The Arsenal have their Lumberjack shirts on, and they’re ready to do battle with Nottingham Forest, in the Premier League, at The City Ground.
This is a tricky fixture for any visiting team, hence why their nickname is… The Tricky Trees.
The Gunners must replace their cannon with axes, saws, and wood chippers… and go to work in the forest.
We must leaves nothing to chance, and I wood start the strongest team possible, as this is more important than the Champions League group stage game, against Bayern Munich.
Forest are on the back of a 3-1 defeat, at the hands of Crystal Palace… and The Arsenal are on the back of a 2-1 win, over Leeds United.
Regardless of form though, Forest ALWAYS give us a difficult game… and I’m expecting more of the same.
Our last two visits to The City Ground, have ended 0-0, and the time to remedy that has long passed!!
The starting line-up was Raya in goal, Calafiori at left-back, Gabriel and Konsa, central… and Benny Blanco at right-back.
Bruno Guimaraes, and Declan Rice, in central midfield… and just in front of them, was Eze on the left… rewarded for playing well against Lille. Odegaard was in the No.10 role, and Bukayo Saka on the right.
Kai Havertz started up front.
In typical Oliver Glasner fashion, he set his team up defensively.
Forest lined up in the lowest defensive block I’ve ever seen, and in typical Arsenal fashion, we struggled to break them down.
The Tricky Trees were there to frustrate, and frustrate they did.
The Gunners couldn’t get in behind them, because the ball wasn’t being moved quick enough… and in addition to that, we failed to get the ball consistently into wide areas, so no crosses were put into the box… which meant our aerial threat was wasted.
Also, our creative players failed to create, and a combination of all of those things… made it very easy for Forest to defend.
They were comfortable… like home on a Sunday evening, after just eating dinner, and you have no work on Monday… type of comfortable.
Our side-to-side, and backwards passes, were nothing but token gestures… gestures, that Forest accepted all too gladly.
The game as a spectacle, was about as pleasing to the eye, as shards of glass piercing the retina.
Arsenal will inevitably get the blame for that, but Forest have a huge share of said blame.
A horrible first half ended 0-0, and with neither team having a shot on target.
The Arsenal should take teams being scared to death to play football against us, as a compliment… but the tedium of these games, blurs the corneas, and obstructs the bigger picture.
Eze was taken off at half-time, and deservedly so… but NOBODY covered themselves in glory, in that first half… so I was surprised he got hooked off.
I spoke to my brother during the interval, and he had a different take on it.
He suggested that maybe Eze was taken off, because Glasner knows his game inside out, from his time as Crystal Palace manager… which means it was easier to mark him out the game, as a result of that.
I thought about it, and I’m inclined to agree with my brother. A truly excellent take, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.
Sometimes it’s hard to see things clearly, during the emotions of a game… ESPECIALLY, the frustrating ones.
So anyway, the second half started, with Eze being replaced by Madueke.
The flow of the game didn’t change much, but the introduction of Noni Madueke, gave us more unpredictability, on that left side.
We still couldn’t muster a shot on target, but I must say, Forest were defending incredibly well… and to add insult to injury, we were making Liam Delap… yes… LIAM DELAP, look like prime Didier Drogba. He was getting into threatening positions far too easily, but couldn’t bully the backline… and of course, lacked goal scoring prowess.
It annoyed me that he saw so much of the ball, nonetheless… as I barely rate him as a footballer, let alone a striker, capable of breaching our backline.
Thankfully, Gabriel, and Konsa, said… “NOPE! NOT TODAY!!” and that, was the end of that… but, did I mention that I was annoyed? (Hahah!)
The clock showed 66 minutes has passed, and we still hadn’t had a shot on target… so Arteta rightfully, made more changes.
Havertz made way for Gyokeres, Timber replaced Benny Blaco, and Merino came on for Bruno Guimaraes.
Our tempo finally increased, and I started to get the feeling that we could nick a goal, and complete a smash and grab exercise.
Grabbing 3 points when NOT playing well, is truly the stuff of champions… and the fact that it’s a cliché, doesn’t make it any less true.
In the 80th minute, we had our first shot on target, and guess what?!… It lead to a goal!
Declan Rice squared the ball to Madueke, and he cut inside, dropped the shoulder, and did a couple of stepovers… which created space. He then let a shot go, which took a deflection off the defender, and flew in past the keeper. 1-0 to The Arsenal!! Yet Another game, where Madueke was the difference maker.
There were blocks late on from Rice, and Konsa, that kept our lead intact… and we saw the game out, and got a hard fought win.
We didn’t play well, and still found a way to win… and that’s a quality, integral to any team with league winning aspirations… and even more so, when it’s a title defence.
Of the 11 games we’ve played so far, in all completions… we’ve won 10 of them! That’s a superb start to the season, and because we’ve started so well, it makes it harder for me to understand the doom and gloom analysis… from a huge percentage of our fanbase.
There’s just no pleasing some people!
Aaaanywhooo… We can now look ahead to the next fixture, which is a Champions League match against Bayern Munich, at the Allianz Arena.
An unhappy hunting ground for The Arsenal in the past, and righting those wrongs, is looooong overdue. We’ll be up for it!
Do you think we should be seeing more of Max Dowman?
Would you start Timber, or Benny Blanco, against Bayern?
Is it time to give Saka a try up front?
Let me know in the comments, as usual… and thanks for reading. COYG!!
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