Forest Boffin

Looking back through September is a good opportunity to review the array of tactics deployed by Chris Hughton, Steven Reid and new head coach Steve Cooper – I’ve included the early game in October for convenience. Hughton ended his Forest career with two demoralising losses at home, against Cardiff and Middlesbrough. It’s been reported elsewhere that Hughton changed system for these games to a 4-4-1-1, however in reality he stuck with his trusted 4-2-3-1 with striker Lewis Grabban in midfield. The Irishman may look back at his end ruefully – his season was thwarted by poor recruitment leading to the lack of capable players, particularly in the full-back positions. However, against Cardiff new signings Max Lowe and Djed Spence were available. This led to a noticeable change as Forest started to play how Hughton wanted; Lowe and Spence had an inclination to get forward to create the overloads necessary for the system to threaten, the physicality to cope with the high workload, and wer

This week ex-Swansea boss Steve Cooper became Forest’s 21 st full time manager/head coach since their relegation from The Premier League – how might he change things tactically and what might it mean for the current squad? Initially at Swansea, Cooper favoured a 4-2-3-1, switching at times to a 4-3-3 system. A feature of these sides was patient play out from the back and a focus on attacking down the flanks. He changed to a 3-4-1-2 for the 2020/21 season, but retained this patient, wing-based approach. The 3-4-1-2 system is interesting because of the way it’s developed in The Championship, and this is worth bearing in mind when thinking about the way Cooper’s teams play – where at elite level you would not call it a defensive system, Championship teams have taken to it in larger numbers because of the efficiency with which it’s shape covers the pitch defensively. So at this level the 3-4-1-2, or other 3-4-3 derivatives, have quite a defensive ethos, and considering how Forest lined

Forest had a nightmare first month of the season, finding themselves bottom of The Championship after earning just one point from their first five league games. It has been well documented that Forest’s preparations for the season have been poor, for both avoidable and unavoidable reasons. Cancelled friendlies and interrupted training due to Covid-19 appear to have directly effected the first loss of the season, against Coventry City – you can read my match report here. The Reds faded badly from a good start, fatigue helping The Sky Blues to immediately crank up the pressure on Hughton by coming from behind to win 2-1. During this game we also noticed the first signs of the inadequacy of the Forest squad in key areas undermining the manager’s tactics, and his failure to discover a solution – this has been the dominant feature of the first month of the season. 11 players left the City Ground during the summer, either released or returning to their parent clubs – these players made

 As we exit the international break I've been looking at which players escaped the nightmare month of August with any credit. This is my shortlist for, and finally my player of the month. =5. Riley Harbottle & Tyrese Fornah Were it not for the cup exploits of some of the younger players, I would be struggling to point to half a dozen who have done reasonably well this season. None of the under 23’s let themselves down against Bradford and Wolves but Riley Harbottle and Tyrese Fornah in particular stood out. Fornah had an outstanding game against The Bantams, wowing The City Ground in a midfield general role. Available and confident on the ball, he looks a crowd pleasing type of defensive midfielder. However he will also have pleased the purists like myself for his defending – he made a defensive contribution every 9.55 minutes over the two games. The amount of attacking our opponents did in those games lent itself to favourable statistics like this, but he was defending well

Forest opened the 2021-22 season on Sunday, victims of a fairytale homecoming for The Sky Blues, playing in Coventry for the first time in two years. Chris Hughton had a number of selection problems, with players missing from his threadbare senior squad due to injury and coronavirus isolation. Lyle Taylor spearheaded a 4-2-3-1 system, with Alex Mighten and Brennan Johnson starting in attack along with Joe Lolley. Jack Colback and Ryan Yates played disciplined roles in front of an unfamiliar looking defence. Mark Robins used the 3-4-1-2 trend that featured heavily in The Championship last season – Martyn Waghorn is a notable summer arrival at Coventry, but the danger-man in this side is attacking midfielder Callum O’Hare. Coventry started the game playing patient football, looking after the ball in their defence and midfield – they dominated possession throughout the match, seeing 67% of the ball. This might be expected for a home team losing for much of the game, but even before conc

Ryan Yates is another of those players who splits opinion, attracting a wide variety of criticism. Which grumbles are justified? Which are myths? And can he fit into a successful midfield? 1.   Forest’ s results are poorer when Ryan  Yates  plays . Forest are struggling, however the alleged drop in performance with Yates in the side simply has not happened this season. Yates has played for 45 minutes or more in 18 league games, yielding 19 points - an average of 1.06 points per game. He has failed to feature for 45 minutes in 5 games, which returned 3 points – an average of 0.6 points per game. I would not say the improved tally is due to Yates – in fact this statistic is kind to him; Forest lost a game which he started but was sent off, contributing to that defeat. However, even if we artificially alter the statistics to take this game into account, Forest still earned more points with him in the side and therefore this claim is clearly a myth. 2. Ryan Yates cannot tackle/cannot defen