Forest Boffin

Chris Hughton’s first seven games at Forest have seen an impressive turnaround in results – the new manager has accrued 12 points, compared with 1 point gained in the club's previous seven games. However, we can see that he is still evolving his system, which suggests even more improvement could be imminent. It should be pointed out that the previous points tally is a false figure; aside from last season’s games against Barnsley, and the Stoke calamity, Forest were not as poor as 1 points out of 21 suggests. This season at least, Sabri Lamouchi had the team doing broadly what he wanted – aside from player error at crucial times, they were mainly solid and the trademark fluid movement was there. But poor finishing, opposition goalkeeping heroics and the loss of key players cranked up the pressure and asked Lamouchi questions to which he didn’t have the answer. With Forest flailing around towards the bottom of The Championship, the new manager’s answer was a tried and tested one; ...

Chris Hughton began his Nottingham Forest career with a win against in-form Blackburn Rovers. Both teams will look very different in the coming weeks; less than ideal preparations on both sides led to a drab, scrappy encounter from which Forest barely scraped a welcome victory. Hughton named a familiar looking side in a 4-2-3-1 system using a soft press, setting up to sit back and get the basics right with the emphasis on defence. Ryan Yates earned a deserved recall. Tony Mowbray deployed Blackburn in his 4-3-3 system, complaining that the team was ‘thrown together’; they were without three or four of this season’s top performers as well as any of their recent loan additions. With Bradly Dack still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, on paper this was as poor a Rovers side as any team will face this season. The match was dictated by the two team’s different pressing games. As Forest concentrated on defence, they were very conservative in this regard, ceding possession and o...

Forest are yet to register a point this season after a 2-0 defeat to Cardiff City at the weekend. In a classic game of two halves The Reds once again struggled against a big target man. Sabri Lamouchi changed his system to successfully deal with the problem, but it was not enough to change the result. Both teams lined up in a 4-2-3-1. It is impossible to say what Forest’s game-plan was, because within four minutes Cardiff had implemented theirs and were a goal up. The Bluebirds were spearheaded by 6 foot 4 target-man Kieffer Moore, who would shortly do the damage during two poorly defended set-plays. As well as his goalscoring prowess, his presence – and how Forest dealt with him – was the main tactical issue during open play. Cardiff were completely geared towards playing long balls to Moore. Passing around the defence and midfield occurred mainly as a prelude to frequent, direct passes to their striker – the long pass which led to their successful corner in the second minute was ...

Football has been overshadowed this year by the tragedy of Covid-19. As we try to regain some normality and finish the 2019-20 season, I'll be looking at a series of factors which may influence the conclusion of the Championship season. Next is the possibility of extra substitutions being available. In order to protect player welfare, FIFA have made a temporary amendment in the laws covering substitutions: A team can now make a maximum of five substitutions per game, instead of three. If a game enters extra time (not time added on), a sixth substitution may be made. Each team will have a maximum of three opportunities to make their five changes - in addition to half-time. These changes are discretionary and must be ratified by the individual competition organisers, in the case of The Championship the EFL – unsurprisingly the EFL have not made a statement regards whether this change has been implemented (unless I’ve missed it – I’ve looked hard). A decision on thi...

Football has been overshadowed this year by the tragedy of Covid-19. As we try to regain some normality and finish the 2019-20 season, I'll be looking at a series of factors which may influence the conclusion of the Championship season. First, a theory on the home team advantage. It is well established that home teams in football have a clear advantage. This season for example, home teams in The Championship have won on 42.6% of occasions. However much of this boost is due to fan encouragement – as we all know by now, the resumption of football will be behind closed doors which should logically go a long way towards neutralising this advantage. Football has already resumed in parts of Europe, and my analysis of the results so far has been surprising. Not only does the home advantage appear to have faded after the re-start, but in fact we have the first indications that away teams may in fact have a significant advantage. Albeit the sample data is relatively small - 127 games ...

As there is currently no football we have time to reflect on the recent 0-3 defeat to Millwall and ask how The Lions were able to maul Sabir Lamouchi's men so convincingly - and what might it mean for both clubs for the rest of the season? Lamouchi has settled on a 4-2-3-1, popular with modern coaches because it usually brings a flexibility which The Reds are struggling to recreate at the moment ( see right - all pictures expand when clicked ). Forest’s problems at home, in particular being effective when enjoying possession, are well documented – the inclusion of Joao Carvalho in behind Lewis Grabban made me optimistic that The Reds might be a little more creative this time out. Gary Rowett changed Millwall’s shape to a 4-2-3-1 for this game, spearheaded by Matt Smith – this turned out to be just one of a series of astute decisions made by the former Derby manager. You will hear people say things like ‘ you know what to expect with Millwall ’ and that they are a...