What a great run out for our boys at Nottingham Forest to crown 3
away games across 3 competitions without a loss.
The manager’s selection was something of a pleasant surprise to me.
I was expecting David Ospina in goal as I had totally forgotten Emiliano
Martinez. As it turned out he was relatively untroubled in goal and had Matt
Macey as a back up. I remember Matt was on the bench during our 3 all draw with
Liverpool at Anfield in January. The presence of these 4 goalkeepers in the
Arsenal team further underlines the depth of the squad.
I was delighted to see Ainsley Maitland - Niles at right back. Many
have worried about a deputy for Hector Bellerin what with the indifferent form
and maybe indifferent attitude of Mathieu Debuchy. A player who has been
unfortunate to lose his place in the line up to a vile & dirty player in
Marko Arnautovic.
Jeff Reine - Adelaide, Chuba Akpom & Rob Holding are very
popular young players amongst the fan base and they all had starts and a very
good game. I was delighted to see Captain Kieran Gibbs lead the team out.
Kieran deserves a lot of praise for his positive attitude at lack of starts, as
the manager has rightly preferred Nacho Monreal in both League competitions.
Commendably, every time he has been called upon, Kieran has never disappointed.
His goal against the Spuds to force a draw at The Emirates last season will
remain forever in my memory.
I was happy to see Gabriel start following his recovery from a freak
injury at the last game of pre season. There were memorable starts for Granit
Xhaka & Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. Both of them in the goals. Xhaka’s goal
deserves all the superlatives you can find in the dictionary and Oxlade –
Chamberlain’s goal was a lovely topping on a delicious ice cream.
The 4 nil result reflected the gulf in class at the end of the day
but it was by no means an easy match. Forest had a few very close efforts on
goal and should have scored before Xhaka stepped up with his wonderful wand of
a left leg. Bendtner had an effort curved wide. I have seen him score that type
of effort many times for the Arsenal.
Pajtim Kasami should have scored when Gabriel and Holding fluffed
their lines. I fear that mix up happens too often with Arsenal or maybe I am
wrong and it is inevitable that such errors / lack of concentration will happen
in any game of football.
Xhaka’s goal settled nerves and deflated both the home crowd and
their boys and was just deserts as they had mouthed off about our lack of
Champions League glory. I always worry
when Arsenal don’t score in the first 20 minutes of a match. I think we always
try to play positive football and drive towards goal with a belief that we can
always score. However once we don’t score in the first 20 minutes, it emboldens
the opponents and it can sometimes be something of a heads down moment for our
boys and then you start to see errors either due to nerves or anxiety that we
are yet to score.
The talent of Reine - Adelaide shone throughout the match but he
might need to tone down the showboating. Elneny looked a bit different. He
appears to be a bit slower and less imposing than the player we saw last
season. Xhaka was in full control of the midfield, starting the attacks,
spraying passes and engaging in tackles.
Perez was a busy bee throughout the 90 minutes and got two goals. He
could and should have had a hat trick but he had a good shot saved by the
keeper and was unselfish in trying to tee up Chuba Akpom with what should have
been another effort on goal. This is both good and somewhat negative. Good in
the sense that at 3 nil, there was no way back for Forest, so he might as well
spread the joy by helping his fellow forward score a goal. Slightly negative
that he MIGHT not have the killer, selfish & greedy instinct that strikers
should have.
We fluffed some of our lines in attack. It would appear some of the
forward players still need time to gel, to instinctively understand each other.
All of these, I believe will come as the season progresses and players are able
to get game time under their belt.
I noticed a few heavy challenges from the Forest players especially
Lansbury. He appeared to be trying too hard. It makes you wonder if there is a back-story
to his crunching tackles on the night. In my opinion, these sort of tackles are
the cause of Arsenal’s injury records and I believe Referees should be severely
clamping down on such.
Towards the end of the match, the Manager brought on Willock,
Zelalem and Bielik and it gladdens my heart to see the next generation, the
future of the club. I can’t wait for
these young players to break into the first team.
So we got Reading in the next round. Courtesy of the club’s website,
I watched the highlights of our last league cup match with them this morning. I
am not hoping for anything as ‘exciting’ as that match. I am looking forward to
a similar line up at The Emirates and I am confident that whatever line up the
manager decides, the boys will give a very good account of themselves, the club
and their manager. It is a mug’s game
trying to second-guess a very successful manager.
Before then, we’ve got the Chavs this Saturday. I hope we tonk them.
Come On Arsenal
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