Ruben, it’s only been two matches so far for Nottingham Forest under Sean Dyche, you obviously played him before when he was manager of Everton. Do you know what to expect?
“More or less. I watched the last game [4-0 win v Everton last December while Dyche was in charge], it was one of the first ones here that we won and we were so lucky in that game. You look at the result and it was not that result. It should not be that result. I watched [the games Dyche has taken charge of Forest in] against Porto, Bournemouth – the style of play is similar, different characteristics. I watched one game we did in pre-season with Sporting to try and understand how he played in that game, and it’s similar. He can change some characteristics of the players with the talent that they have, especially with [Morgan] Gibbs-White, [Elliot] Anderson, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi – very good players. We need to be prepared for a different game, against Brighton we had space to play. We are not going to have that space. We need to understand we are not being the same team away and at home, so we need to improve the way we control the environment, every tackle is a big moment for the opponents’ fans. So, we need to play better away. We are prepared for a very tough match.”
Afternoon Ruben, Amad and Bryan Mbeumo are two players who have struck up a really good relationship on and off the pitch, what have you seen with that but, also, how do you plan without them in a month’s time when they go to AFCON?
“We have time to suffer with that. We are going to struggle a little bit, we already knew. It’s going to be an opportunity [for others] because when I watch the training, there are players that should be playing. But it’s hard with one game to take some players from the team because they are doing well also, in the training and in the games. Other players are going to have the opportunity to help us, they are understanding the way we want to play. If we are improving on that, the change of characteristics are not going to change the idea or the momentum of the team, but let’s use Amad and Bryan in these games and then see in January.”
