FAN FARE | Free-flowing Forest Green eye sustainable success

Forest Green Rovers are a club famous for their off the pitch environmental agenda - with Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin recently investing in what is the world's first carbon-neutral sports club.

Outside of Gloucestershire, or the EFL, Rovers are seen as simply 'that vegan club' - yet there is plenty to set the League Two club apart on the pitch as well as off it. 

Since Mark Cooper's arrival at Rovers in 2017/18, he has been trying to implement a brand of football and a philosophy that is winning both plaudits and points. 

©Getty / Zac Goodwin

A common stereotype of the lower tiers of English football is that teams play more traditionally and direct, but Forest Green are, perhaps unsurprisingly, different - Rovers having adopted a free-flowing attacking style of football, with an emphasis on possession and playing out from the back.

Total Football?

Grimsby Town assistant manager last season, Anthony Limbrick, labelled Forest Green a real 'Total Football' side in a recent interview for Playmaker's  'The Mighty Delta' magazine and there has been plenty of evidence of why so far this season, with the likes of Aaron Collins and Ebou Adams having considerable freedom in their roles and popping up all over the pitch.

Collins has played as an unorthodox centre forward/roaming attacking midfielder so far this campaign and the 23-year-old has impressed with a tenacious work rate alongside experienced target man Jamille Matt. Collins has been the focal point for many attacking transitions, often coming deep to pick the ball up, but also positioning himself in little pockets of space.

©Getty / MI News

The Welshman has had the most shots in League Two with 27 and has already grabbed himself one goal and two assists this season.

Elements of the Total Football theory can also be seen in Rovers' use of wing-backs. In previous season's Liam Shephard and Joseph Mills, who were key during the 2018/19 season when we finished 5th in League Two, would often switch between defending and attacking, between being a full back and a winger. This fluid tactical system allowed Shephard and Mills to score and assist plenty of goals, with Mills finishing top scorer last season with eight goals. Following Mills' departure to Northampton, Nicky Cadden was brought in from Morton, and the Scotsman has impressed - topping the crossing statistics for England's top 4 tiers.

🎯Most crosses in England’s top 4 tiers this season:

70☄️: Nicky Cadden
52☄️: David Worrall
50☄️: Xavi Quintillà
44☄️: Dan Butler
43☄️: Sam Clucas
41☄️: Lewis Hardcastle pic.twitter.com/ssgJrdh5oJ

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) October 12, 2020

The Total Football philosophy requires players to be comfortable in multiple positions and able to switch roles during games. While Rovers have many versatile players, particularly in defence, I feel that the style of football is more possession-based, although there are elements similar to Johan Cruyff's celebrated footballing philosophy.

Tactical Changes

Playing with a back three has been tried and tested by Mark Cooper, but after some dips in success, he has seemingly always returned to four defenders.

So far this season, though, Rovers have lined up with a 3-5-2 formation every game, suggesting this campaign could be the one where Cooper sticks firmly to his favoured line-up.

At times, the way Cooper likes to play has been found out by other teams, resulting in Forest Green struggling. Opposition sides would sit in deep and rely on counter attacks, allowing Rovers to have the ball. A common theme of home games would see Rovers dominate the ball, but be unable to break through resolute defences, therefore failing to capitalise on their possession and often conceding to counter attack goals.

Against Stevenage, Forest Green weren't their usual dominant selves with only six shots and 48 percent possession, in comparison to 63 percent and 27 shots against Walsall two weeks ago.

In the 1-0 home win Cooper's side switched it up, letting Stevenage have more of the ball and scored themselves through a counter attack. After they took the lead, FGR soaked up the pressure in a similar way to which many opposition sides have done against them. Rovers appear to be adapting their game.

The signing of Jamille Matt has provided a real Plan-B, enabling Rovers to switch it up when they can't break teams down or when they find themselves unable to control possession.

Welcome ...

We’re thrilled to announce the signing of Jamille Matt, formerly of @NewportCounty.

The 30-year old striker, who attracted interest from a number of clubs this summer, joins on a one-year deal.

More on this breaking story below 👇https://t.co/qO8Ye5u6hH pic.twitter.com/07cV7kJVJg

— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) July 20, 2020

During the second half of the 19/20 season, a player of Matt's stature and style would've come in handy at Forest Green. When we were in a run of bad form, the identity of short passing, on the ground, possession-based football went missing, with a more direct long ball style brought in to try something different.

Unfortunately, the strikers at our disposal weren't suited to these tactics, with central defender Matt Mills even being tried up front occasionally.

Rovers didn't return to their possession-based identity for the rest of the season, with the impressive away win at Swindon, in the last game before lockdown, an anomaly in what was a torrid second half to the season.

The style of controlling games by keeping the ball and attacking down the flanks worked well in the 18/19 play-off campaign with former assistant manager Scott Lindsey a major factor in the success of this particular style of football.

However, a change in methods as well as a drop off in results was noticeable following his departure from the club in the summer of 2019, with Lindsey now utilising a similar style at Chatham Town.

Keeping consistency

Forest Green have had 11 goalkeepers in four years, with Mark Cooper failing to settle on a regular shot stopper - and perhaps his side's style of football is somewhat to blame, with some players simply not being suited to the possession-based philosophy.

Luke McGee was brought in during the summer as a new number one and despite some impressive saves, he has had a few close calls with the ball at his feet and made mistakes against Bradford and during pre-season.

©Getty / Jacob King - PA Images

Those errors were down to poor positioning which could be due to the fact he is settling into life under Cooper, who wants his goalkeepers to have a relatively high line, with an emphasis on playing out from the back.

FGR aren't a very physical side, with no really physically imposing defenders, but instead deploy smaller, smart ball-playing centre backs in Liam Kitching, Jordan Moore-Taylor and Udoka Godwin-Malife, who are all key in retaining and recycling possession.

Forest Green like to dominate games by controlling possession, with the wing-backs stretching wide to give themselves width. Adams and Winchester are the two midfield pivots who compliment each other brilliantly, with Adams an excellent ball winning box to box midfielder, and Winchester simply moving the ball quickly and retaining possession for his side.

©Getty / MI News

Unlocking defences has been a problem for the Rovers midfield, however, but recently both Winchester and Adams have started to play in more advanced areas, with more forward risky passes and passages of play. The introduction of defensive midfielder Dan Sweeney sitting in behind the two has allowed the duo some attacking freedom and less defensive responsibility.

Strong start

Six games into the 2020/21 campaign and Rovers look back to their free-flowing best. Three wins and three draws mean Mark Cooper's side remain unbeaten and sit 4th in the league, just outside the automatic promotion spots on goal difference.

💥Unbeaten in the league (top 4 tiers; 2020/21):

✅✅✅✅Aston Villa
✅✅✅✅🤝Everton
✅✅✅✅🤝Bristol City
✅✅✅✅🤝Reading
✅🤝✅✅🤝Bournemouth
🤝✅✅🤝✅Sunderland
✅✅✅🤝✅✅Ipswich
✅🤝🤝🤝✅✅Forest Green
✅🤝🤝🤝✅🤝Walsall pic.twitter.com/YloCCrfw74

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) October 19, 2020

Rovers are showing up well statistically thus far this season with an average of 53.7% possession - the second highest in League Two, as well as the highest shots per game tally in the division (17.5).

Mark Cooper's side also boast the best pass success percentage with 76.7 percent, while Nicky Cadden leads the standings for number of crosses and Ebou Adams, as per last season, being the most fouled player in League Two.

In what has been a tough start, Forest Green have put in a string of dominant and impressive performances, but will now face a busy schedule of five matches over 15 days.

The Gloucestershire side will hope to remain near the top of the table with Cooper's Rovers already looking a good bet for promotion - their attractive, yet sometimes risky, brand of football testament to the fact that this is a club intent on doing things its own way. 

Hector Bellerin has become the second-largest shareholder in Forest Green Rovers

He's aiming to use his platform to create awareness around environmental issues 👏 pic.twitter.com/UQEcRcwyzW

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) September 8, 2020