Why did Forest put so many crosses in against Everton?
53 attempted crosses was Forest's highest number in a game since 2017 - it didn't seem like the brightest idea, but why did they keep trying?
Forest found themselves with lots of possession against Everton the other night, especially when they fell behind after around 20 minutes. Being in the ground it just felt like we were witnessing a very monotonous death by a thousand crosses. Dyche mentioned post match that he wanted players to put the ball at risk - but the truth is they had very few options to do so.
Forest’s players are spread so wide that literally the only options were generally to progress the ball wide in the early phase, or go backwards/sideways only to find no central options again. In the above video, Gibbs-White drops into that HUGE space Forest have, but it seems to me like it was more through necessity rather than it being the plan. He’s able to spread the ball quickly out wide to Hutchinson, moving Everton’s defence around a little bit.
On this occasion, Forest have seven players inside their own half when chasing the game. There is absolutely no need for this and it makes life very easy for Everton for two different reasons.
Firstly, they’re able to ensure the only forward pass that’s on is to Gibbs-White who has moved wide. Gibbs-White puts in a cross with a very low danger rate, that Everton not only are able to clear easily, but also pick up the second ball because at least 3 Forest players are way to deep.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is a player who is clearly not in favour with the majority of the fanbase - as always some of the stick he’s received is fair, some of it a little overboard - but one thing that is clear is that Forest have very rarely tried to use him in ways that he’s most effective.
It took over 55 minutes of being behind for Zinchenko to consistently invert from left-back during the initial phase of build up. Dyche has been very reluctant in making in-game tactical changes, it’s pretty much always personnel changes instead. This game was crying out for a tactical change - it made so much sense to either sacrifice a full-back and go to a back 3 of Murillo, Milenkovic & Williams for example - this would have given Forest an extra body higher up the field and hopefully in a central area.
In the end, it was a very late call to get Zinchenko to invert, and even then Forest seemed very reluctant to use him in the build-up anyway, as seen in the video where Zinchenko is visibly frustrated not to receive the ball. Unfortunately, as Murillo gives him the ball later in the phase (ignoring Dyche’s instructions to feed it wide), Zinchenko gives the ball away anyway.
In this last clip, it’s pretty clear again to see Forest’s reluctance to move players into the space between their own defensive line and attacking line. Murillo & Milenkovic’s positioning (off-screen at the end) that covers Thierno Barry, makes it an easy decision for either Zinchenko or Anderson to move into that huge space on the right of Everton’s area.
Forest have enough creativity and talent in their midfield (specifically with Gibbs-White & Anderson) to be able to capitalise in those areas. Gibbs-White had already been instructed to stay closer to Awoniyi, so it was incumbent on Anderson in this instance to move into the space, especially when the scoreline is at 0-2.
It remains to be seen whether Dyche is either willing or able to make these in-game tweaks to improve situations. Forest were so one-dimensional against Everton and played directly into their hands. Dyche deserves a lot of credit for how he’s helped turned around a very dire situation into a less worrying one, but he also has to do a lot more to get this talented squad playing in a much more consistent and dangerous manner.