined.
Forest have badly missed his firepower, which supplied 20 goals last season. But his absence alone does not explain why only Wolves (16) have scored fewer goals than Forest (25) in the top flight.
Morgan Gibbs-White leads the way with six goals, followed by Callum Hudson-Odoi on three. But Forest have players who should be capable of adding more goals to a team that has only scored more than once in two of their last 10 league games.
Igor Jesus has been better than his tally of two league goals would suggest, having scored 11 in all competitions. While Lorenzo Lucca, the 6ft 7in (201cm) striker who is on loan from Napoli, scored an impressive debut goal at Leeds and was guilty of spurning the best chance of the game against Wolves.
Igor Jesus has scored two league goals (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Formation change?
An interesting factor is that Pereira and Nuno shared something else in common at Wolves: both men favoured a 3-4-2-1 formation there.
Nuno flirted with using three at the back at Forest, but seemed to realise that the back four of Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and Neco Williams was his strongest line-up.
The 3-4-2-1 brought stability and defensive resolve to the Wolves side that Pereira revived. But it is difficult to see how that would make the best use of the personnel he inherits at Forest. It would be challenging to find a place for attacking players such as Hudson-Odoi, Omari Hutchinson, Dilane Bakwa and Dan Ndoye, at least without asking them to take on roles that are not their favoured ones.
Pereira’s first challenge is to find some goals, and his first major decision will be to decide what his approach will be as he looks to achieve that.
Forest’s players have already gone from the familiarity of Nuno to adjusting to the massively different demands of Ange-ball to changing again to adopt Dyche’s approach. Does that leave Pereira needing to be cautious about the scale of change he implements?
And about those fringe players…
When Forest prioritised the signing of young players in the summer, it felt like a breath of fresh air. But they have since seen little return on the investment of £200million ($273m) the club spent on 13 signings.
The recruitment was intended to allow Forest to name two separate teams as they sought to cope with the additional demands of Europa League football.
Four of those signings have already departed: Arnaud Kalimuendo, Cuiabano, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Douglas Luiz. While Hutchinson, Bakwa, James McAtee and Jair Cunha all have potential, they have not been able to walk the same path that Murillo, Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga and Elliot Anderson walked before them.
Omari Hutchinson has struggled to live up to the hype at Forest (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
That latter quartet arrived as young men with bright futures, and they have all evolved and grown precisely because of the time and experience they were given. Amid the chaos, Hutchinson, Bakwa, McAtee and Cunha have often found their opportunities limited.
As Pereira plots a path towards safety, it would be understandable if giving young players a chance was not high on his list of priorities. With hindsight, Forest — when it comes to their short-term well-being — might have been better investing in more experienced players. But that is an argument for another day.
Finding a way to best utilise all of the resources available to him will be crucial to Pereira’s chances of success at the City Ground.