Last Sunday, the shock result of the weekend’s Championship fixtures came courtesy of Wigan Athletic as Paul Cook’s Latics were able to edge out a 1-0 victory over high-flying Nottingham Forest. Jamal Lowe’s first-half goal was the difference between the two sides as Sabri Lamouchi’s Forest struggled to find the gear that had propelled them to second in the table.
This tactical analysis will dissect the tactics Cook used to mastermind the victory and use analysis to show where Forest could have been better to avoid defeat in Greater Manchester.
Lineups
Paul Cook changed little by way of shape for his side following their 1-0 away defeat to Sheffield Wednesday last time out. Wigan stuck with their preferred system so far this season of a 4-2-3-1 – which they have differed from on very few occasions for a 3-4-2-1, which last featured in August during the Latics’ 3-1 away defeat to Queens Park Rangers. In terms of personnel, Cook made three changes. Sam Morsy, Josh Windass and Joe Garner made way for Lewis Macleod, Michael Jacobs and Kieffer Moore; with Windass and Garner dropping to the bench.
Sabri Lamouchi has shown himself to be relatively fluid by way of formation choice during this season. The Frenchman is loyal to four-back formations, however, frequently alters the structure of his midfield and attack. Following Forest’s 1-0 victory over Brentford at the City Ground, Lamouchi dropped the 4-2-3-1 formation in preference of a traditional 4-4-2 against Wigan. Alongside his change in structure, Lamouchi also made five changes in the Reds’ lineup. Chema, Samba Sow, Tiago Silva, Joao Carvalho and Lewis Grabban were all dropped in favour of Tobias Figueredo, John Bostock, Sammy Ameobi, Jack Robinson and Rafa Mir.
