A Week On The Training Ground Sees Forest Implement New Ideas
A short break in the fixture schedule finally gave Vitor Pereira the opportunity to further implement some of his ideas on the squad.
Although the result on Thursday night was clearly not what anybody wanted, there were some signs during that game that showed some of the work that Pereira has been putting in with the team on the training ground.
At Wolves when playing with a back 3, as I mentioned in my deep dive on him when he was appointed, when they would build up from the back Pereira would push his wing backs very high and wide, essentially creating a front 5 spread all across the pitch.
On Thursday night though we saw some variations of this for the first time since he stepped into the Forest dugout. Igor Jesus has spent most of his Forest career literally being the most isolated striker in the Premier League, but this tweak means he was surrounded by team mates.
When Forest had a goal kick, both wing backs would move very narrow into the centre circle, joining Hutchinson, Gibbs-White & Igor Jesus. Pereira identified Midjytlland would likely go man-for-man, so this tactic creates a lot of space in wide areas.
That space was particularly evident on the left, as Nikola Milenkovic would push up really high on the right (something we’ll get on to later). This tactic also involves some pretty interesting rotations in movement.
Murillo is with Sels in the box, Forest then have essentially a back 3 made up of Dominguez, Anderson & Morato, all of whom would be trusted to play out from the back if the moment allows. Aina & Hudson-Odoi almost become central midfielders & Milenkovic is a right wing back. These movements cause problems for defences as they sometimes aren’t sure whether to pass on a player or mark them all over the pitch.
What this can also do, is give Forest a much better chance of winning second balls. By spreading out the distance between the lines of Midjyttland, and coupling that with having a 5 v 5 battle in the opposition half, Forest are far more likely to pick up cleared headers or flick ons. This initially was a strength for Forest under Dyche, but as time went on and teams became familiar with Dyche’s one-dimensional plan, Forest became very easy to defend.
The other plan that we often saw put into action, was Milenkovic moving forward very high down the right flank - again exposing Midjytlland’s man marking system. Omari Hutchinson was key here, he would drop deep, sometimes as far as a right back position, where one of the opposition back 5 would follow him.
Milenkovic would then stroll forward, with Midjytlland’s wide player not following him. Because Forest were so often trying to progress down the left with Anderson, Gibbs-White & Hudson-Odoi, the Danish side were heavily overloaded on that flank. So much so that Aina was effectively able to move into a centre forward position with Igor Jesus smartly dropping deep.
Sels was able to pick out Milenkovic with a good long ball, but unfortunately Aina & the Serbian were unable to take advantage of the 2 v 1 and couldn’t create a decent chance. This again is something we never really saw under Dyche - this is a freedom of movement for players regardless of their initial position.
It does however come with some risks. The biggest one for me is where Hutchinson is asked to drop deep and sometimes get involved in build-up in his own final third. He’s not strong enough to withstand pressure from defenders on his shoulder, and naturally with his playing style anyway he’s prone to turnovers. This can cause big issues when the 2 defenders on the right side have pushed up higher ahead of him.
What Does This Mean Going Forward?
Vitor Pereira has shown in his short spell in charge that he’s not afraid to completely drop players if he feels they aren’t performing on the field or on the training ground. With Jair Cunha potentially out injured for a long period of time, and Morato being Morato, I do wonder whether we’ll see much more of the back 5 system - especially when Forest have shown some decent performances in a back 4 (Fenerbahce & Liverpool).
If Pereira really wants to stick with the back 5, then something like the above could be close to what we’ll see. Neco Williams came on at half-time on Thursday and essentially played hybrid LCB/LWB role with Hudson-Odoi playing very high. By bringing in Luca Netz as the LWB, Hudson-Odoi can start on the bench & Williams could swap to RCB.
Basically I’m trying to find a way to play the same system without Morato in the starting lineup. Aina of course made a big mistake on Thursday night, and often looks very tired late in games. So perhaps he would come out of the squad and Williams would play as the RWB. Pereira could of course go with Bakwa in that position, but Forest definitely couldn’t rely on him to be responsible at either end of the pitch as he continues to struggle with just short cameos off the bench.
If Pereira feels Aina isn’t ready to start this game, then I feel this is probably very close to what we’ll see this afternoon. Netz would come in at left back, with Williams moving over to the right. Having Harry Wilson to deal with would be a tough assignment, but I’ve watched Netz play well against Olise when his Mönchengladbach side were actually down to 10 men, so I’m sure he’d feel relatively confident if given the assignment.