Nuno Santo's Antiquity Versus Guardiola's Modernity

NOTTINGHAM, FRIDAY - Nottingham Forest and Manchester City have proven that two teams can both achieve success with completely opposite approaches. Their principles in attacking and defending are contradictory. This difference makes the duel between the two teams highly intriguing.

Forest will host City at City Ground Stadium, Nottingham, on Saturday (8/3/2025) at 7:30 PM WIB. The home team, currently ranked third in the English Premier League (48 points), is only one point ahead of City. Their standings in the league are very close, despite the significant differences in playing styles.

For Head Coach of Forest, Nuno Espirito Santo, it is not important to spend too much time with the ball. They only need to attack as quickly as possible to score goals. This is vastly different from the modern principles of City's Manager, Josep Guardiola, who is obsessed with ball possession.

Forest is recorded as the team with the lowest average ball possession in the league (39.7 percent), while City has the highest (60.6 percent). Even so, Santo's seemingly outdated style is not reflected in the results. That style successfully handed Liverpool their only defeat this season.

Santo stated that the principle remains the same when facing City. However, if rushed, Forest could allow City to become even more dominant in ball possession. "Nothing has changed. We are aware that we must face a good team with a coach who has significant influence, but our approach is always the same," he said.

The polar differences between Forest and City are made even clearer in The Analyst's graphic showing the speed and number of passes in attack. Forest are in the top left corner, indicating fast and direct, while City are in the bottom right corner, indicating slow and tricky.

Forest heavily relies on counterattacks with an average speed of 2.08 meters per second, the fastest in the league. City, the slowest team with a speed of around 1.4 meters per second, is more patient. Forest also records only 2.8 passes in a single attacking sequence, while City nearly doubles that number.

The defensive style of Santo and Guardiola also contrasts sharply. As a team specializing in transitions, Forest defends deeper. They aim to lure opponents into abandoning their defense. Evidently, no team spends more time defending in their own defensive third than Forest (34 percent).

Forest’s “park the bus” scheme has proven effective. They have conceded just 33 goals in 27 games. That is the fourth-fewest in the league, behind only Arsenal, Liverpool and Bournemouth. City have conceded 37 goals.

City, on the other hand, always took the initiative to win the ball while the ball was still controlled by the opposing goalkeeper. They pressed in the final third as much as 38.3 percent or the highest in the league. The hope is that the ball can be won as quickly as possible and control returns to the feet of Erling Haaland and his colleagues.

The problem is, defending champion City cannot maximize a similar style this season. They lost defensive midfielder Rodri who is an expert at breaking up opponent transitions. As a result, Guardiola's team's defense is very vulnerable when facing transitions.

The question now turns to Guardiola at the City Ground. How can they, with the same approach, stop the home side's transitions? Forest have very fast wingers, such as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga.

Guardiola has always been known as a “stubborn” figure. He showed that again. When asked about the possibility of changing his playing style to the current situation, he dismissed the possibility. “We will not try to adapt,” he explained.

"When we have the squad, we can play this way. As long as I am the manager, we will continue to play the same way that has made this team successful for many years. I think the only difference now is that the opponents are braver," he continued.

In contrast, Forest and City are also very different in viewing the most important player in the team. In City, the most reliable player is the top scorer Haaland. Unlike Forest who are currently amazed by the brilliance of goalkeeper Matz Sels.

“For me, Matz Sels!” Santo insisted when asked if Alisson Becker is the best goalkeeper in the world right now. “His confidence helps the team. We are more solid and compact. Matz has made our defense improve significantly this season,” he added.

Forest have kept 11 clean sheets this season, including a 0-0 draw with Arsenal last week. Sels was again heroic in midweek, guiding Forest to a penalty shootout win over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup last 16.

Forest are on a roll, especially when playing at home. They are unbeaten in their last nine home games. "It feels really good. We will do everything to finish as high as possible," Sels concluded. (AP/REUTERS)