Forest Boffin

Last week's surprise 2-0 victory at Ipswich was the first time Philippe Montanier's Forest side have shown a true defensive mentality. If replicated, The Reds' attacking flair should ensure a drastic rise up the table. Ipswich's main strategy was to bombard the penalty area with crosses. They had clearly done their homework as Forest generally concede a lot of goals in this manner due to their poor man-marking and tendency to leave lots of space in dangerous areas. Forest's defenders are noticeably poor in the air, and statistics bear this out; Armand Traore has been our best header of the ball this season – but he's only won 63% of aerial duels. This is poor – 47 Championship defenders have won a greater share of headers.   The centre-backs have fared even worse – Matt Mills and Damien Perquis have won a mere 56% and 55% of headers. They are the joint 77 th and joint 84 th best defenders in the league in the air. Also, at times the Forest goalke...

Much has been said of the problems which have seen Nottingham Forest become entangled in, on the face of it, a relegation scrap this season. Owner Fawaz Al Hasawi's mismanagement of the club and Philippe Montanier's unfamiliarity with Championship football have been key contributors. But one problem – just as important – has gone relatively unheralded so far; the attitude of the players. Aside from a few exceptions – the likes of Ben Osborn and the rest of our younger players in particular – Forest's playing staff have demonstrated a severe lack of commitment, professionalism and discipline this season. When I talk about discipline, I don’t only mean they pick up a lot of bookings (they do, by the way) – I’m talking about the commitment to do their job properly without cutting corners, I’m talking about them taking the easy way out, avoiding responsibility. Scrimshanking their way through games. Cheating the fans. This is a team, I suggest, that is not s...

Last season was a strange one defensively - Forest probably have the most quality in this area of the pitch since their promotion to The Championship , yet these players have struggled to consistently measure up to their predecessors. It would be wrong not to mention the circumstances which saw players in this area of the pitch underperform. 2014/15 was another tumultuous season; two managers arrived with contrasting defensive styles, and each were unable to make up their mind what their best starting XI were. Forest used 40 (forty!) distinct defensive line-ups, the most common of which (Fox-Lascelles-Collins-Lichaj) only appeared together on 5 occasions, clocking up just 453 minutes together. This inconsistency hardly seems conducive to a settled, organised defence. Eric Lichaj: 7.5/10 Full-back Lichaj - released by Aston Villa last summer - proved himself a good defender at this level. It was refreshing to see such an aggressive player in the...

After a mini-revival, Forest's play-off hopes were crushed ruthlessly by Bournemouth on Saturday. If you want to know why Forest have been conceding so many goals recently, you need only look at how The Cherries tore Forest apart. I've been intrigued - and at times appalled - by what has been occurring in Forest's midfield since Davies' departure. The stark contrast for Gary Brazil's first game in charge was that the front four players were operating as a separate entity to the back six; there was a big gap between the two groups, possibly caused by, or contributing to, The Reds' more direct approach to going forward (see my match report  for a more detailed discussion on this). I believe this mentality has continued with some players - the midfielders have, at times, been leaving the defenders to face the music alone, culminating in the game at Bournemouth. The issue is less obvious for Bournemouth's first goal - the main error was in central defence ...

Rather infuriatingly, some people have everything. Youth, money, a job they love, looks (I’m told), a pet goat, a fancy and exotic name – you might think all that were enough but no; now Arsenal want to sign them. That’s right, I’m talking about Jamaal Lascelles. But is he any good? Perhaps the most hyped academy graduate for a decade, it feels like the 20 year old has been on the horizon a long time. Finally given the chance to make the garibaldi shirt his own after injuries to Kelvin Wilson and Danny Collins, Lascelles performance against Yeovil was a rare sparkle during an uncomfortable 3-1 defeat, as he performed well. The youngster has perhaps been a victim of his club’s circumstances – the highly rated defender has been capped by England at all youth levels and could have expected regular first team action before now. However, Forest seem to be constantly fighting for promotion or against relegation – blooding young players has been risky. Lascelles has passed the test with...

As we enter into the January transfer window, I thought it might be a good time to review the players' vital statistics to see what they tell us about the team's performance. Forest have had a mixed season defensively due to tactical issues, but overall the defence has done well; none more so than Karl Darlow. The Forest 'keeper is relatively young and inexperienced - for a promotion-hunting side it was risky to go with Darlow this season, however he has not let us down, and the stats prove, if nothing else, that playing so young a player in this key position has not damaged our goals conceded column - of all the league's goalies, Darlow has let in the fifth least average amount of goals so far. Obviously, since he's played every minute of Forest's season, this primarily reflects the whole team's defending, but he is the biggest brick in the wall, and if he crumbles the whole structure collapses. He has not. Billy Davies has not been able to name as se...

Forest have assembled one of the strongest squads since their relegation from The Premiership . There have been mixed fortunes during various changing systems employed, but how have the players done through the first third of the season, starting with the defenders?   1. Karl Darlow - 1433 minutes played, 1.73 points per game* Darlow continues to impress. The 23 year old has consolidated his position this season, clinging onto the goalkeeper’s jersey with a string of excellent performances. I’ve been waiting for the first real blunder from the academy graduate – I’m still waiting after 35 games and 3343 minutes of his Forest career. With a particular habit of making saves when all seems lost, Darlow seemingly has no weaknesses – if he keeps this up he’ll be in the running for Player of the Season . This season, his minutes between goals conceded is the best of any Forest ‘keeper since the 2009/10 season ( see left – all graphs and diagrams on Forest Boffin can be enlar...