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Nuno reveals secret to impressive form after learning 'a lot' about Nottingham Forest character
Hard work undertaken in the summer is paying off for Nottingham Forest amid their flying start to the Premier League campaign.
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has explained how he pushed his players to their limits during a tough pre-season which included a training camp in Spain. It was all with the aim of finding out just how far they would be willing to go for the cause.
Nuno felt at a disadvantage last term, having replaced Steve Cooper at the helm in December. The summer months were always going to be key for the Portuguese, and the Reds currently sitting seventh in the table shows he made them count.
"Without a pre-season, you just inherit something, another vision, and that is hard, especially for me,” Nuno told Sky Sports. "It is not just about the tactical, it is the bonds. When you have a chance to be one month together, and for two of those weeks, almost 80 percent of your day is spent together, on the training pitch, at meals, in meetings, you get to know the player better.
“Once you understand their behaviours, then, because you understand them better, you can understand which buttons you should push in the right moment. It was very hot and they played for one hour.
"When they are very tired, almost dead, that is when you really know how far a guy is willing to go; when he is hot, sweating, and now he wants water, but you make him go on. These simple things, if you pay attention to them, show a lot about the character."
Likewise, Nuno says how players respond to missing out on a match day can be telling. Forest are a tight-knit group thanks to the relationships developed from pre-season onwards.
"When a player is not in the team but he is still there giving advice to a player in the same position because he wants the best for the team, he is not thinking of himself, this is something that I value a lot," Nuno added.
"When you are in the heat of competition, and there is all this noise around, you just do not have proper time to deal with that aspect. This is something that you can only build when you have time, and the environment is ready, and pre-season was good for that."
Forest are next in action against West Ham at the City Ground on Saturday (3pm) when they will be looking to record a hat-trick of Premier League wins for the first time since May 1999.
