If football viewers are forced to pick a part of matches they could fast-forward through, the most popular choice is likely to be throw-ins.
Usually, these are trivial to the audience; just a means to resume the action after the ball goes off one side of the pitch or the other. The fun ones are those launched into the penalty area towards a cluster of players from both teams battling to get on the end of it.
The most iconic long throw-ins in Premier League history were Rory Delap’s with Stoke City in the late 2000s, and in recent seasons it is Brentford and Nottingham Forest who have been the flagbearers of this approach.
However, Forest have been mixing it up this season with another signature move deployed when the throw-in is between the opponents’ penalty area and the halfway line.
Here we will take you through the principles of this routine, using examples that didn’t quite work, before explaining how it finally produced a goal for midfielder Elliot Anderson during Sunday’s 3-2 home win against Southampton.
Forest’s signature throw-ins are always taken by the full-back, with the winger, attacking midfielder and nearest central midfielder presenting themselves as short options, while striker Chris Wood’s position forces the opposition centre-backs to shift across because of the threat of the ball being chucked long.
Wood tends to be just a decoy, though, because the move centres around dragging the opponents towards the touchline where the throw is happening, vacating space for the Forest central midfielder to attack, before finding his striker with a quick passing combination.
Here in December’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa, Jota Silva dashes towards the line to drag Boubacar Kamara deeper (above) and create a larger gap in the centre of midfield as Neco Williams is preparing to take the throw-in.
As Forest’s left-back hurls to Callum Hudson-Odoi, Anderson distances himself from Morgan Rogers…
… before moving forward into that space vacated by the movements of Silva and Kamara. Hudson-Odoi then returns the ball to Williams…
… but the height of the pass prevents the Wales international from quickly finding Anderson’s run between the lines. By the time Williams controls the ball, the passing lane to Anderson is closed.
The most common variation is where Morgan Gibbs-White is the Forest player whose movement attracts an opponent’s attention, before Forest combine through their No 10 to find the free central midfielder.
In this example, from the 3-2 victory against Manchester United a week before that Villa game, Williams is again readying to take the throw-in with Hudson-Odoi near the touchline, Gibbs-White around the edge of the penalty area and Anderson between the latter and the ball.
As Williams throws towards Gibbs-White, Anderson moves infield, away from Manuel Ugarte, to attack the central space. Meanwhile, Kobbie Mainoo is vacating that zone to defend Gibbs-White…
… who heads the ball away from Anderson’s path, and United manage to collect it. This is an unsuccessful example, but one which shows the theory behind this move.
In another example, against Liverpool last week, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White and Wood are in position, with Anderson backing them up in midfield. When Williams throws the ball to a dropping Gibbs-White…
… it forces Ryan Gravenberch to react, which vacates space in the centre of the pitch. Gibbs-White then rapidly plays the ball back to the advancing Anderson, who carries it forward into that area…
… before combining with Wood…
… but the attack comes to an end when Virgil van Dijk manages to intercept the latter’s pass.
The key to this routine is the timing of Anderson’s movement when Williams is throwing the ball to Gibbs-White.
Here, in Sunday’s match against Southampton, Anthony Elanga, Wood and Gibbs-White are forcing their markers to be in deeper positions, which creates a gap in the centre. Meanwhile, Anderson is the nearest option for Williams…
… but he fakes a forward run to deceive Mateus Fernandes on the next action.
As the former Newcastle man halts his movement…
… Williams again throws to a dropping Gibbs-White and, simultaneously, Anderson changes his direction again to attack the space that opens up because Lesley Ugochukwu is moving towards the ball.
Gibbs-White then finds Anderson’s run with a one-touch pass…
… but Fernandes fouls the England Under-21 midfielder. Referee Anthony Taylor plays advantage when Wood picks up the loose ball but his eventual shot is a long way off target.
Forest did manage to score from this routine in their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on the season’s opening weekend in August.
Here, Ryan Yates’ positioning attracts Dango Ouattara, but Ola Aina isn’t going to throw the ball to his central-midfielder colleague.
The left-back adjusts his orientation and instead throws to Gibbs-White, whose run is dragging Lewis Cook away from goal. At the same moment, Yates dashes forward…
…. and Gibbs-White finds him with a one-touch pass.
The speed at which Forest execute all this ensures that Yates carries the ball into space before Cook can react, and the up-back-through pattern also makes it harder for the Bournemouth midfielder because he is defending against the momentum of his own upfield movement.
Yates then finds Elanga, who combines with Wood, but Bournemouth’s right-back, Adam Smith, is first to the ball. Fortunately for Forest, Smith’s attempted clearance ricochets off a team-mate and falls for Yates. His shot is saved, but Wood scores from the rebound.
Another Forest goal originating from this throw-in ploy came in their latest victory, against Southampton last weekend.
In this example, the positioning of the various Forest players creates an empty zone…
… and when Gibbs-White drops into it, opponent Flynn Downes follows him. Meanwhile, Anderson surges forward as Williams is throwing the ball to Gibbs-White…
… who flicks it into his path. The routine moves Downes out of position and creates a gap, which Anderson now carries the ball into…
… before shooting into the bottom corner for the first goal of the afternoon.
Even if Forest’s signature throw-in doesn’t always directly result in a goal or a shot, it’s a clever way to progress the ball up the pitch into more dangerous zones.
Naturally, long throws directly into the mixer will catch the eye, but the shorter ones still have their uses.
