This was not meant to be the most significant game during the first week of Vitor Pereira’s time as Nottingham Forest manager. But ultimately, it could be vitally important.
With Liverpool set to visit the City Ground in the Premier League on Sunday, there was a sense of intrigue over whether Pereira would begin his tenure with a sense of caution as he returned to his former club Fenerbahce.
But, on a remarkable night in Istanbul, Pereira’s bold sense of positivity rewarded the 1,200 travelling fans with memories they will never forget — and the manager himself with a performance that immediately set exactly the right tone.
With the club in desperate need of points in the league as they fight to avoid relegation to the Championship, it would have been easy for Pereira to rest some of his key figures. A draw or even a narrow defeat would not have been an unacceptable outcome, in many senses, in the away leg of this Europa League play-off, had Pereira chosen to prioritise Liverpool.
Securing a fifth season of Premier League football matters more than anything else. But this was a performance and result in the first game under their fourth head coach of the season that should strengthen them on several fronts.
As the final whistle blew and the noise was finally silenced in the home areas of the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, it felt like a very important moment indeed.
Pereira named his strongest possible side, within a positive formation and a positive outlook. It proved to be the perfect formula for success. Who knew?
It was hard to escape the notion that the whirl of kinetic energy that Sean Dyche would regularly produce in the dugout was instead present on the pitch, among those in red shirts. Pereira was a more relaxed figure in his technical area, largely standing with his arms crossed, observing, in contrast to the pointing, arm-waving and gesticulating that was the trademark of his predecessor.
And on the grass in front of him, Forest were as good as they have been all season, under Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou or Dyche. It is only one game — and the job is not even completely done in this tie. Fenerbahce are set to visit the City Ground for the second leg next week, where a tie against Real Betis or Midtjylland will be the prize.
But before then, Liverpool can expect to face a Forest side that is infused with confidence, belief and an early dollop of faith that Pereira might be a man who can arm them with an approach that makes the best of their abilities.
Forest’s last away game in this competition, in Braga, was a dismal display which was a major factor in Dyche’s downfall. The visitors suffered a 1-0 defeat to a side that had somehow failed to register a shot on target. This was not like Portugal, where several thousand more Forest fans flocked into the stadium, well beyond their allocation of tickets, to a point where they might even have outnumbered their hosts.
This was not a night for even the hardiest of souls to have the temerity to sneak into the home areas of a fiercely partisan and deafeningly noisy stadium. Security was tight, with Forest fans required to meet in a square in a different part of Istanbul before being bussed into the stadium on a fleet of coaches, which were paid for by Evangelos Marinakis, the Forest owner.
Walking through the streets of Kadikoy, the area of Istanbul where Fenerbahce are based, at 3pm, there was a sea of yellow and blue, all sat in the bars and restaurants lining the route to the stadium.
Forest celebrate during the game at Fenerbahce (Burak Basturk / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)
But it was the Forest fans — most of whom were in their seats two hours before kick-off and all of whom were locked in the stadium for two hours after the final whistle for their safety — who were the ones celebrating in the aftermath.
These exact moments were what they had dreamed of last summer. But change and upheaval have been an unwanted theme in a chaotic campaign.
However, in the space of two training sessions, Pereira has seemingly managed to instil a sense of calm in his players. Perhaps that is unsurprising from a man who was the epitome of relaxed when he spoke to the media afterwards, while sipping a flask of tea, with ginger, to soothe his throat.
Morgan Gibbs-White, the captain, repeatedly referenced how Pereira has already given them an ‘identity’ in his own post-match comments to TNT Sports. He almost certainly has. But it felt like the biggest asset Pereira has gifted his players was old-fashioned simplicity.
Utilising a 4-2-3-1 formation they are more than familiar with, with every player in their accustomed positions, Forest looked as comfortable as their manager.
Fenerbahce fans delivered a chorus of boos and whistles whenever Forest were in possession. For much of the first half, it was a constant drone.
Murillo has so often promised to deliver a spectacular goal. Back in October 2023 at Crystal Palace, he picked up the ball on the halfway line, before waltzing around several challenges and into the box, only to be denied by a double-save. There was to be no repeat of that this time, as the Brazilian won possession in his own half, swapped passes with Elliot Anderson and shrugged off two challenges, before driving a bouncing 25-yard shot into the bottom corner.
And Murillo was not the only one of Forest’s big players to offer a reminder of what they can do when given the freedom to do it. Gibbs-White scored the third goal with a poacher’s finish beyond Ederson early in the second half. But he had celebrated with equal passion before the break. He battled with determination to flick on an Anderson corner at the near post, allowing Igor Jesus to bag his sixth Europa League goal of the campaign with a simple header.
Anderson was just outstanding. Callum Hudson-Odoi was a constant threat, and Omari Hutchinson left the Fenerbahce defence in knots more than once. Forest immediately had more threat through the freedom given to full-backs Ola Aina and Neco Williams to push forward, as they so often did to good effect during last season’s seventh-placed finish.
Forest’s next challenge, against a strong Liverpool side, will be much bigger. But Forest will go into it having shown themselves — and everyone else — how good they can be.