Morning all.
Must be great being Pep Guardiola at Man City. Injuries, no problem, just go and buy more players. Imagine if it was any other club with 115 charges hanging over them, many I believe are to do with finances, they’d have been dealt with by now and no doubt received a deduction of points. Yet City, well, they can throw more money around like it’s going out of fashion. Ironic really though as it was just months ago when Guardiola said:
”As a manager I cannot train 24 players and every time I select I have to have four, five, six stay in Manchester at home because they cannot play. This is not going to happen. I said to the club, I don’t want that.”
Am I imagining it or has it really been a while since Arsenal played an away game in the clubs second kit? Well, apparently the boys will be wearing it tonight at The City Ground as we take on Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest. Forest are currently flirting with the relegation places albeit with a seven point gap between themselves and eighteenth place West Ham.
The good news is that we have no additional injuries following the 3-2 defeat of Chelsea in midweek.
Could any of our injured return?
It might be, so I need to meet now with the medical staff. We have a training session now to see if somebody is available for the weekend.
On who they might be:
I can’t tell you.
Oh he’s such a tease isn’t he…
Whilst we don’t have any additional injuries, there must be a few tired legs within the squad so we might see one or two changes from the side which started against Chelsea, especially as we go to Milan on Tuesday to play Inter.
Forest’s last win in front of their home fans came just over a month ago when they defeated Totts 3-0. Not sure if Forest were brilliant or their opponents were dreadful. It’s hard to believe that this time last year, Forest were in the top four and looking good. Nuno Espirito Santos was performing miracles really yet just three games into the season and with a reported hostile relationship with the board, not apparently helped by the addition of Edu, He was sacked. Ange Postecoglou replaced him but he didn’t last long either. Eight games to be precise with not a victory to be seen. Next for Forest was Sean Dyche who after a good start, has seen his side lose to Fulham, Man City, Everton and Aston Villa so they will want to break that run. Even better for them would be breaking it against the current league leaders in front of their own fans.
As always, here is Adrian Clarke’s lowdown on this evening’s opposition:
Dyche will line his side up in a 4-2-3-1 that is built to be compact without the ball. They will defend deep and look to break at speed. Having had 34% of possession at home to Manchester City, it is virtually guaranteed they will let us dictate the game with a heavy share of the ball. Showing good movement and imagination will be important to break them down, but if Forest do sit tight, we might win plenty of corners. Conceding 11 set-piece goals this season, Forest are shaky at defending them.
They are strong down the wings. Ola Aina and Neco Williams are a terrific pair of attacking full-backs, and along with Omari Hutchison and Callum Hudson-Odoi in front of them, that group deliver plenty of quality balls into the box. Ranking third for the highest number of successful open play crosses, we must defend wide areas with real focus and determination.
Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White are the key individuals. Anderson’s ball-winning qualities are tremendous, and he has an eye for an incisive pass too. Star man Gibbs-White is clever at finding space in the pockets, and his late runs into the box also need to be tracked. His timing is superb when it comes to meeting balls which are flashed across the danger zone.
Goalscoring has certainly been an issue for Nottingham Forest this season. Scoring just 21 times, they have struggled to convert enough opportunities in the absence of Wood. Only Wolves have a lower success rate with shots on goal.
I don’t think it takes a genius to work out what message Dyche will send to his players. Be strong, physical and defensively compact. Try to not let us settle or find any kind of rhythm in our game and when they can, break hard and fast. As Clarke said, they have a number of players who can do that. But Clarke points out the home teams frailties which are basically defending set pieces and scoring goals.
Should be an easy 95 minutes for Arsenal then? No, of course it won’t be. The Arsenal players need to turn up, take control of the game and be clinical in front of goal. If Forest’s game against City is anything to go by, we are likely to have the majority of possession but it’s what we do with that possession which will count.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico.
I hate to say it but this evening’s game is a must win. But then aren’t they all.
Personally I have no difficulty in naming my starting eleven, Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Rice, Odegaard, Zubimendi, Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli.
Subject to the state of the game, some of the above could be substituted early to give them a bit of a rest.
Should we be awarded a penalty, don’t let Madueke take it.
Michael Oliver is the man in the middle, he must not be given the opportunity to flash his red card.
Good morning Cicero.
I’d be tempted to start the same eleven as midweek to and then make changes for the Inter game.
Gyokeres imo should take our spot kicks if he’s on the pitch and totally agree re Oliver. If Utd win at lunchtime, I’m sure he’ll do all he can to stop us from winning later..
Afternoon Rico and all,
Some interesting matches this weekend, and fingers crossed united do us a favor by beating city.
I agree with you Rico that Gyokeres looks very confident when he takes spot kick, none of this start – start run on the spot crap, just take quick and kick the ball as hard as you can, and don’t give their keeper a chance to think.
When did Saka last miss a penalty or have one saved? Geoff.
Someone needs to teach Utd the offside rule.
Afternoon Geoff, Saka’s penalties are good. I just prefer to see power.
Saka has missed a couple of penalties, and I must admit when he takes them, I hold my breath
Man u at the moment is their own worst enemy
Man U 1 – 0 up.65 mins.
A genuine local derby, both clubs going for it, neither looking to take prisoners.
2 – 0
3 – 0
3 rd goal ruled out by Var for offside.
Now for us to take advantage…
Thanks Utd..
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Madueke, Martinelli, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Havertz, Eze, Saka, Trossard, Jesus.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina, Anderson, Dominguez, Hudson-Odoi, Sangare, Gibbs-White, Jesus.
Subs: Gunn, Morato, Luiz, Yates, Savona, McAtee, Hutchinson, Ndoye, Awoniyi.
Guys, HH seems to be playing silly devils in the comments section. Please bear with it.
Enjoy the game
Just testing.
Seems ok now Rico.
This looks like one goal will settle it. Hope we score it.
Great to see Mosquero on the bench.
Let’s have e a fast start to the second half and a goal would be nice too.
Thanks to the genius behind the scenes Cicero
Saka on for the Madueke, Merino for Odegaard Jesus for Gyokeres.
We’ve been pretty average so far
Every fifty fifty decision is going Forest’s way. As expected!
Nil nil. 😕
My post at half was not posted, but it was prophetic. They just can’t get the job done.
What a drab old performance but the game should have been won by Martinelli. I bet he’s kicking himself.
Couldn’t comment during the match due to I.T Problems ,
Could you get your techie to do something about the team . As expected we got nothing from Oliver and I reckon Aina would have had to put the ball up his shirt for any chance of a pen being given.
That £ 20,000 a game must still be weighing on his decisions. I wonder how much Darren England got for being Oliver’s VAR that game .
Funny that they were ref and Var today as well. At times you can’t help wondering can you ?
However we didn’t deserve more than we got . Whenever we get a team that blocks and plays on the break but closes the midfield quickly, we struggle and it turns into a slow paced passing game and we spend our time going back and forward until we get it wide and try to get a corner or a cross. by which time any forward that is present is surrounded and basically neutered.
We talk about our squad players and they are all very competent but we need a maverick someone that drives from the midfield and makes defenders commit and either get drawn out of position or foul someone.
No, you can’t. The penalty decision was bonkers as Aina clearly scoops the ball with his hand.
Wasn’t that kind of player meant to be Eze Potter.
I’ll ask re sorting the team out. Lol
The team lacked physical freshness. The two initial substitutions didn’t work, especially Madueke. He complicates things a lot and always makes poor decisions. We ended up being on top of the game a few times and the opposite at other times. Two points lost, but given the circumstances, where it seemed to me that in the last 5 minutes we were more focused on not losing, it’s ultimately acceptable.
Clean sheet, one point. Lead extended a little bit. Could be decisive at the end of the season.😉
I know that he is a kid but I believe that perhaps we should do something drastic , There are only 4 players in our squad that actually take players on Madueke , Saka, Lewis Skelly and Nwaneri , In games like todays we need to shake things up and do things that the other team don’t expect. Why Nwaneri is not getting a few minutes is baffling me.
Ever the optimist Cicero. 😂
Said similar about Nwaneri the other day when the conversation was about midfielders who will run at defences. Eze did at Palace too.
We go to City at the end of April those 2 points might become very important
I think that was the question when we were linked with Madueke, what next for Nwaneri. I know he’s young but so was Saka when he started under Emery.
It was mentioned the other day about Nwaneri’s decision making, well I don’t think Madueke’s, or sometimes Odegaard’s is much better, if at all.
Villa win tomorrow and the gap is 4 points, their fixtures have little difficulty until their last 2 matches Home to Liverpool and away to Man City.
Hopefully the return of European football will scupper their results in the league.
Plus they have two tough fixtures against Newcastle, one in PL, other FA Cup.
Then again I watched the Manchester derby today and if United play like they did today they will get the points next Sunday.
Then we could easily find ourselves playing catch up to Villa ..
They have Everton tomorrow then Newcastle ,Brentford , Bournemouth and Brighton to follow. I can’t see them losing too many points from those.
Hope that I am wrong afterall I did the pools for years and only won the 4 aways once.
It’s not going to get any easier, we’re in four competitions at the moment, should Arteta think about sacrificing any of them.
I remember 1971, Bertie Mee was asked just that question, he decided to go for all of them. We did the double.
I remember the pools, I used to do them with my nanny and grandad. Sorry. 😂
Bit late for sacrificing a cup now we’re in the semifinals. lol
I just hope he rotates Tuesday because Utd players will be fresh as daises…
Afternoon Rico and all, I see I was not the only one who had problems posting, it maybe one point earned but it feels like 3 points lost, especially if Villa win,
Testing?
Well what more can Arteta do, he’s trying to rotate as we challenge for everything but if he rotates too much and we lose he’s castigated, but I do agree regarding Nwaneri and I hope he’s involved at the San Siro.
We had four great chances and missed all of them, that’s on the players.
We had a nailed on penalty ignored by the VAR, that’s on the PGMOL.
But it’s Arteta’s fault somehow?
We can’t complain about Arteta regarding this match. The players failed him today. They let us down, they play with no urgency and made questionable decisions.
Poor Mikel!
All that time sitting next to Pep, learning from his football brain, and yet he didn’t get the one thing he needs the most – bravery.
He is as good at managing as he was as a player, very bland and ordinary.
Michael Carrick is a better manager than Arteta.
Why not try a bit of spontaneous attacking football and see where it takes us?!? Because he doesn’t have the cojones.
We will never see exciting football with Arteta, he doesn’t have a clue how to play that way.
We are boring our way to the PL title (unless Arteta’s super-cautious approach fails again and he needs another half a £billion in the summer to cement his cultish brand of shit football).
Aren’t we lucky to have him!!!
I wonder if our U21’s are playing Artetaball.
Very worrying if they are.
Morning all.
Michael Carrick a better manager than Mikel Arteta, that’s made me chuckle. No way..
New post up.