The clear message Evangelos Marinakis will give Nuno Espirito Santo during tense international break talks - and one tricky puzzle Nottingham Forest must solve after their West Ham humiliation: TOM COLLOMOSSE

Evangelos Marinakis absorbed the applause from the Peter Taylor Stand and responded with a smile and a thumbs-up before taking his seat – giant TV screen and all – above the halfway line.

The anticipated encounter during the international break between Marinakis and Nottingham Forest coach Nuno Espirito Santo this week might not be quite so friendly in tone, after Forest’s worst home defeat in the Premier League since February 1999.

Two weeks ago, it felt long odds that Nuno would make it even this far. His outburst against Forest’s transfer policy left owner Marinakis and his closest advisors bewildered and there was even talk that Nuno would be gone before last weekend’s clash with Crystal Palace . Forest began to consider alternatives, including Ange Postecoglou , Marco Silva and Paulo Fonseca .

While matters have calmed a little since then, a home defeat to West Ham , who had lost all their previous games, is hardly the result to strengthen Nuno’s hand and there is still plenty to be decided when Forest’s key figures meet.

Can Nuno adapt to a structure that has former Arsenal transfer chief Edu, now Marinakis’ global head of football, calling the shots on recruitment? Can he figure out a way to make the most of Forest’s summer spending campaign, which has so far seen more than £160million spent on nine players, with Brazilian pair Cuiabano and John Victor expected to join on Monday? Ultimately, is Nuno the man to manage a more talented, but potentially higher-maintenance squad?

Evangelos Marinakis absorbed the applause from the Peter Taylor Stand on Sunday

Forest fans showed their appreciation to their owner ahead of the Premier League clash

‘Today’s result doesn’t help but there is no connection between things (the result and the meeting with Marinakis), insisted Nuno, who labelled Forest’s display ‘shocking’. ‘Everybody at Forest is very sad and upset at what happened here. We will try to separate it and move forward in the right direction.’

Mail Sport understands that at least two of the new signings were not requested specifically by Nuno. The moves for Douglas Luiz and Omari Hutchinson are thought to have been driven by Edu and his team, rather than Nuno himself.

Nuno has the backing of the Forest crowd but with his claim that the squad was too weak, he placed undue pressure on himself, and West Ham’s three late goals only increased it. Most coaches outside the Premier League’s wealthiest six would have looked at his bench here and wished they could have swapped it with their own.

Nuno demanded cover at full-back and in goal and now has it, with Brazilian pair Cuiabano and goalkeeper John Victor to follow the arrival of Nicolo Savona from Juventus.

The message from Marinakis to Nuno will be clear. I’ve given you the tools, now go and do the job. And if you can’t, we will soon find someone else who will.

There will be another meeting between Marinakis and  Nuno Espirito Santo during the break

Santo oversaw Forest’s worst home defeat in the Premier League since February 1999

Among the possible pressure points for Nuno and Marinakis will be the Portuguese coach’s use of his substitutes as Forest struggled to break West Ham down.

James McAtee arrived just before the hour mark in place of Dan Ndoye while Igor Jesus replaced Chris Wood in the 73rd minute. Yet Arnaud Kalimuendo and Hutchinson had to wait until the 89th minute and Luiz did not make it on at all. Boos at full-time were inevitable.

It remains to be seen if Luiz plays after the international break, assuming Nuno makes it that far. But McAtee did reasonably well when he came on and Hutchinson and Kalimuendo will not be the only ones who believed they might have been introduced sooner.

Which brings us back to Nuno. While he was keen for a bigger squad to handle a domestic and Europa League campaign, he shies away from having 22 players on equal footing, with two competing fiercely for each spot.

Rather, he likes players to know their roles from the off: some are first-choice, some are back-up. Last season, players like midfielder Ryan Yates and defender Morato understood their status perfectly and made vital contributions.

That is not so easy with players who are accustomed to starting regularly for their previous clubs, especially if they join for big fees.

But Marinakis has not bought these players to have them sit on the bench or fill in for minor games.

Forest were beaten 3-0 by West Ham with the visitors scoring three in the final 10 minutes

Whoever leads Forest this season will have to solve a tricky puzzle: how to become a team who can find different ways to win.

Rivals are wise to the defend-and-counter style that served Forest so well last term and West Ham sat deep here, challenging Forest to break them down. That they could not open up a team so shorn of confidence will have set alarm bells ringing.

When Nuno was at Wolves, he tried to adjust the style of play from counter-attacking to possession-based. Due to numerous external factors, notably the serious injury to Raul Jimenez, Nuno was unable to put his new plans into practice.

He has a stronger hand at Forest than he did five years ago, for sure. The question for Marinakis and the decision-makers at the City Ground is whether Nuno is the right man to play it.