Leicester City vs Nottingham Forest: opposition report

 

Leicester City vs Nottingham Forest (1-3)

King power stadium

Friday 25^th October, 20:00

Premier league

Referee: Craig Pawson

 

General information

Opposition: Nottingham forest

Manager: Nuno Espirito Santos

Last 5 matches: W,D,L,D,W (unbeaten in 4 away games)

Injuries / suspensions:

-          Morgan Gibbs – White

-          Danilo

-          Ibrahim Sangare

General observations

-          Pace on the wings with a target man up front, look to play through middle and final thirds quickly and precisely.

-          Very strong on attacking turnovers and counter attacks

-          Corners: Wood, Milenkovic, Murillo danger men – attack penalty spot. Elanga takes majority of corners. Commit 6 for attacking corners, with one / 2 sitting on edge outside 18yds

-          Struggled in central positions when defending, spaces between CM’s were big at times

-          Don’t dominate the ball, they look forward to wide players and ST as soon as they can.

-          Effective at creating goalscoring opportunities

-          Left side dominant when in possession

Formations + team sheet

Stable team selection

Elanga, Hudson-Odoi, Wood, Anderson, Sels, Murillo, Aina and Yates have featured in every game so far

Substitutes

Carlos Miguel, Harry Toffolo, Willy Boly, James Ward-Prowse, Jota silva, Awoniyi, Morato, Sosa, Williams

Silva, Awoniyi, Morato, Sosa, Williams often feature from the bench

 

 

In possession

When in possession Nottingham Forest don’t try and hold possession for too long. They play with a direct style with emphasis on a target man (Chris Wood) and 2 pacey, direct wingers (Elanga and Hudson-Odoi).

The back 4 don’t pass the ball around frequently and often will bypass the midfield and go straight up to Wood with a long ball.

Wood will often win the aerial duel and then Forest will play off the second phase of the ball.

They have had 40.1% possession in games across the Premier league this season, the only team lower is Everton (37.5).

When the ball is in midfield, Anderson will be the player who will pick up the ball and attack space centrally with both Dominguez and Yates preferring to pass the ball out wide. The wingers will both hold the width on the touch line to make the pitch wider in an attacking phase of play.

Once the wide players have possession of the ball, they either try to beat the full back and get in a cross or cut inside and have a shot on target, rarely do they recycle the ball back to the defensive players to rebuild attacks.

Hudson – Odoi off the left cuts inside onto his preferred right foot to shoot, if forced down the wing he will often cross the ball to find wood in central areas. Rarely will the wingers pass the ball back down the line towards the defensive players unless necessary.

Building up from the GK often will be a long direct ball up to the ST and will rarely be pass to a CB or defensive player.

 

Out of possession 

When out of possession, they don’t engage much of a press. At times, Anderson pressed the CB’s and GK but wasn’t consistent throughout the team.

They turn from 4-2-3-1 into a 4-3-3 when in defensive structure with Anderson dropping deeper to support other CM’s.

When ball is out wide, FB engages with player on the ball and CM drops into back line to cover the spaces. This can leave gaps in central areas if ball is moved quickly, and CM doesn’t return to position quickly enough.

The CBs were aggressive when pressing the ST, when ST dropped deep to receive the ball one of the CB’s usually went with him to man mark him and pressure him.

When in defensive shape, compact and narrow and good spaces between the defensive lines not allowing much playing room.

However on transitions, CM looked exposed and lacked intensity to get back into position.

Set pieces

Set piece takers

• Ola Aina long throw threat 
• Elanga corner taker
• Hudson – Odoi or Elanga direct free kick  
• Ward Prowse on bench

 

Set pieces - attacking

Elanga is the main corner taker and took them from both sides of the pitch, delivering both in and outswingers. Majority of the corners were aimed at the penalty spot area with pace and accuracy.

Runners often start near edge of the box and attack spaces individually around the box. 6 were committed into the box for most corners with 1 or 2 players on the outside of the box for cover and second phases.

Second phases from corners were strong, won the ball back quickly and got it into the box effectively and a successful second phase led to the first goal.

 

Set pieces - defensive

 

·         Mainly defended in swinging corners

·         Defended well – won most first contacts  

·         Gk likes to come and deal with them when possible

·         Defended mainly zonal

Strengths 

v  Width going forward 

v  Pace going forward 

v  Target man

v  Set piece threats

v  Cb’s strong and aggressive

v  Volume of crosses

v  Direct style

 

Weaknesses 

v  Central midfield can be played through quickly / lack physicality

v  Can be countered on from set plays

v  Big spaces between midfielders on turnovers

v  Balls in behind defence / CB’s

 

Summary

1st half

-          Corners - all pretty central penalty spot not many variations 

-          Susceptible to a counterattack from corner 

-          CM’s not pressing / covering ground well

-          Wingers beating men and crossing well 

-          Striker isolated not really involved 

-          Not much possession in middle 3rd 

No HT subs 

2nd half 

-          Bit more controlled possession in middle and final thirds 

-          Wood more dominant and involved 

-          Spaces in midfield smaller 

-          Less susceptible to counter attacks 

-          71 minutes went to back 5 

-          5-3-2 defensive shape - spaces much smaller in midfield