Nottingham Forest winger Joe Lolley has revealed that he know straight away that the team would do well under Sabri Lamouchi.

The ex-Rennes chief was named as Martin O'Neill's successor in the summer and it was an appointment that was a surprise given his lack of experience at this level.

Given Forest's history of replacing managers over the years, there was a sense of intrigue about how Lamouchi would adapt but also a fear that he wouldn't last long.

However, Lolley told the Sky Sports EFL podcast that he realised immediately that this could be a successful season for the club.

"Pretty quickly. He was a bit of an unknown quantity but within a few days, we went to Spain and we sort of knew we were on the right path here.

"We went into the season pretty confident that we had a good manager, tactically very good and his man-management as well has been brilliant. He’s understood the demands of everything and it’s allowed us to flourish."

The East Midlands outfit are currently fifth in the Championship and just four points away from the second automatic promotion place ahead of a weekend fixture against QPR.

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The verdict

This was a risky appointment from the Forest hierarchy in the summer but it's a decision that has paid off significantly.

Clearly, Lolley was impressed by the new boss and the rest of the squad obviously bought into his ideas. The team are well organised, hard to beat and have a style of play, which is down to Lamouchi.

He has already outstayed plenty of previous Forest bosses and he will write his name into the history books if he can take them back to the top-flight.

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