Dyche right with ‘broken’ Forest claim as woes overcome by ‘real connection’ and no-brainer changes

We felt that Sean Dyche joining Nottingham Forest after Ange Postecoglou was perfect for the straight-talking 54-year-old, and this is proving to be the case…

Dyche has benefitted from the baffling Postecoglou experiment, which was doomed to fail from the outset, by bringing Forest back to what made them so good under Nuno Espirito Santo, and this has sparked a positive response from his players.

There have been slight worries against AFC Bournemouth and Sturm Graz, but the gradual progress made under Dyche has been evident, and everything came together at the weekend as they hammered Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield.

Next up for Dyche and Forest was a home Europa League group match against Swedish side Malmo on Thursday night as they look to close in on a top-eight position in the table.

Ahead of this game, Dyche shed light on how the result and performance against Liverpool could have a lasting impact, considering he joined a “stretched” rather than a “broken” club.

“[The win vs Liverpool] just furthers the belief in the group and each other, which is important, and hopefully in ourselves,” Dyche said on Wednesday.

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“I’ve shared with them openly – we can only guide in what we think is the right direction.

“It’s down to them and our trust in them to deliver. They’re certainly doing that on a daily basis and in the games, and I’ve been very happy with that.”

He added: “There was a real connection here.

“I think everyone knew that last season. When I got here it wasn’t broken – I just said it was stretched is all and sometimes that happens.

“But I think there’s a reconnection, and of course results help that massively.”

Dyche also insisted that there is “still more to come from what we can do as a collective”. He claimed: “They’re taking in a lot of information with different managers and adapting to each different person as it comes.

“So far they’ve adapted to me and my staff, and they’ve been very accepting of the work that’s getting done.”

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And Forest’s raised belief and confidence levels were clear for all to see as they put an inferior Malmo side to the sword on Thursday evening.

Malmo, who had 34-year-old Pontus Jansson starting and 37-year-old Martin Olsson on the bench, represented a punching bag for Forest as they failed to have a single touch in their opponents’ box in the entire game.

A much-needed goal for summer signing Arnaud Kalimuendo between finishes from Ryan Yates and Nikola Milenkovic secured Forest the simplest of 3-0 wins before Brighton surely give them a tougher test at the weekend.

Forest have now lost only one of their seven games under Dyche and have won three in a row, with the early-season strugglers back on track with the necessary quality and playing style to march clear of the relegation zone and progress in the Europa League in the coming months. Second time lucky, I suppose…