Dyche aiming to reignite Forest squad's 'will and desire' ahead of Europa League debut

New Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche is aiming to reignite his team's "will and desire" during the early stages of his tenure after a poor run of form in all competitions. 

Dyche replaced Ange Postecoglou at the City Ground earlier this week after the former Tottenham boss was sacked just 39 days after taking the reins from Nuno Espirito Santo. 

Postecoglou failed to win any of his eight games in charge across all competitions (D2 L6), leaving the team down in 18th in the early Premier League table in 2025-26. 

Indeed, Forest also conceded 11 set-piece goals under Postecoglou in all competitions, over twice as many as any other top-flight club in that time, with Dyche brought in to try and provide stability during a testing period. 

And he will aim to do that on Thursday against Porto in the Europa League, with Forest currently 25th in the 36-team league standings with one point from their first two games. 

"We need to get back to winning ways," Dyche told reporters on Wednesday. 

"I won't bore people with the stats, but they weren't winning at the end of last season particularly. Maybe [they] ran out of steam, it was a big season.

"It hasn't been a great start to this season. We understand that, so there were a few signs about what was needed and the changes.

"But I think there is a very good group here, a talented group.

"Last season they showed the will and desire to be a good group - now we've got to reignite that and make sure it's intact going forward."

During Postecoglou's tenure, no team in the Premier League conceded more (10) or scored fewer (one) goals than Forest, highlighting problems at both ends of the pitch. 

They also underperformed their expected goals (xG) value of 5.7 by 4.3, along with missing seven big chances as defined by Opta's metrics. 

Perhaps one of their most encouraging displays under Postecoglou came in the Europa League, where they played out a 2-2 draw away to Real Betis on MD1. 

This, however, will be Forest's first ever major European meeting with a Portuguese opponent.

English teams are unbeaten in the last 10 Europa League games against Portuguese sides (W3 D7) since a 1-0 win for Braga versus Wolves in September 2019.

And when asked about whether the squad suited his playing style ahead of his debut in the dugout, Dyche said: "I've learnt about the players, obviously. 

"There's a few I've known from the past couple of seasons, a few new signings. It's different when you're watching a game analytically to actually working with players.

"Some players are better than you thought, often, and the other way round. It can be that way when you're working up close and personal.

"What we have noticed is the quality, there is a good spirit amongst them, it's just maybe been pushed down a bit by the noise.

"They haven't won games. Winning doesn't cure everything, but it goes a long way to making that feel-good factor.

"What we've got to do is find the balance of the framework they've had that worked so well but then the freedom to go and attack and score goals. That's difficult to find."