Forest Boffin

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...

Sabri Lamouchi's fledgling reign got off to a poor start on Saturday as Forest were tactically outmanoeuvred in a 2-1 loss against promotion contenders West Bromwich Albion. Lamouchi used a 4-1-4-1 formation with Ben Watson patrolling behind an experimental looking bank of four midfielders. Lewis Grabban was tasked with playing alone up front, also notable was Matty Cash slotting in at right-back. Like Forest, Albion also had the look of a team in transition, with new manager Slavan Bilic deploying a 4-2-3-1 system. They have made some good acquisitions during the summer, notably Kenneth Zohore - fresh from a toughening season in The Premier League - and the classy Romaine Sawyers. The Reds started brilliantly with a high tempo first fifteen minutes. Their movement in possession was excellent and simply gave Albion too many problems to cope with. The midfield four proved to be accomplished on the ball and were brave in and out of possession, constantly available as outlets...

When Forest welcome Derby on Sunday, they are perhaps fighting to restore pride rather than for bragging rights. Stuart Pearce is the ideal man to accomplish this, but it is difficult to predict exactly how he’ll go about it. Steve McClaren likes The Rams to play a patient 4-3-3 system which will be similar to the one that destroyed Forest so efficiently in March. Most of their expected starting 11 were involved in that game, although we are fortunate that Jeff Hendrick and George Thorne are both out injured. Even if a little weaker, we know they will be motivated and nearly always put on a good performance in this fixture. Derby are a possession hording team. They like to probe for space from their own half, patiently holding onto the ball until they spot an opportunity rather than taking risks going forward – this is in contrast to Forest, who have been more direct under Pearce.   Their defenders see a lot of possession. Derby’s centre-backs have touched the ball, on a...

Stuart Pearce faced his first major tactical headache of the season against an aggressive, skilful Bournemouth side this week, but Forest came away with the points in a display which confirmed not only the endurance of the players, but also the flexibility of their manager. The Cherries were rampant in the first half, and were taking advantage of Forest's high-pressing game.  We thought before a ball had been kicked this season that Pearce would prefer this style of pressing, and this has proven the case, but we (well, I to be more precise) did not reckon on his use of the 4-4-2 formation. The 4-4-2 (especially away from home) is arguably best suited to a conditional pressing game, with the wider midfield bank of players staying deep and forming a barrier across the pitch, which the opposition needs to play through ( see left. All diagrams on Forest Boffin are enlargeable when clicked ). When used in conjunction with a high-pressing game, as happened agains...