by Arne Slot says Nottingham Forest’s impressive rise should not come as a complete surprise given the team have spent more money on transfers than Liverpool since their promotion to the Premier League.
Liverpool head coach admits it is an “incredible achievement” for Nuno Espírito Santo and his team to occupy third place. Forest could close the gap on the Premier League leaders to three points with victory at the City Ground on Tuesday, despite playing a game more.
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Slot is full of praise for Forest’s improvement and is fully aware of their threat after losing to Nuno’s side at Anfield in September, but he believes a financial outlook should be applied. Forest have spent more than £360m since returning to the Premier League in 2022, with a net spend of around £215m. Liverpool have spent just over £300m and have a net spend of £144m in this period. On this basis, Slot dismissed comparisons between Forest’s season and when his AZ Alkmaar side challenged Ajax for the Eredivisie title in the aborted 2019-20 campaign.
“I don’t think you can compare it completely, because AZ has always been a club that finishes third, fourth or fifth in the championship,” he said. “I don’t think Forest have finished third, fourth or fifth in the last 10 seasons. What I may have underestimated is their expenses. They have spent more money than us over the last three years. You know, if you spend that much money you’re going to get good players, and then you need a manager who brings that out to them. This is what Nuno is doing very well at the moment.
“It’s still an incredible achievement for them to be in the top three at the moment, but if you look at the amount of money they’ve spent, it’s not a total surprise that they’re achieving a better season now than two or three years ago. That’s the difference between AZ, because we weren’t spending money back then.
Slot insisted Forest must be considered a title challenger. He also claimed Manchester City remained in contention despite being 12 points behind the leaders following a dismal run of one win in nine Premier League matches. City have since won both of their league matches.
“You can never rule out City and you can never rule out Pep Guardiola,” Slot said. “They are capable of winning a lot of games in a row and it all depends on the teams above them,” Slot said. “Never rule out City or Pep, especially because if everything I read every day [is true] They are bringing a whole new team! This is another reason to know that you can never rule them out.
“But we don’t need any extra motivation. We are in a great position. If we need someone else’s motivation when we’re in a position like this, then these players wouldn’t deserve to wear this jersey or play for this club. They truly deserve this, so we don’t need any extra motivation to do our best.
Nuno responded to Slot’s comments by saying: “I look at the player as a human being and I see how I can make him better. How can I make you better? Money doesn’t play football, people play football. It’s not my problem, we don’t worry about the price of things.”
The Nottingham Forest manager also said the suggestion his side were involved in a Premier League title race was based on ‘ifs’ and could no longer be considered a surprise. “It was the start of the season, maybe it was a surprise, but it was a long time ago, a lot has changed.
“We have to play the games,” Nuno said. “That’s why we always try to approach how we’re going to prepare, how we’re going to play the game. At the end of the game, there won’t be any ifs.
