Nottingham Forest had a love-hate relationship with set pieces last season. They loved to concede them and hated defending them – it seemed!
This season, however, a corner looks to have been turned after nine games of the campaign.
Forest will concede from a set piece at some point this season – that’s inevitable in football – but right now, they’ve not shipped once from those situations.
The arrival of Nikola Milenkovic has helped. He’s the captain of Serbia and after costing the Reds £12 million, Henry Winter praised his efforts during a game against Chelsea.
However, it’s not all on Milenkovic and there have been considerable defensive improvements across the board.
Nuno Espirito Santo has been praised for his team’s showing this season and the set-piece situation was clearly something he wanted to address during pre-season.
Ola Aina shares what Nottingham Forest have done to combat set piece woes
The Nigerian performer has continued his fine form this season having been switched over to right-back by the Forest head coach.
Alex Moreno has come into the club from Aston Villa and his arrival has added some balance to the Forest defensive unit.
Most Forest fans would have fancied the Reds to improve on 17th last season but the set-play situation was definitely causing a concern.
Clearly, it’s something that has been studied though and now Forest are reaping the rewards of some meticulous training from the gaffer.
Aina told Premier League Productions: “We’re trying really hard not to concede as much as we did and we’ve been working on set plays as well. We’ve been working really hard on that.
“We have a strong unit right now and when it comes to defending those situations it’s been key that we work on communication, that’s really what we needed to do better.”
Forest must give Aina a new City Ground contract
The 27-year-old initially signed for Forest on a one-year contract after leaving Torino at the end of his three-year contract.
Aina made 22 appearances in his first season on Trentside and did extremely well whenever he was called upon.
Fans were incensed, however, when Aina was only given a one-year extension in the summer with the belief that it should have been for longer.
Now, Forest have to get busy again and get Aina tied down to another extension and this time it needs to be a longer one.
Given his age, the player should now be at the peak of his powers and Forest would be wise to thwart off any potential interest from other clubs.
Aina gives his all for the Forest cause and perhaps more crucially he looks like a big influence in the dressing room.
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