Nottingham Forest: Did they get value for their £180m summer spend?

“They had a very strong season last season, they signed a lot of players and everyone expected it to continue, and it was clearly not that easy,” Daichi said after the loss to Braga on Thursday.

World-class sporting director Edu has overseen 11 permanent signings of senior players, with the £37.5m arrival of Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich breaking the club’s transfer record.

In addition, Douglas Luiz and Oleksandr Zinchenko have arrived on loan from Juventus and Arsenal respectively.

But spending was not without problems. Edu wanted younger signings with greater resale value while then-manager Nuno Espirito Santo was unhappy that he did not get Adama Traoré instead of Hutchinson.

There were also big signings, with Anthony Elanga joining Newcastle for £55m and Danilo moving to Brazilian club Botafogo for £21m.

Of the 13 players who have arrived, only three have made more than 10 Premier League appearances – Igor Jesus (14), Nicolo Savona (11) and Dan Ndoye (14).

James McAtee, who arrived from Manchester City for nearly £30m, has made one league appearance and winger Dylan Pacqua three times. Another big signing, £26m striker Arnaud Kalimuendo, has already been sent to Frankfurt after nine league appearances, all as a substitute.

Meanwhile, Zinchenko’s loan spell is set to be canceled so he can join Ajax from Arsenal, while Chelsea are interested in signing Luiz.

The players have endured a chaotic start to the season, victims of circumstances, with Daichi becoming their third coach following the departure of Nuno and the 39-day reign of Ange Postecoglou.

The combination of different personalities, styles and staff has made adapting to the Premier League more difficult, but even accepting those warnings, Dyche does not feel his fringe players have done themselves any favors.

After going out on penalties in the FA Cup to Wrexham this month, he described the performance as “unacceptable for the badge”.

Nine summer signings have started – including McAtee, Pacoa, Jair Cunha and Luiz – with Daiche saying some will need to “look in the mirror”.

On Thursday in Portugal, it felt like some players had once again failed to prove themselves.

“I was expecting a bumpy road, mainly due to the lineup of players and the variety of competitions,” he said.

“That’s my frustration, they build up so much energy and belief and then the performance goes down. The main frustration is we’ve seen them work all week.

“Players don’t go out there so they don’t light a spark or it happens, but no one really controls it. Players who maybe don’t play all the time in the Premier League [need] To go and dominate these games and show the staff and themselves that I’m ready.

“There are only little bits of it. There are no real set signs of where I go, ‘You’re ready and next.’ We want that competition from the whole group.”