Douglas Luiz’s pass map highlights bizarre Sean Dyche decision – Nottingham Forest’s three winners and losers vs Bournemouth
Nottingham Forest fell to a lifeless 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth as Sean Dyche struggled to continue his fine start to life at the City Ground in the Europa League.
Following Dyche’s sensational 2-0 debut victory over Porto on 23 October, the Garibaldi turned their attention back to the Premier League.
Ange Postecoglou left Nottingham Forest in a dire state as the former Everton boss aims to get Evangelos Marinakis’ club back on track.
However, the instant impact in the Europa League could not be continued in the English top-flight as Football Insider picks out the winners and losers from the clash with the Cherries.
Nottingham Forest winners
Douglas Luiz
Football Insider tipped Douglas Luiz to be a success under Postecoglou even in his underwhelming tenure.
Despite a poor result for Forest, the Brazilian was central to trying to turn around his side’s fortunes and was hooked off on half-time purely due to walking the yellow card tightrope.
As demonstrated by his pass map, in collaboration with Football Insider’s data partnership with Opta, Douglas Luiz completed 25 of his 26 passes, highlighting his superb care on the ball
The ex-Juventus man also won all six of his duels, begging the question of whether the Forest boss was too hasty in taking off the star midfielder.
Murillo
In what was a defensively shoddy performance, the Brazilian stood out as one of the better players in Dyche’s rearguard.
Murillo made three clearances and won all five of his duels as he tried to keep the deficit as low as possible.
The hype of the win over Porto has seemingly dipped for the Garibaldi with their new manager looking to lean on the defensive knowhow of the 23-year-old.
Neco Williams
Similar to his defensive counterpart, the Welshman was marginally better than some of his teammates in the backline.
Neco Williams won eight of his nine duels and was lively in the final third, taking three shots at goal.
With Oleksandr Zinchenko set for a spell on the sidelines for Nottingham Forest, the 24-year-old has a prime opportunity to hold down the left-back spot for the foreseeable future.
Nottingham Forest losers
Matz Sels
The Belgian conceded the Bournemouth opener in comical fashion as Marcus Tavernier scored directly from a corner.
Matz Sels was left stranded as the ball whipped in over his head into the back of the net, highlighting the Garibaldi’s continuous issue of conceding from set pieces.
When the 33-year-old arrived from Strasbourg in February 2024, there was a certain weakness in his goalkeeping game that was quickly dispelled in Nuno Espirito Santo’s first full season in charge in 2024-25.
However, the nature of this goal suggests that that initial poor form upon arrival to the Premier League could be creeping back in again.
Callum Hudson-Odoi
Hooked at half-time, the Englishman was anonymous in the first 45 minutes of the match.
Callum Hudson-Odoi touched the ball just 16 times, losing possession on five occasions as he did little to provide Forest with an attacking outlet.
With a plethora of wide options, Dyche should be turning to over attackers moving forward.
Dan Ndoye
Wingers seemed to be an overwhelming issue for Forest against the Cherries with Dan Ndoye offering nothing on the right-hand side.
The Switzerland international was careless with the ball, completing just 22 of his 30 passes and losing possession on 11 occasions.
Given the importance of wide players delivering quality crosses from both flanks, Dyche will be bitterly disappointed with the ex-Bologna star’s showing.