Forest Boffin

Joe Worrall has been the subject of debate on social media recently, with some fans critical of his performance at Premier League level. What is this criticism? Is it justified? And does the Forest captain need moving to the middle of the back three? Since his debut in 2016, Worrall has pulled on the garibaldi 183 times, helping lead the club back to The Premier League. He has established himself as the right-sided central defender in Steve Cooper’s preferred 3-4-1-2 system. Most Forest fans appear supportive of their captain, however there have been rumblings on social media since the Newcastle defeat, and the odd analysis piece, suggesting to various extents that Worrall is not good enough for this level. I've not seen abuse – apart from an extreme minority tagging in and messaging Worrall on Twitter telling him he isn’t good enough there has been nothing disrespectful similar to what other homegrown talent such as Ryan Yates and Ben Osborn endured. A lot of the criticism is non ...

 Premier League football returned to The City Ground last weekend after 23 years, as Forest battled to gain a vital 3 points against West Ham United, coming away with a narrow 1-0 victory. The Reds lined up in their favoured 3-4-1-2 system, with record signing Taiwo Awoniyi providing more of a physical presence up front. There was also a first start for Orel Mangala in an increasingly competitive central midfield. West Ham’s system is described widely elsewhere as a 4-3-3 however I saw it as a 4-2-3-1. There was little evidence of The Hammers pressing or defending as a 4-3-3 and their average positional charts back up my vision of the 4-2-3-1 in possession, however the two systems can be interchangeable. If I’ve erred on this please educate me in the comments or on Twitter, as admittedly I do appear alone in my view of this. Like Newcastle last week, David Moyes named another settled, accomplished Premier League side. It was nice to see Michail Antonio return to Nottingham, he s...

Forest were welcomed back to The Premier League on Saturday by a dominant Newcastle side. The Reds defended bravely but were undone by classy goals from Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson, losing the game 2-0. Steve Cooper began the season using his favoured 3-4-1-2 system. Jesse Lingard, Harry Toffolo, Dean Henderson, Lewis O’Brien, Moussa Niakhate and Nico Williams all made their first competitive starts in the garibaldi. Along with substitutes Taiwo Awoniyi and Orel Mangala, this meant 8 players made their debuts in an unfamiliar looking side. Eddie Howe deployed a 4-3-3. With only goalkeeper Nick Pope making his debut this was a settled team looking to continue last season’s good progress. Variants of the 3-4-3 have become popular over the last few seasons, however it seems to me that the very best managers are finding a way to use the 4-3-3 and Newcastle demonstrated exactly how it should be used in modern football. As the game kicked off Forest looked bright, even breaking their oppo...