Team Focus: Dream Start Long Forgotten for Departing Pearce and Flailing Forest

It had all started so well for Stuart Pearce and Nottingham Forest. Seven games in, they sat on top of the table with five wins and two draws. The club legend enjoyed a dream start to life as a manager at the City Ground, but then the honeymoon period came to an end with a goalless draw at Millwall, setting off a run of four draws on the bounce, the first three all scoreless. Only three more wins were to follow.

There remained a sense up until the end that Pearce was the man to bring continuity to the cause. Now Forest have returned to upheaval, accentuated by the resignation of the chief executive, Paul Faulkner, shortly after Pearce’s dismissal.

As if bookending where it all went wrong, Ian Holloway’s strugglers struck the final blow on Saturday with a 1-0 win. That was Millwall’s first victory in eight in a game Pearce conceded was one that Forest should have won comfortably. He placed the blame at the inability of his two main attacking threats, Britt Assombalonga and Michail Antonio, to finish the chances which came their way. “Millwall were a team who were waiting to be beaten,” Pearce said. “I was disappointed that we did not. I thought our front two could win us the game, but they did not do enough to do it.”

In September, when it was all going swimmingly on the banks of the Trent, it was those two who were earning most praise. Seven games into the season, Antonio had the highest rating of any player in the division with 8.06, having scored 4 times and providing 5 assists. In the 22 games he has played since, he has found the net 5 more times, only contributed 2 more assists and has failed to score since mid-November. His rating is now down to an average 7.39.

Assombalonga has been more prolific in front of goal with a total of 14 but he has netted only twice in the past nine games. And away from those two players, the attacking options are sparse. Only eight players in total have found the net and the contribution from a talented but under-performing midfield must improve. Henri Lansbury, accumulating 10 yellow cards along the way, has contributed four goals but around him there has been a lack of end product.

There were problems at the back too, keeping only one clean sheet in the last 11 games. Only six sides have conceded more. As Pearce’s tinkering grew, there were increasing questions over which system suited the players best and that inevitably led to a lack of organisation.

That astounding smash and grab at Derby bought him some time and he will be remembered fondly for manufacturing such a sweet win over their biggest rivals but Forest were not going to be awoken from the department of sleeping giants under his current guidance.

The desperate thing is Fawaz Al Hasawi had shown more patience with Pearce than his predecessors, perhaps down to his status as a player. The owner said it was the “hardest football decision” he has had to make and that Pearce is “someone I have always admired and that will never change”. But that ultimately counts for nothing if the results are not good enough.

Dougie Freedman, the 40-year-old who was sacked by Bolton in October after one win in 10 games, is a manager with much promise even if things did not work out in his last job. He played for Forest between 1998 and 2000 so has some familiarity with the cause but the Championship is so tightly-packed they could yet slip from 12th into a relegation battle if there is not an improvement in form.

Only goal difference currently separates them from 17th and they reside seven points from the bottom three. They are too good to be really troubled by relegation but their dire run needs to be halted before concerns grow. Freedman needs to start well and the next three games – Brighton, Wigan and Blackpool – is a favourable way to begin.

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