Statistics from set-pieces weigh heavily on our minds as we go into Sunday’s game against Everton.
Forest have conceded almost half of their goals from set-pieces whilst Everton score nearly all of their goals from set-pieces. Admittedly, Everton have only scored 32 goals this season but they are only just behind Arsenal with regards to scoring from set-pieces.
Besides being able to keep clean sheets (9), Everton are the set-piece masters whilst Forest can neither score nor defend from them. Morgan-Gibbs-White’s equalizer against Wolves was the first goal from a set-piece since Moussa Niakhaté’s goal against Aston Villa, who have their own problems conceding from set-pieces (just a handful of goals behind Forest).
It only takes one set-piece
When you consider that Wolves only had one corner, a team scoring from 100% of their corners is a stat I find hard to live with.
Conceding from set-pieces remains the story of the season for Forest as they are Forest’s Achilles heel; the kryptonite around their necks, and it brings into question the contribution of set-piece coach, Simon Rusk. I would love to hear the post-match conversations and see how they have addressed all 22 goals after each game and determine if anyone firmly believes that any progress has been made from one game to the next.
Was it a plan for Chris Wood to take his eye off the ball and just lunge blindly towards the opposition at a corner?
The appointment doesn’t make any sense when you consider the stats because employing an authority on set-pieces whilst getting relegated due to being unable to defend crosses and corners, to me, is a bit like getting banned from driving for continually breaking the speed limit by 3 mph.
The set-piece coach has had 21 games to resolve the problem and they must be aware of the issues but they obviously fail to act and resolve the problem.
Even closing the ball down before the corners are conceded is a long, drawn-out affair that puts us under so much pressure. At times, watching Forest is like observing a National Express coach trying to overtake a Porsche on the motorway.
Marking from set-pieces is like an apocalyptic scene.
We are told that football is often about doing the simple things but even the goalkeeper playing a ball out to a defender feels like watching an under-10s team trying to build an attack from the back: “No, mate, don’t do that or else you’ll play it straight to the opposition…like Ryan Yates does.”
I thought defending corners was a natural attribute of any defender but Forest make zonal marking look like an apocalyptic scene: bodies flailing, misdirection, confusion everywhere, and stricken faces looking at the ball as it nestles in the Forest net.
When the defence sets up, they look like an organized group. It’s as if they have grasped the idea of zonal marking on paper but panic when the ball comes in.
Clearly, nothing is being learned from Simon Rusk’s set-piece coaching and Forest still manage to lose games from winning positions.
Shaun Dyche is a regular at the City Ground and he will be more than aware of Forest’s defensive flaws, and he will advise his team to exploit the frailties.
The reality is, Everton will throw a lot of balls into the box and they will aim to benefit from the correlation between goals and the number of touches in the other team’s half.
Defensive Frailties.
It wasn’t only defensive frailties that prevented us from winning because, had Divok Origi buried his late chance rather than play a woeful ball to Chris Wood, Forest could’ve won a game 3-2 for a change.
Origi has disappointed me since his arrival. He is failing to contribute anything to the side at the moment. Perhaps it’s confidence or the lack of game time.
After eighteen games, the manager hasn’t made much difference to the results and, with five games left, I’m looking at Fulham and Bournemouth who came up with us and they look comfortable whereas, the reality is, Forest are within touching distance of Luton Town.
Luton Town’s survival will be a truly amazing achievement – it’s a fairytale story – but, if Forest can’t match them over the next five games, it’s unacceptable and Forest deserve to go down.
Can Forest win another game?
What worries me the most is that Forest might not win another game this season.
We’ve already discussed how Everton could take us apart this Sunday and we all know what Manchester City are capable of. Having said that, our away form is so abysmal that I feel we have more chance of beating Manchester City at home than winning at Sheffield United and Burnley.
If Forest lose the next two games, I believe that Luton will win at least one of their remaining home games against Brentford, Everton and Fulham.
Ultimately, the game against Wolves was our best chance of getting three points on the board and, consequently, I now fear that, unless Forest can win at least two of their remaining games, Luton will bag more points than Forest and stay up.
Prove me wrong – COYR!
