Forest Boffin

 Forest’s tough adjustment to The Premier League continued last week with a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to Fulham. Steve Cooper persevered with the 3-4-1-2 system that earned promotion. He made interesting changes in personnel which altered the way The Reds would play the game; Taiwo Awoniyi was brought in to add strength up front, and Willy Boly was preferred to club captain Joe Worrall in defence. Fulham lined up in a 4-2-3-1, spearheaded by the dangerous Alexander Mitrovic. They have been willing to sit off and hit on the counter-attack so far this season, seeing much less of the ball than they became used to in The Championship, however this was to change at The City Ground. Forest’s main problem this season has been the unfamiliarity within the squad. Cooper has a lot of new players to work with – good players, but they have been struggling for cohesion, particularly when out of possession. This prompted a change of strategy. A classic sign of players not knowing the ...

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...

Nottingham Forest are back in The Premier league for the first time since their relegation in 1999. Over the next twenty-three seasons The Reds used seventy* strikers in their quest to return, here are my top ten of this era. 10. Sam Surridge Sam Surridge signed in January for a reported £2,200,000, scoring 8 goals as Forest won promotion. At only 23, he has already played in The Premier League for Bournemouth - he'll be looking to continue his development this season. We've not seen as much of Surridge as the other players on this list - with most of his 17 appearances off the bench, he only featured for 715 minutes of regular league football. However his potency during this short period warrants his inclusion. Surridge scored 7 goals in the league - this is a goal every 102.1 minutes of being on the pitch. No player featuring for over 600 minutes has scored as fast as this during the Championship era - Surridge is one of the most lethal finishers at the club for a long time. ...

Forest take on Sheffield United in the Championship play-offs over the next few days hoping to complete what would be one of the most remarkable comebacks in their history. Paul Heckingbottom has done a good job at United, and usually deploys a 3-4-3 variant similar to Forest’s on paper. Although their overlapping central defenders are no longer a focus, they still retain many key players from that era; John Egan and Chris Basham remain in central defence, with former Forest man Jack Robinson taking over from the excellent, but long-term injured, Jack O’Connell. Enda Stevens remains at left wing-back. On the opposite flank Ben Osborn may have a point to prove if he holds onto the shirt from Sam Baldock who is returning from injury, while centrally Oliver Norwood and John Fleck will act as the pivot. Their attacking trio is of real concern. United have had a glut of injuries in forward positions this season; Oliver McBurnie, David McGoldrick and Rhian Brewster should all miss out. B...