Chris Wood Discusses Nottingham Forest, Career Form, and Manager Nuno Espirito Santo

“Numbers nines never went out of fashion – Wood” “If you go up one side of the mountain, you are going to have to eventually come down the other side.” Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood, currently experiencing the best form of his career at 32, was recently asked if he enjoys the widespread positive media attention. The New Zealand international has been prominent, having scored eight of Forest’s 15 league goals to date. His thoughtful response, however, reflects his extensive journey through 12 English clubs, including Burnley, Leeds, Leicester, and Newcastle. “It’s about making coming down the other side as small as possible to bounce back up and make a new mountain,” Wood told BBC Sport before Saturday’s home fixture against Ipswich. “Mentality is huge in sport and in football. If you can control that side of the game it helps.” “You go through these mountains and waves through the whole season. It’s not just a case of skyrocketing. That’s what I got told by [former technical director] Dan Ashworth when I was at West Brom: It’s not always going to be plain sailing.”There are going to be those waves and you have to ride with them and hope the downside is as small as possible to get the upsides as big as possible.” Wood, who netted 14 league goals last season, made history as the first Forest player to receive the Premier League Player of the Month award in October. He is also approaching Bryan Roy’s club record of 24 goals in the competition. Under manager Nuno Espirito Santo, he has scored 19 goals in 28 top-flight appearances and states that he has found a manager who both understands and values him. “You have to find where you are appreciated. Managers have their own style and how they want to play games,” Wood remarked at the club’s training ground. “That’s not anything I can control. It just means you might not be in the right area or the manager’s cup of tea. There’s always a manager who likes a number nine, or a false nine. “I’m not a man who is going to beat two or three players and stick in in the top corner, I’m a man who relies on service. If they can’t supply me, I can’t score.”It’s about trying to find the role which fits everyone and fortunately under Nuno it has. “The six or seven loans I had as a youngster taught me a lot about being appreciated and valued. It’s not always about you as a person or player, it’s how you connect and build with a team. A lot of it is out of your control.” Chris Wood has registered eight goals for Nottingham Forest this season. Nuno has been at the City Ground for 11 months, having succeeded the popular Steve Cooper in December 2023. He successfully kept Forest in the league despite a tumultuous end to the season. Survival was secured after a four-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules, amidst a backdrop of refereeing controversies and contentious club social media posts. Wood emerged as the team’s key player, scoring a hat-trick at Newcastle in Nuno’s second match and two goals at Burnley, which officially confirmed survival on the final day of the 2023-24 campaign and led to the relegation of his former club. Since Christmas, only Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer have scored more Premier League goals than Wood. The forward acknowledges he is in the best form of his career and expresses a wish that he had met Nuno earlier. “Definitely, it’s worked well so far and hopefully there’s a lot more to come for both of us. I’ve had a lot of great managers over my career and it’s nice to have another one to add to the group,” he informed BBC Sport. “He came in and gave me the confidence to start, he put me in his first team and it’s spiralled from there. “I feel I can have an open and honest conversation with him. There’s that mutual respect there and you don’t always get that.”He’s a down to earth man, loves having that team ethic. He wants to trust everyone and does until you break that trust. That’s a great way of looking at life.” Wood’s underwhelming 12-month period at Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, between January 2022 and January 2023, may have influenced the average fan’s perception of him. However, his Premier League capabilities are more accurately reflected by his record of 53 goals in 165 Burnley games over four and a half years, during which Sean Dyche’s side was battling for survival. Furthermore, his goal-scoring ratio at Leeds in the Championship was one in two (44 goals in 88 games), following a spell at Leicester where he scored 20 goals in 62 appearances. He has accumulated 77 goals in 239 Premier League games and hopes to join the 100-goal club, with contract negotiations with Forest ongoing as his current deal expires at the end of the season. “Whenever it happens it happens. It’s not something I can control or worry about,” he stated. “I can’t let it affect me. These things take time and I just have to worry about scoring goals, winning games and doing well for this club.”I still have ambitions and drive to play long into my 30s. It’s how you take care of your body and how you take care of nutrition off the pitch, it’s huge.”I want to play for as long as I can.”