The nature of Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win at Chelsea on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Stamford Bridge is likely to be the blueprint for Steve Cooper’s side as they look to extend their Premier League stay into a third season.
Throw your bodies on the line at one end, defend valianty and in numbers, and take your chance when it arrives at the other. Both of Forest’s two league wins so far in 2023/24 have come by the odd goal. And given the absence of genuine, reliable goalscorers in Cooper’s squad – Taiwo Awoniyi is perhaps the only one expected to reach double figures – those hard-fought, nail-biting 1-0 and 2-1 wins could be the difference between survival and relegation.
Over in Germany, however, another club who dodged the drop last term can probably afford to aim a little higher with one of Europe’s most in-form frontmen leading the line.
According to Kicker, Nottingham Forest held talks with Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy before his £13 million release clause expired in early August. Guirassy reportedly had reservations about joining a club who could not guarantee him a place in the starting XI and, with Awoniyi already earning a living at the City Ground, the well-travelled targetman was in no mood to force his way out of the Mercedes Benz Arena.
Nottingham Forest’s loss, meanwhile, is already proving to be Stuttgart’s gain.
Relegation favourites only a couple of weeks ago, Stuttgart are flying high; third in the table and confounding expectations. Guirassy scored twice in Saturday’s 5-0 shellacking of perennial overachievers Freiburg, meaning no one in the Bundesliga has more than his five goals. Not even Bayern Munich’s new £94 million marksman Harry Kane.
In fact, with six goals in his first four games in league and cup, Guirassy has found the net as many times all on his own as the entirety of the Nottingham Forest squad during the first week of the new campaign.
“He never actually gave the impression that he was seriously thinking about moving (to a new club),” smiles highly-rated Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeness. “He realizes that he is currently in the right place to show what he can do. And that’s an enormous amount.”
Speaking to BILD, Hoeness added that – should Guirassy maintain his current rate of progress – clubs on a different plane to Nottingham Forest will soon be knocking on Stuttgart’s door.
“With another really good Bundesliga season, possibly 20 goals plus, he can really show what he is capable of. And then of course (there may be interest) from a completely different category of clubs.”
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