Growing your own timber
Nottingham Forest survived the drop last year and are looking to improve upon their position last time. They have made some interesting transfers to do it.
Welcome to the day one series! This is a short series where we take over each Premier League club on day one and make suggestions on how to start with that club on FM24. This is in no way a definitive guide, but will provide some help for anyone tasking over these clubs. The main problem for new managers is assessing which direction the team is going.
This episode is Nottingham Forest, or Forest. They came up to the EPL last year and came 16th, which is impressive for any new club. Over the summer they have made some interesting signings with some big names. They are only expected to do about the same, but this season will provide a springboard for the future.
In our guide, you’ll find everything you need to know to get started with Nottingham Forest on FM24, including:
- What objectives do Nottingham Forest face and why they are important.
- The different types of players and how they work in the squad.
- Tips, tactics, and best practices to succeed with Nottingham Forest.
Let’s push on and see how we can make Nottingham Forest on FM24 even better!
Nottingham Forest Objectives
To divine our strategy and identity going forward we need to understand the objectives. On first impressions the fans have more objectives than the board do, which just shows you the support in the Nottingham. They are a very proud club and have fierce rivalry with Derby.
The obvious one is to become an established Premier League team. After one great season you are not an EPL team, you need to be able to do that year in year out. This year anything above relegation would be a failure, they want the status to springboard from. Playing entertaining football is an easy objective, and one that we naturally aspire to.
Developing the players youth the youth system is similar to a lot of EPL teams. We need to be upgrading the youth facilities, with a coaching team that focuses on working with youngsters will help with that. I also like high ratings in motivation in my staff too, to support players and create a positive atmosphere at the club.
So let’s move onto the board objectives for FM24. So where the supporter objectives were quite general, the board have gone a little more detailed. They want to be attacking, which goes hand in hand with entertaining football. This means we will play with a positive mentality in our tactic build.
They also want to sign players under 23 for the future and the first team. This is interesting because it would appear they have a plan for the future and they want to grow. They want to bring them in develop them and hang on to them and see the club successful. I really like this mentality.
Nottingham Forest First 11
Let’s assess the key players with our usual fitness test, the current ability check. So after sorting the squad into current ability order, we can see we have a small group of key players on FM24. On first observations, we can see that we have two GKs in our key players. One is great, but two seems a bit of a waste. On the other hand we have two defenders and three midfielders, which covers most of the first team, so is finely balanced.
There looks to be a real talent in Hudson-Odoi in the future, so I think he could become a focal point in the team. Moving onto the squad, I have not seen a squad of this size. There are so many three star players in the is squad which is good so we can build most formations and also sell the players that do not fit.
Looking around the squad we have a number of players out on loan, so the size of the squad is not an immediate issue. After working through this, it appears that we do not have many wide players, so we will be building a more central formations. Central formations on FM24 seem to be quite few and far between as lots of wide players are very creative.
We have a great selection of DCs so that is leading me to believe that the way forward will be to play with 3 at the back, and two full backs to create some width. Width is normally important for attacking formations, so we need to make it up some where.
Nottingham Forest Tactics
So with everything that has been discussed regarding Nottingham Forest on FM24, I have developed the tactic below. We have gone with a 5212. This is because we do not have enough depth in wide players, plus the wide players we have can play centrally. We are going to generate some width through wingbacks to give the attacking emphasis and passing plays.
Up front we have gone for the typical, big man little man combo as well as going for two strikers. The reason for the two strikers is that we do not have good forwards to play with one and also the two different strikers bring different threats.
With a central formation, the ball is going to keep on the floor more often, so I am expecting the poacher to be the main threat going forward. Hudson-Odoi will chip in too, and with the talent he possesses on FM24 I am expecting big things!
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I really like the mentality and objectives at Nottingham Forest. They are a team looking to go forward and build. They want to bring young players in, develop them and reach the highs with them. If you can buy into the strategy then you will have fun with the club.
The real strength in this team is the defence. They have fantastic DCs and goal keeper, plus they have options on the wingbacks. We have used this strength to build from in our tactic above. The weakness to this team are the forwards are not the best finishers, potentially having two upfront could combat that.
The opportunity in the team is Elanga and Hudson-Odoi. Both look to be super talented and could do big things for this club. There are more youngsters coming through and with buying more the club will go from strength to strength. The threat is that things do not work out in performances and the club gets sucked into the relegation fight. This can be avoided, but is always a possibility.
Start a game with Nottingham Forest on FM24 today! Comment below on the guide or how you get on, drop us a like if you want.
