Vítor Pereira on Nottingham Forest appointment: “I must give confidence to the players” | OneFootball

Pereira is back in England with Forest (Getty Images)

Vítor Pereira is back in English football, with the Portuguese charged with helping Nottingham Forest in their battle for survival in the Premier League.

Pereira has been handed an 18-month contract at the City Ground, making him Forest’s 4th permanent manager of the season. Having started the campaign with another Portuguese, Nuno Espírito Santo, the club have since hired and fired Ange Postecoglu and his successor Sean Dyche, who left last week.

The team currently sit in 17th position, one place and three points clear of West Ham United in the drop zone. Currently on a three-match winless run and with just two wins form their last ten in the Premier League, Pereira understands that raising the spirit in the squad is one of the most importans jobs he faces in his new role.

“I’m very proud, it’s an honour for me to be part of this story,” Pereira told the club’s official media on Monday. “It’s a good team, the feelings are good. Now it’s time to work.

“We have very good conditions to work. The players have talent, very good players. Now it’s time to start to build the identity that I want. For a manager, it’s important that the players and all the staff buy the idea.

“I understand from the point of view of the players, it’s difficult to change every time. Because each manager had leadership, his ideas of football. We start today, we start to explain the ideas. It’s important to make players comfortable in their roles, to win their confidence and to give them confidence to play and be themselves. And respect for me, because as a team they need to recognise my competence

“A smile can do magic” - Pereira

“We need to create a spirit through the team. It’s important. For me, a smile can do magic. This is the spirit I want to create, because we cannot come to training and not enjoy it. We must enjoy being here and create a family spirit to help each other. TO create an environment to feel happy and proud of our work.

“What does a Vitor Pereira team look like? If we play a game without quality, at the end of the game I will not feel proud of my work. I want to see spirit. I want to see everyone fighting and competing without fear. Facing the opponent without fear. And quality. And the understanding of the game; they need to understand the idea and express themselves within the idea. We intend to play in that way; this is the identity I want to create: their freedom to express themselves, to be happy.

“For sure the quality is there. It’s been the first training session with me, but I enjoyed it. It’s freezing, it’s raining. But they have quality. Sometimes we just need confidence to express ourselves without being afraid to make mistakes. We must accept the mistakes, correct them and have the confidence to try again.

“This is the moment to believe in ourselves as a team. I cannot change a lot, because we play every three days. But they need to have the intelligence to understand. Then I believe we can create something.”

Nuno's exploits last season led to securing European football for Forest, and Pereira’s first match in charge this week sees him face one of his old clubs Fenerbahce. Pereira has twice managed the Turkish giants and heads to Istanbul for the first leg of the Europa League play-off match on Thursday, before preparing for his first league match against Liverpool on Sunday.

By Sean Gillen