Vitor Pereira insisted that he will continue to allow his Nottingham Forest team to play with freedom despite their recent struggles in front of goal coming back to haunt them.
Pereira's comments came after his team were beaten 1-0 by Midtjylland in the first leg of their last 16 tie in the Europa League, a game that saw them miss several chances.
Forest registered an expected goals (xG) total of 1.72 from their 22 shots compared to Midtjylland's 0.69 from their six attempts, with Cho Gue-Sung's late goal proving to be the difference ahead of next Thursday's second leg.
Across their last four matches at the City Ground in all competitions, Forest have had 88 shots, an xG of 6.44 and 126 touches in the opposition box – they have scored just once.
In addition, Forest have converted just 8.6% of their shots in all competitions this season, which is the lowest ratio of any Premier League side in 2025-26, though Pereira said he would not revert from the style of play he has recently introduced at his new club.
"I encourage that every day in training because I want to see my players have confidence to shoot, to create, to express themselves and to enjoy what they are doing," he said.
"In the end, it is about winning. On Thursday, we were missing the result. With the rain, and against a physical and strong team, the only thing I am not happy about is the result.
"I believe that to win, you need to play good football, not concede goals and try to score the chances we create.
"Even if we create only five or six chances in the next match, it is important to score one or two and not concede. But football is about working, working.
"The players want to score, and sometimes they don’t make the best decisions with the last pass or the finishing. I know the way to increase the level is by working.
"Working is not about speech, it is about gaining confidence."
Forest will be hoping to rediscover their scoring touch at home to Fulham this Sunday, with Marco Silva's side aiming to continue their push for a spot in Europe next season.
The Cottagers are 10th in the Premier League after a defeat to relegation-threatened West Ham last time out, while also exiting the FA Cup at the fifth round to Southampton.
Both of those defeats came without talisman Harry Wilson in their ranks, with the Wales international sustaining an ankle injury in Fulham's 2-1 win over Tottenham.
Silva did, however, reveal that Wilson could make his return to the side for Fulham's trip to the City Ground, though did not mention whether that would be from the start.
"Yes, Harry Wilson is going to be, probably, in contention for the game," Silva revealed.
"As you know, we have another session before the game, and we have to assess one or two players.
"We still have some doubts if they are going to be ready or not, or fully fit for the game, but Harry Wilson looks as if he is going to be ready."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nottingham Forest – Morgan Gibbs-White
Morgan Gibbs-White netted his 25th Premier League goal for Forest against Man City last time out, overtaking Bryan Roy (24) and now only Chris Wood (37) is ahead of him with more goals for the Tricky Trees in the competition.
He has a team-high 10 goal contributions (eight goals, two assists) for Forest in the league this season, with his 44 chances created also more than any other player for the club.
Fulham – Raul Jimenez
Having scored two goals in his last three Premier League outings, Raul Jimenez will be confident of keeping that run going against his favourite opponents in the top flight.
The Mexican has either scored or assisted a goal in all four of his Premier League appearances against Forest (four goals, one assist), averaging a goal involvement every 65 minutes against them.