We have the chance to go to the top of the table briefly if we beat West Ham at home. Liverpool has to play Chelsea later today, so that might just be brief but you never know. Liverpool has some tough games to play in Premier League, Chelsea today, United next and Brentford, Aston Villa and Man City in their subsequent 3 games. We have some easy games coming up and we need to make the most out of it.
And we need to start today against the hammers. West Ham sacked Graham Potter a week back to bring in Nuno Espirito Santo. Nuno is tough nut, and he would set up a low block, counter attacking team against us – exactly what we don’t like. We would need lots of creativity from the midfield and some brilliant defending on the counters to win today. The fact that they beat us in both of their previous visits to Emirates has not been motivating and we need to break that curse.
In the team news, Hincapie, Madueke, Havertz are still unavailabile and Gabriel remains a doubt after coming off in 75th minute against Olympiacos in Champions League. With all other players available, I am expecting to see a back 4 of Timber, Mosquera, Saliba and Calafiori with Raya in the goal. I would love a midfield of Odegaard, Rice/Zubimendi, Eze but we all know it’s not going to happen, Arteta sees Modric in Merino and you don’t sit the likes of Modric on bench. A front 3 of Saka, Gyokeres and Martinelli would for me.
Listen, I know Martinelli was in bad form and his output has dropped and Trossard has some brilliant shots in him once in a while but, can you write me a note that you believe Trossard can win you games on his own? Like Martinelli did against Man City in 93rd minute (it was a draw, not a win exactly), and against Athletic Club when we were devoid of any ideas? Yeah, right; lets play the match winner and rebuild his confidence. Trossard is a menace against tired legs so he will get plenty of his minutes and he can contribute to our wins that way.
There’s another problem for Mikel and a good one. Declan Rice has been warming bench recently, and we would slowly see Eze starting over him/Merino. To have a 100m and 65m player fight for a single place is something every manager would dream in Premier League. I think who starts the game depends totally on the opposition. If it’s a team that’s going to attack (City, Liverpool, Brighton etc) you play Zubimendi and support your defence. When there’s a low block, going all out on attack is the only way you are going to win and Declan Rice is brilliant moving forward with the ball.
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We are not in best of our form yet, partially due to the injuries to Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli and a CF who is still 5 games in the season with these blokes. Even with some tough games initially, we have managed to keep ourselves around Liverpool and can overtake them today. We have a perfect record in Champions League so far, only 1 loss in Premier League while Carabao Cup is still to pick up the pace. We are in a very good situation, and the only thing that needs improvement is the quality of football. Put in Eze in the starting line up with Odegaard on the other side, let go of some of the defensive duties Gyokeres is assigned and you will see the quality improving massively.
Will that be today? We will know in couple of hours. See you during the game.
Forest to consider Dyche if Postecoglou sacked
From today’s BBC. Talk about a self-inflicted decline and fall. Nuno to Postecoglu to Dyche. How to fuck your own club in 2 managerial moves. Forest has become the banter team to end all banter teams.
Kroenke
I think most of us expected it to go bad but the rate its gone and the way the guy’s doubling down on it is unbelievable.
You’ll all be pleased to hear that Havertz will be back from injury sooner than expected, obviously you think he’s the best to lead the line going by your disparaging comments towards the injured Jesus.
Unless of course you think that Gyokeres with a goal or assist every 290 minutes ( including one penalty) is the answer, then again there is always Merino.
For what it’s worth my analysis of our strikers are
1) merino …an adequate stop gap , very good movement in the box and cool in front of goal , technically sound but lacks pace and strength on the ball.
2) Gyokeres…works and tries hard and uses his strength well , has a good shot when given time to unleash, technically average with no burst of speed over the first 5 yards, in the air he is nothing special and his movement and anticipation in the box needs to improve, has no short back lift when shooting which hinders him as so far his shots have been closed down or blocked…. there is still time for him to improve.
3)Havertz….is probably a better option than Gyokeres at the moment though i see him more as an 8, he links the play and understands our game better, his volleying and heading technique is suspect but technically he is way better than Gyokeres with the ball at his feet, both Havertz and Gyokeres are good when defending set pieces though Havertz is marginally better.
4) jesus ….when fit can be a handful, good technically with excellent tight control , in front of goal he is unreliable but does create chances for his team mates, injuries have done him no favours and some of the uneducated Arsenal supporters give him harsh criticism, unfortunately injuries are part of the game , it won’t be long before Saka will be on the end of stinging criticism from the uneducated if his body breaks down in the future .
Personally I’d put more of the blame for the injuries on the manager as he overworks players, especially attacking players, hence long term injuries to jesus, havertz and now saka, plus he also has a tendency to overplay them when returning from injury leading to a further breakdown.
Nice try you clickbait fucktard!!!
TRVL
He really couldn’t help himself – he was making moronic comments so we all agreed to ignore him, needing the attention he shifted to a less contentious position we reengaged and boom off he went.
Completely pathetic little fanboy and we know how to deal with him – time we just completely ignored him.
agreed
Well chaps – as stated by Wicksy we are all uneducated. The problem is we have been spoilt in the past by having players a class above our current team especially in attack. When Wenger arrived he inherited the best ever back line and could concentrate on putting together one of the most exiting attacking sides that provided first class entertainment. I have been at a away games where the home supporters applauded goals by Henry & Co. Our current back line is very good but going forward paint drying is more exciting.
NORG
We have some talented played in attacking positions – just a massive lack of talent and imagination in the manager.
Luis Enrique would make our current attacking line up look a completely different beast.
Marc
You are right – we can only dream about Enrique as the likelihood of him switching to us is probably less than one percent chance. There are better and cheaper managers out there who offer more exciting styles of play – if couple with some of our players we could be very good and entertaining.
NORG
The Kroenke’s have backed Arteta with some serious cash – no reason why we shouldn’t be an attractive offer to a manager of Enrique’s calibre.
The talk about the stadium expansion and the cost vs short term revenue increase says the Kroenke’s aren’t only out to make a quick buck.
In other breaking news that is in no way a shock it’s being reported that Ode is facing 6 weeks out with the knee injury he picked up against West Ham – you know the one where he went down in obviously serious pain.
And of course Captain Fuckwit let him play on rather than sub him to protect him from making the injury worse. At least we can say we’ve never seen the cunt do that before………
my recent deathly silence on here is one part international break and one part apathy…it’s not as if I feel we can’t compete for things, it’s that I’m of the belief that far too many among us simply don’t care how that comes about…not that I wouldn’t be elated for the boys if MA’s “hope that those around us flounder” approach succeeds, but I do worry about what might transpire if such a nonsensical fine margin strategy fails to win the day…maybe the rumours are true and MA’s got to produce silverware to remain employed, but I’m not so sure about that, unless Berta was brought here to get a proper lay of the land should a managerial housecleaning be required…I’ll believe when I see it
on a bit of a side note, for those who think this brand of football is too vanilla, just wait until Olive Oyl returns and supplants VG…I can see it now, a midfield 3 of Merino, Rice, Zubi, with Havertz flopping about up top…I worry that I might go full Oedipus Rex were that to be the case (just to clarify I was referring to the eye gouging part not the whole marry your mother kill your father gig) Cheers
The Fat Aussie is talking about winning a trophy in his second season at Forest – I’d be surprised if he made the second half of todays match.
Match day post is live.