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

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Likely starting XI

Prediction
Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest

 

[GoonerBoy19]

Interesting bit of info this.

I need to watch this game, its presented some different dynamics that the team and manager are still coming to terms with.

First half tactics was spot on, the line up surprised a lot of people. It's good to shock low block teams who are defensively drilled against our usual formation. Also most teams know we have a mistake or two in every game which they can capitalise. We can't take foot off the gas in this league, it will hit you back in no time. We have to learn and move on.

 

[TakeChillPill]

Er can take the foot off the gas, however then you can't concede like that.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Ding ding ding. This issue was shoehorning Rice in midfield / the side at home vs NF while admitting that you still need Partey to progress the ball and Havertz to support the attack as Rice really does neither well.

Extra crazy that the person who actually missed out because of this was big Gabby…breaking up our best CB pairing.

I assumed Gabriel was carrying a knock. If not, it wasn't just that he missed out and we disturbed our CB pairing, but we started with three players out of position as a consequence. No idea why White wasn't dropped as Sailba would have been in his natural position and better able to cover Partey who was getting skinned a couple of times. Or, White needs a game at CB for crazy rotation to come...

 

[Rattata]

I assumed Gabriel was carrying a knock. If not, it wasn't just that he missed out and we disturbed our CB pairing, but we started with three players out of position as a consequence. No idea why White wasn't dropped as Sailba would have been in his natural position and better able to cover Partey who was getting skinned a couple of times. Or, White needs a game at CB for crazy rotation to come...

Arteta was asked about this and made it clear that it was a tactical decision.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

Now the dust has settled a bit, what are your thoughts on Partey RB? Did it really add anything?

For me, it didn't, and its an unnecessary experiment carrying on from the back of last season. Yesterday, what did it achieve? Our best moments came when him and White swapped, and we got the White Ødegaard Saka link up again, so really, whats the point?

The high line was worrying, it was often Saliba left on his own, may have worked yesterday, but i wouldn't want to see that against Palace, or even Fulham.

To me, this just seemed a way of shoehorning both Rice and Havertz in because Arteta wanted to go with Nketiah uptop.

 

[db10_therza]

Now the dust has settled a bit, what are your thoughts on Partey RB? Did it really add anything?

For me, it didn't, and its an unnecessary experiment carrying on from the back of last season. Yesterday, what did it achieve? Our best moments came when him and White swapped, and we got the White Ødegaard Saka link up again, so really, whats the point?

The high line was worrying, it was often Saliba left on his own, may have worked yesterday, but i wouldn't want to see that against Palace, or even Fulham.

To me, this just seemed a way of shoehorning both Rice and Havertz in because Arteta wanted to go with Nketiah uptop.

I don’t think we “shoehorned” rice and Havertz - I think we shoehorned Partey in because we didn’t have Zinchenko.

Hear me out… Zinny is the guy that orchestrates our build up. Without him, we needed to have Partey who although not able to control tempo as well as Zinny, had some silky build up skills. Timber is not a tempo / orchestrator type player. Even if he inverts, he is not a like for like for Zinchenko. What timber does is produce moments of quality, it’s a bit different.

If we had Zinny, we would have just kept our normal back 4 and had Partey on the bench. Zinny and Rice is a combo we’re yet to see and I have a strong feeling it’s Arteta’s goto midfield. They have the potential to complement each other really well.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

I don’t think we “shoehorned” rice and Havertz - I think we shoehorned Partey in because we didn’t have Zinchenko.

Hear me out… Zinny is the guy that orchestrates our build up. Without him, we needed to have Partey who although not able to control tempo as well as Zinny, had some silky build up skills. Timber is not a tempo / orchestrator type player. Even if he inverts, he is not a like for like for Zinchenko. What timber does is produce moments of quality, it’s a bit different.

If we had Zinny, we would have just kept our normal back 4 and had Partey on the bench. Zinny and Rice is a combo we’re yet to see and I have a strong feeling it’s Arteta’s goto midfield. They have the potential to complement each other really well.

I disagree. While this might have been the original plan, Rice has shown so far that he's not progressive enough. Partey at 6 is invaluable for us right now. So then, it becomes a question of Rice or Havertz LCM, or Nketiah/Havertz striker. These were the two decisions that needed to be made. The back 4 should simply have been Timber Gabriel Saliba White.

 

[db10_therza]

I disagree. While this might have been the original plan, Rice has shown so far that he's not progressive enough. Partey at 6 is invaluable for us right now. So then, it becomes a question of Rice or Havertz LCM, or Nketiah/Havertz striker. These were the two decisions that needed to be made. The back 4 should simply have been Timber Gabriel Saliba White.

You disagree about my post about Zinchenko but make no mention of Zinchenko?

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

You disagree about my post about Zinchenko but make no mention of Zinchenko?

Even with Zinchenko, its a question of Rice/Havertz LCM, because Partey is needed at 6 IMO, he just offers too much, whereas both Rice and Havertz come with flaws at 6 and 8.

 

[db10_therza]

Even with Zinchenko, its a question of Rice/Havertz LCM, because Partey is needed at 6 IMO, he just offers too much, whereas both Rice and Havertz come with flaws at 6 and 8.

Idk. I’m sticking to my guns. Zinny will make our Rice Krispies snap crackle and pop

 

[Badger_Revenge]

I agree. I think we switched to Partey at left back end of last year because we needed somebody to invert and Zinchenko was not available. Timber is not a bona fide midfielder so can't carry the load, yet, although I think Arteta likes that he can progress the ball and resist pressure.

I'm really interested to see how this team sets up when Zinchenko is back -- if he makes it into the squad - and against which teams Partey and Rice play in midfield.

 

[RWB]

I assumed Gabriel was carrying a knock. If not, it wasn't just that he missed out and we disturbed our CB pairing, but we started with three players out of position as a consequence. No idea why White wasn't dropped as Sailba would have been in his natural position and better able to cover Partey who was getting skinned a couple of times. Or, White needs a game at CB for crazy rotation to come...

Gabriel was the obvious defender to drop if you switch to the RB inverting into midfield. Partey going into midfield meant that we formed our usual in-possession back three with White on the right and Saliba in the middle. So both of them played in their normal positions really. The option would have been to take Timber out and put in Gabriel. But with Timber you had the option for him to also go and occupy full back positions if Rice or Partey dropped back to cover (basically Timber is better suited to be a left-sided version of White compared to Gabriel).

 

[Song Billong]

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.

Playing White at CB and Partey at RB, when neither had played in those positions during the preseason was very risky. White had a poor game and was at fault for their goal.

 

[Song Billong]

Now the dust has settled a bit, what are your thoughts on Partey RB? Did it really add anything?

For me, it didn't, and its an unnecessary experiment carrying on from the back of last season. Yesterday, what did it achieve? Our best moments came when him and White swapped, and we got the White Ødegaard Saka link up again, so really, whats the point?

The high line was worrying, it was often Saliba left on his own, may have worked yesterday, but i wouldn't want to see that against Palace, or even Fulham.

To me, this just seemed a way of shoehorning both Rice and Havertz in because Arteta wanted to go with Nketiah uptop.

I agree that it was risky, and IMO completely unnecessary. Though I disagree it was done to shoehorn Rice.

Partey and or Havertz could have been on the bench. Or Havertz could have played up top.

IMO it was done to play Eddie, Havertz and Partey with two midfielders already being Rice and Ødegaard.

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Partey spent about half the game in his usual position

The boss has a few more players to juggle, it was fairly easy for him on that front last season and the team picked itself, it could well be his undoing.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Think the formation worked well in the first half. We opened them up quite well and had some nice half transitions where the final pass wasn't on target. Once our intensity waned Arteta should have reacted quicker, changed formation and made some substitutions. NF's goal was a bit frustrating as I felt we had enough defenders back, but still couldn't prevent it. Too bad Rice's shot couldn't nestle in at 2-0. A 3-0 lead at halftime would have made the second half a different journey. We also really took the foot off the accelerator in the second half and played really slowly.

Some good and some less good signs. Just hope we get good news for Timber! Like him as a signing although he is probably one we have good cover for.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Gabriel was the obvious defender to drop if you switch to the RB inverting into midfield. Partey going into midfield meant that we formed our usual in-possession back three with White on the right and Saliba in the middle. So both of them played in their normal positions really. The option would have been to take Timber out and put in Gabriel. But with Timber you had the option for him to also go and occupy full back positions if Rice or Partey dropped back to cover (basically Timber is better suited to be a left-sided version of White compared to Gabriel).

That's fair and thanks for the explanation. All I would say is that Partey had some struggles at RB. I had the crazy idea that White could invert and give us greater security in defence lol.

 

[Jose_Reyes_2005]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but both Saka and Rice ran out of steam quite easily in the sprint while chasing Aurier for Forest's goal. Maybe that could have been rustiness, but I doubt either would have an extra gear left in them at that stage in the game in the latter stages of the season. The key question remaining in this transfer window to me is how much we're willing to sacrifice to upgrade on their current backups Jorginho/Partey/Nelson/Vieira - all of who'm have their own obvious frailties.

The injury prone players in the squad also make it more challenging to avoid burning out the likes of Saka/Saliba who are already setting records for amount of minutes played in their age groups. Even Rice would be in that category over the last few years. We still have a few gaping holes in the squad that are worth addressing IMO.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but both Saka and Rice ran out of steam quite easily in the sprint while chasing Aurier for Forest's goal. Maybe that could have been rustiness, but I doubt either would have an extra gear left in them at that stage in the game in the latter stages of the season. The key question remaining in this transfer window to me is how much we're willing to sacrifice to upgrade on their current backups Jorginho/Partey/Nelson/Vieira - all of who'm have their own obvious frailties.

The injury prone players in the squad also make it more challenging to avoid burning out the likes of Saka/Saliba who are already setting records for amount of minutes played in their age groups. Even Rice would be in that category over the last few years. We still have a few gaping holes in the squad that are worth addressing IMO.

You mean Elanga, who is rapid. Rice had the chance to stop it early, take a yellow, but he didn't.

 

[ptrcopp]

Agree with everyone that the first half tactics were spot on. However, Tomi coming on didn’t disrupt things too much.

From the 73rd min we played:
Partey - White - Saliba - Tomi
Rice
Ode - Trossard
Saka - Havertz - Martinelli


Which in possession lined up more like
White - Saliba - Tomi
Partey - Rice
Ode
Sake - Havertz - Trossard - Martinelli

It was so disjointed. It looks like a team chasing the game.

From a game management point of view, Trossard at CM is bizarre when he has shown he is scorer and creator from CF/LW, and moving Havertz to CF, when he has played 70min in midfield.

As a result we end up with a whole on the left side of midfield as Trossard isn’t disciplined enough to play the left 8, he also isn’t physical enough like Xhaka was last season or Rice or Havertz are. We had Havertz and Ode occupying the similar spaces, and Martinelli and Tomi were then in midfield covering spaces but this meant we were unable to hold onto the ball and build forward. I was please when Gabby swapped in but the damage was done for playing 15 minutes like it.

I’d like us to stop these in game experiments and play our players in their best positions