Sean Dyche to get himself sacked as Nottingham Forest experiment fully exposed vs Braga
Sean Dyche only has himself to blame after Nottingham Forest put up a toothless display against Braga in the Europa League.
Despite not registering a single shot on target [FotMob], the Portuguese giants stole a 1-0 win on Thursday, 22 January, all but ending the Reds’ hopes of automatic qualification.
Evangelos Marinakis is being urged to sack Dyche after just 20 games in charge at the City Ground, having taken over from Ange Postecoglou in October.
The manager made several baffling decisions, like leaving Forest star Elliot Anderson, Ibrahim Sangare, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Neco Williams out of the starting lineup.
Sean Dyche forced to play Braga without a recognised centre-forward
One player who was in desperate need of a standout performance was summer signing Dan Ndoye, having arrived for £40million, notching just two goals and an assist since then.
However, with Lorenzo Lucca‘s deal not yet confirmed and Igor Jesus not fit enough for the game, the Swiss international was given the job of playing through the middle as a makeshift centre-forward.
It was a standout performance. But sadly for the 25-year-old, he was noticeable for all the wrong reasons.
Ndoye was accused of cheating when trying to buy a penalty against Joao Moutinho, and that was probably the only time in the game when he wasn’t totally invisible.
Ndoye sticks out like a sore thumb as a makeshift striker
In 90 minutes, the winger had 27 touches, the fewest of any outfield player to play 90 minutes, with just one chance created, zero dribbles completed, 33 per cent of tackles won, and half of his ground duels won [FotMob].
Morgan Gibbs-White has been known to feature as a false-nine, but with him dropping further and further back to collect the ball, Ndoye was forced to play through the middle for much of the game.
It created a huge issue in the final third, especially with Dyche clearly installing a cross-centred tactic into the minds of his players. That simply doesn’t work without anyone in the penalty area.
Even if Ndoye had been there for crosses, he wouldn’t have won any headers, losing his only aerial duel against Braga, and winning just 50 per cent of them in the entire Premier League campaign.
The manager needs to find a fix when no strikers are available, but based on this performance, starting Ndoye as the lone centre-forward only makes things worse.