Win Premier League: Arsenal 2 - 1 Nottingham Forest | Saturday 12th August | KO: 13:00 BST | TNT Sports

Football is back, baby!!!

Likely starting XI

Prediction
Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest

 

[Legend14]

He expected Forest to park the bus, which they did. This was the anti-bus lineup that he planned day 1 when he acquired Havertz and started shifting Partey to RB. Worked ok for 1st half, but not spectacular.

When Forest started to move the bus Arteta was slow to adjust.

I think we beat them 4-0 with our standard lineup and Havertz at the false 9, but that’s not as genius I guess.

 

[Sniper Mik]

I’d take the same start to the season as last year’s. Gimme that same run that we had to December.

Will be tough to replicate that. We also play City (H) and Newcastle (A) before December which we didn't last season

 

[samshere]

Very messy and unstructured match. Felt like a pre season game. Hope Arteta realises what his best 11 is and stops tinkering.

 

[Melquiades]

First half was very good. Forest were parking the bus as hard as you possibly can and we broke them down for 2 goals and our press was absolutely smothering to win balls back as soon as they got possession. Not a pretty half of football but it’s never going to be when a team is playing like Forest was.

2nd half was awful. Got sloppy, weren’t as incisive, didn’t adjust.

 

[Song Billong]

No idea why Arteta decided to be so cute with selection, WTF was he thinking. Neither White nor Partey had played CB or RB respectively this preseadon. Baffling stuff.

Thankfully some Saka brilliance saved us some embarrassment.

 

[Batman]

Very messy and unstructured match. Felt like a pre season game. Hope Arteta realises what his best 11 is and stops tinkering.

Last year he was getting murdered for being too dependent on the same 11 every match. I didn't love some of the decisions today and his subs still leave a lot to be desired but most all of us wanted him to be more flexible in terms of tactics and team selection. How is he meant to do that without experimenting?

 

[avenellroad]

Whilst we had sloppy moments in that game it wasn’t the same. It was a premier league opening fixture at a ground we have had a truly difficult time at as of late, perhaps set up with the knowledge that we would struggle like we did the previous season against Brentford yet we won 2-0 in a combative display. We were very impressive.

This on the other hand we were expected to win comfortably, at home against Forest, a fixture we won 5-0 last season.

The first game of a season is always tricky. We have been on the short end of a few opening day fixtures at home in the past (Aston Villa 2013, West Ham a few years after then).

This game had potential to go that way. There are some lessons to be learnt particularly with how we are using Havertz. Get the job done and think about how we conserve energy during games better. We let the momentum shift get to us for about 10-15 minutes in this game.

 

[avenellroad]

xG ignores all the nearly moments that define a game. Like all analytics it is useful up to a point, but most don't understand where that point is...

Nail on the head. It should be used to explain the narrative. The problem is that everyone uses it as the story of the game without taking into account the game state.

 

[GoonerBoy19]

This is how we dropped points against Liverpool and West ham last season. We start coasting once we are ahead. There is no ruthlessness.

 

[TH14shahriar]

Huh?

I’m being as fair as they come. Just look at Declan Rice who I was skeptical about initially however I admitted he impressed me, so there are no hidden agenda here at all with Havertz. If he plays well, I’ll praise him but if he has a Casper like performance then I’ll call him out - there are no two ways about it.

My point is for £65m regardless of whether he set the price or not, he’ll be judged like a £65m player. I won’t be just jumping on the Havertz shiny new toy bandwagon for the sake of it.

You gotta give some players time, look at Grealish first season, didn't do ****.

Havertz have the technical ability, he needs to find the right positions. The thing is though, we can't give him a season to adapt like City, 1-2 months max.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Of course we won but if you want a title challenge the standards got to be higher than that . Lack of intensity for 15 mins was unacceptable .

We got destroyed against Leeds performance-wise last season when we won the game. We went on to have a title challenge. This game won't define our season.

 

[Alexs]

Glad we didn't win 5-0 and go overboard but we're not winning this league on GD are we. Props to Brighton - doesn't seem to matter who they lose, on they go.

 

[2Smokeyy]

You gotta give some players time, look at Grealish first season, didn't do ****.

Havertz have the technical ability, he needs to find the right positions. The thing is though, we can't give him a season to adapt like City, 1-2 months max.

Man City had the luxury of playing Sterling, Foden, Bernardo Silva and Jesus outwide to ease Jack Grealish in. Who steps in for Havertz if he stinks up the place for the next few months? Fabio Vieira? ESR? Trossard as an 8?

More pressure on us to get this signing to work.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

I'm delighted with the opening win. We didn't have the control I would have liked despite over 80 per cent possession but we started the game with three players effectively out of position but I liked how fluid we were. Some things to improve on and I hope Timber isn't out too long, but it's three points and we move on. COYG

 

[Riou]

Very messy and unstructured match. Felt like a pre season game. Hope Arteta realises what his best 11 is and stops tinkering.

 

[andeoch1]

Nervy win at the win but I'll take it. Overall pretty good performance. Need to sync better in attack and it will come with time

“Overall pretty good performance.”!!!!! You’re taking the piss

 

[HighburyHigh]

Said it at the end of last season and I'll say it again, we need a clinical No9 who can score 25+ goals. If we had Kane, we win the league.

 

[sdotzdot]

No idea why Arteta decided to be so cute with selection, WTF was he thinking. Neither White nor Partey had played CB or RB respectively this preseadon. Baffling stuff.

Thankfully some Saka brilliance saved us some embarrassment.

What are you on about? Team selection was great.

Second half was poor, lack of concentration and intensity and too late to make changes, definitely. Baffling to question the original team though considering how well the first half went.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

We played that game like we were in second gear for most of the match and when we got the goals we seemed to slow down even more, I'm not too pleased with the way that Partey, plays he is so slow bring the ball forward and then gives the ball away far too much I would not mind seeing him get replaced while the window is still open,
We need to play with a higher tempo we have done it before during last season and we cut teams open as soon as we were playing the ball faster,
As we have got new players in the team I suppose it is going to take a bit of time for them to settle in,
Hopefully Timber has not picked up a serious injury it did not look good the way he pulled up.

Did I miss something, Partey gave the ball away once?

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

Did the tactical adjustments work for you today? For me, it didn't.

- I don't think you can have two 'ghost' players in the 11. By 'ghost' i don't mean invisible, i mean low touch, off the ball players. We have 2 in Havertz and Nketiah.

- What was the reasoning behind Partey Inverted? I don't think it gave us more control or openings, if anything, it meant we only attacked down that side. Some of our best openings were created by White switching and playing his usual RB role.

- We left massive spaces to counter, quite lucky Forest were not on it, at all.

Overall, i don't think the adjustment added anything to the attack. If anything, it hindered it slightly. Going forward, i want to see Partey Rice Ødegaard to start games, and if we are struggling to break teams down, then make an attacking change.