Birtles wants to see Reds mix it up to get on track
CLUB legend Garry Birtles wants to see Nottingham Forest mix up their formation to spark a change in fortunes on the pitch.
Chris Hughton has generally favoured a 4-2-3-1 system during his time in charge of the Reds.
But starting the new season with successive defeats in the Championship has led to a debate about the merits of playing two defensive-minded midfielders in the starting 11.
Jack Colback and Ryan Yates were the pairing against Coventry City and Bournemouth, which both ended with Forest beaten 2-1.
It is an area Hughton is keen to strengthen, with Manchester United youngster James Garner still on the radar after a successful loan spell last term.
But Birtles says there are times when his old team should go with a more attacking line-up, after a lack of goals saw them struggle at the bottom end of the table in 2020-21.
“I’m not a fan at all. Never have been, never will be,” he said on Nottinghamshirelive’s Garibaldi Red podcast, of the 4-2-3-1 formation
“I can understand it in some games. But the Coventry game, with all due respect to them, they are an average team, and playing Yates and Colback as defensive midfielders would have given them a massive lift.
“They have the players to be able to play around that. If you’re playing against someone like Bournemouth, I can understand it more.
“But you’ve got to be flexible with it. You can’t just play it all the time.
“You’ve got to look at your opposition and say, ‘right, this is how they play, maybe we don’t need two defensive midfield players’.
“Last season, we were in the bottom two or three of most stats in the final third of the pitch. That’s because we’ve got no creativity, we isolate one man up front and we’ve got two defensive midfield players.
“So what would you rather have this season after those horrendous stats last season? You’d like improvement. You’d like something different.
“So far, we’re not seeing that. It’s exactly the same as it was last season. If it carries on like that, what’s going to happen? We’re all going to be doom and gloom.
“You’ve got to change things now and again if they’re not working.
“If you’re playing the better teams – the West Broms or the Bournemouths – stabilise things, even at home a bit.
“Always respect your opposition but don’t bow down to them. I think you bow down to opposition by playing two defensive midfielders.”