Forest Boffin

Clinical finishing – two words that haunted Nottingham Forest last season. Two words that, we were told, were all that was missing. Have The Garibaldi finally addressed this deficiency by signing Matty Fryatt? Forest have certainly signed a striker . For large periods recently The Reds have played without this type of player; the goal-scoring pedigree of the forwards at The City Ground has been much debated, but I would argue that the only true strikers the club have employed lately have been Matt Derbyshire and Billy Sharp – two players starved of time on the pitch because they did not fit into the team’s tactics.   A look at Fryatt's movement when advanced of the ball illustrates what he does differently to the forwards we have observed last season at Forest. It is his movement off the ball that makes him a striker rather than a forward.   Forest have tended to play their way forward patiently through maintaining possession. For the forwards this ...

Stuart Pearce claims he is undecided on tactics and systems, but in the recent past he has been a steadfast advocate of the 4-2-3-1 formation. Influenced by Fabio Capello and Rafa Benitez, Pearce used this modern system with both the Under-21’s and Olympic team. Forest’s acquisitions this summer tend to suggest they want to use this formation. The three defenders purchased have one common feature: their ability to use the ball. The 4-2-3-1 is not geared towards direct play; it requires that the defenders pass the ball out patiently, often to a deep lying play-maker masquerading as a defensive midfielder. The new strikers are also well suited to playing this system. We’ve all seen Billy Davies’ version of the 4-2-3-1, with the forward drifting deep or wide effectively acting as a support player – Pearce has used a more aggressive variant of this system and likes the front man to be a striker, not a forward. Matty Fryatt and Lars Veldwijk are well suited to this role. Recent tact...

Arguably the best regarded player ever to wear Garibaldi red, Stuart Pearce will always be a Forest legend – but what do we know of his managerial career so far? Leaving aside the short period in charge of The Reds in 1996/97, his first real managerial job was taking over a Manchester City side drifting in mid-table. Pearce made a promising start, revitalising their 2005/06 season, but the club levelled off in mid table, subsequently finishing 15 th and 14 th . Not the powerhouse they are today, this was no disastrous tenure at City , however a large proportion of their fans are surprisingly hostile towards Pearce. Aside from suggesting that he isn’t a very nice person and questioning his intelligence, complaints centred on negative tactics and boring football. It is certainly true that City struggled to score goals under Pearce – they earned the record for the least home goals scored in The Premier League, concentrating on defending but lacking creativity. It was perhap...