Half-Time Changes Pay Off For Pereira
Forest responded to a very poor first half with a much improved second half, led by talisman Morgan Gibbs-White off the back of changes from Vitor Pereira.
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Just after 14:45 on Sunday afternoon, Forest’s players were booed off the pitch after visitors Burnley took an injury-time lead. It was a first-half that nobody would have remembered before Zian Flemming’s opener - as both teams combined for just 5 attempts on goal.
Nothing was working for Forest, as they met Burnley’s low block with sloppy and inaccurate passing. There were moments where it looked like Forest might create something, but those moments dissipated pretty quickly whenever they got close to the box.
During the first half, Forest weren’t able to do this often enough. Get the ball to their best players in between the lines. And this example sums up the first 45, when they did get into promising positions, they just couldn’t gain control.
Igor Jesus’ Introduction Changed Everything
Pereira’s decision to take off the underwhelming Dilane Bakwa, and replace him with the hard-working Igor Jesus, was the catalyst for Forest’s vastly improved second-half performance. His appearance gave Forest a different option centrally, but more importantly it made much harder for Burnley to pick up Morgan Gibbs-White.
When I say Jesus ‘changed everything’, that’s not because he came on and was the stand-out player. He performed really well, but his introduction gave a platform for a different role for Forest’s most talented attacker.
Gibbs-White mentioned post-match that his job wasn’t to play as a left-winger in the way that Forest usually do - but more so to play as a ‘left 10’, the same role he has been asked to play when Forest go with a back 3 or back 5.
The pitch on the left shows how much narrower Gibbs-White received the ball in the 2nd half against Burnley compared to Forest’s regular left winger Callum Hudson-Odoi. This is clearly narrower than Forest’s usual set-up.
The pitch on the right shows Gibbs-White’s pass receptions in the second half compared with his average pass reception location when he plays as a number 10. This is the furthest to the left Gibbs-White has received the ball in the Premier League this season.
5 minutes into the second half and we can see immediately that Gibbs-White will look to come narrow when Forest have the ball. This opens up a passing option in a central area, makes it more difficult for a full-back to decide whether to follow him infield or not, and in turn opens up more space for an overlapping full-back - in this case Neco Williams.
In the immediate next phase of play, the same thing is happening. Forest effectively have a narrow front 3 here (similar to the issues Villa caused on the previous weekend). Having players close to Wood makes life much easier for him, and gives Forest more dangerous options in the middle too.
Whoever was up against Kyle Walker as a natural winger was going to have a tough time. He’s still a very good 1 v 1 defender, relying on his pace. His weakness throughout his career though is how he defends when his man doesn’t have the ball. You beat Walker with clever movement, not with trickery.
Gibbs-White gets himself into some space, the ball falls to him fortunately but he can’t connect properly with the attempt. He more than made up for this though in the coming minutes.
For the equaliser, Forest start off with a routine they had used already once in the second half. Hutchinson drops deep, bringing his full-back with him, this leaves Wood & Igor Jesus able to fight 2 v 2 for a long ball. Wood’s anticipation means he picks up the loose ball, and Forest are in business.
Another slight tweak - something we’ve seen often from Pereira - is Milenkovic pushing up high on the opposition striker. This pays off as he wins a duel and heads the ball back into the box.
Kyle Walker & another Burnley defender get out too slowly, and aren’t aware of Gibbs-White lurking in behind them. He takes advantage of a poor header from James Ward-Prowse, and finishes calmly.
The second goal continues the theme of Gibbs-White being in a position that a Forest ‘left-winger’ never is. He flicks on a ball to Wood, who lays it off to Igor Jesus who remains close by. He does really well to hold off a defender and spread the ball wide for Omari Hutchinson.
I noted on Thursday against Porto that I was happy that Hutchinson was trying to threaten on the outside - this gives defenders something to think about as he could go both ways. It almost lead to a goal for Ndoye in that game, and it did lead to one on Sunday.
Gibbs-White peals off to the back post, Kyle Walker can’t react quick enough to the cross and tries to get out to him to block the shot - he doesn’t get his angle right though and only really prevents a shot toward the near post. Gibbs-White shows great technique and his contact is too powerful for Dubravka.
Jesus Rewarded With First Home Premier League Goal
To cap off a wonderful second half, Igor Jesus was finally able to get on the scoresheet in a Premier League game at The City Ground. It was a reward his play deserved on Sunday, and came after he and Nico Dominguez combined really well in the closing stages.
Both players make quick scans before the ball gets to them to see the lay of the land - Dominguez makes an intelligent header, and gets the ball back from Igor Jesus. The Brazilian makes an immediate move forward, and is released by the Argentinian.
The first touch is perfect - by going across the chasing defenders it makes it very difficult for them to intervene without fouling him and risking a red card. Jesus stays calm, takes an extra touch and then finishes through the defenders legs into the corner. This was a similar finish (albeit without the deflection) to his goal against PSG in the Club World Cup.
Might We See This Again?
With news breaking yesterday that Callum Hudson-Odoi is out for the rest of the season, there’s now an opening in the starting eleven that somebody needs to fill. The second half performance with Gibbs-White as a very narrow left-winger was incredibly bright, and it could persuade Pereira to go with this system again in future games, especially with Forest’s underperforming wingers.
One thing I’ve not covered in the clips here, is the work Igor Jesus did off the ball. Despite being the deeper of the 2 strikers when Forest had possession, when pressing he often led the line and did the hard running, allowing Wood to sit in behind him. This could be beneficial for Wood who is still regaining match fitness.
You could argue too that if any player deserves to come into the starting lineup based on recent performances, particularly on Sunday, then it is Igor Jesus.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt now, Forest do have the ability to switch to different systems before & during matches. This makes it very difficult for opponents to prepare to face them. In a short space of time, Vitor Pereira has used at least 3 different systems to good effect - whilst giving significantly more game time to the fringe players too. This can only bode well for the rest of the season.