Forest must improve set-piece defending to stay above Luton

Adrian Clarke looks at key tactical points and players who can be decisive in Matchweek 29.

Team analysis - Nottingham Forest

Nott'm Forest have conceded 38 per cent of their goals from set-pieces this season.

Indeed, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men are the most vulnerable team when defending corners and free-kicks, leaking four more goals from set-plays than any other Premier League team.

Set-piece goals conceded 23/24*

*excluding penalties

Forest have shipped 10 from corners, a league-high seven from free-kicks, while one concession came from a quickly-taken throw-in.

If they do not address these dead-ball deficiencies properly, it will become increasingly hard for them to stay out of the bottom three.

In a key encounter this weekend at Luton Town, who have many aerial threats, Forest cannot afford to be as lapse as they have been from set-plays throughout 2023/24.

LUT

1-1

NFO

Highlights Available

close

TV Info - Broadcasters

Rob Edwards, whose side have their own fragilities in this department after conceding 14 set-piece goals, will be hoping Alfie Doughty’s excellent dead-ball deliveries will catch out opponents who sit only one place and three points above them in the table.

Relegation battle

Position Pos	Club	Played Pl	GD	Points Pts
14	Wolves WOL	38	-15	46
15	Everton EVE	38	-11	40
16	Brentford BRE	38	-9	39
17	Nott'm Forest NFO	38	-18	32
18	Luton LUT	38	-33	26
19	Burnley BUR	38	-37	24
20	Sheffield Utd SHU	38	-69	16

View More

You can lay the blame for four of Forest’s goals conceded from corners on loose man-marking.

Nuno goes heavier on man-marking than many other Premier League coaches, with up to five opponents usually designated their own chaperone ahead of a set-piece.

If a single marker loses concentration it can trip you up, and that was the case against AFC Bournemouth, Brentford and West Ham United (twice).

In the most recent of these examples, Nuno Tavares allowed Justin Kluivert to run off him and onto the end of a near-post flick at Vitality Stadium.

Interestingly, in a pre-planned move, Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth's No 9 at the far post) cleverly dragged his marker Morgan Gibbs-White away from the far post to vacate room for his team-mate to finish.

In this second example below, you can see Jarrod Bowen (circled in red in the first photo) is being picked up by Danilo. But as the ball is in the air, Danilo's own team-mate Orel Mangala blocks his path when chasing Nayef Aguerd (circled in red in the second photo), allowing Bowen a free run to head home.

The same two players collided in near-identical fashion to allow Ben Mee to run across a near-post zonal marker to score at Brentford.

Now facing a Luton side who have scored an impressive 12 set-piece goals, Forest must ensure their defensive man-marking does not become too chaotic.

Losing the spare man

Like many teams, Forest bring all 11 players back for corners, playing the percentage game by stationing everyone inside the box.

This gives them a numerical advantage in that key domain, but on a couple of occasions this policy has come unstuck.

Early in the campaign, a partially-cleared corner fell to Sheffield United’s Gustavo Hamer, who curled a shot in with no one around him from the edge of the area.

More recently, Newcastle United exploited that set-up quite brilliantly.

Brazil international Bruno Guimaraes (circled in red) stood all alone as the Magpies played a short corner towards their only other spare man, Kieran Trippier.

With everybody else in a red shirt either marking a player or guarding a space inside the central region, Guimaraes slipped around the back unnoticed to volley home in style.

Eddie Howe and his coaching staff had clearly identified this flaw in Forest’s strategic approach and pulled off the training-ground move superbly.

Too many mistakes

The other two main problem areas for Nuno's side have been individual errors defending wide free-kicks and a lack of communication when picking up runners from the second or third phase of a corner.

Those scenarios have been responsible for a total of nine set-piece goals finding the back of their net.

Forest's type of set-piece goals conceded

A recent goal that typifies Forest’s poor awareness from recycled set-plays came at Villa Park, when Douglas Luiz was allowed to run in between centre-backs Murillo and Felipe to head home.

Their issues are also summed up by the way Everton's Dwight McNeil was left free in a far-post 3v1 from the second phase of a wide free-kick. 

Serge Aurier (circled in red) is overloaded. Callum Hudson-Odoi (arm pointing) does not track back, and there was little to no communication before McNeil collects the cross to score.

Between now and the end of the season, Forest’s players must show greater collective desire to prevent goals being scored against them from dead-balls.

Concentration levels have not been good enough, and the men doing the marking (both man-to-man and zonal) must also be far more robust and decisive when balls enter their box.

Luton are strong from set-plays, so Forest's resolve will certainly be tested at Kenilworth Road.

Also in this series