The Nottingham Forest defender Murillo has said the arrival of Vítor Pereira represents “the light at the end of the tunnel” and admitted the squad had problems with previous managers.
Pereira got off to a dream start at Forest with a 3-0 Europa League playoff first-leg victory at Fenerbahce on Thursday, in which Murillo opened the scoring. The Brazilian praised Pereira for creating “magic” despite having only three training sessions. Murillo said the Portuguese head coach, who has a contract until 2027, had transformed the spirit within an underperforming squad. The 57-year-old, who rescued Wolves last season, is Forest’s fourth head coach of the season.
“Four managers, four different ideas, it’s difficult,” Murillo said. “But I think Vítor is going to stay with us until the end of the season and he can give his idea to overcome the bad moment that we were going through. Now I think it is the light at the end of the tunnel.
“The gaffer passed to us this confidence. I think the winning spirit we had last season has come back. Everyone knows we have a good team, good attack, young players, we had a lot of things to improve and I think with Vítor we’re going to do a good job and go back towards the top of the table.”
Several Forest players grew tired of Sean Dyche’s methods across his 114 days in charge, and Dyche’s predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, lasted only 40. Nuno Espírito Santo, who led the club into Europe for the first time since 1995-96, was sacked in August.
Forest host Liverpool on Sunday after one league win in five matches. Forest head into the weekend 17th, three points above West Ham, who occupy the final relegation place.
“We have to keep working hard, that’s the main point, run a lot, more communication inside the pitch,” Murillo said. “We did this [against Fenerbahce]. Believing in his [Pereira’s] work is most important. We had some problems with the last gaffers but now we have to keep looking forward and grab his idea so that we can come back towards the top again.”
Morgan Gibbs-White praised Pereira for immediately fostering an identity, a sentiment echoed by Murillo. “The most important thing is we’ve got his idea. Before the game he had everybody together, all the players, staff, physios. That is the most important thing. It makes the team stronger. It is just the beginning but I think he will do a great job.”
