Arsenal - Nottingham Forest

[Username]

Fairly spot on with the ratings:

[wassy04]

We beat Arsenal 1.12 to 0.66 on xG. Shows how well we defended to keep Arsenal down to 0.66. That's without Felipe, Niakhate and Lodi from last year. Impressive stuff.

[TrickySte]

Encouraging 2nd half. Thought all 3 new signings did well. Awoniyi is a massive difference because Johhno is not a lone no.9.

Aurier was poor but the rest of the defence did okay but a lack of pace was obvious at times. Midfield needs an upgrade, the lack of quality on the ball stood out.

4/5 good signigns and we'll be more than fine.

[McDurban]

That was a much better 2nd half, Elanga was electric and Awoniyi hasn't lost his touch.
I'm very happy with the way they finished, Arsenal were a little rattled and unsure.

Taiwo is the only player capable of holding onto the ball to get us up the pitch. He’s so vital to the way we play and he frightens opposition defenders

So much changed when he came on , like you said, he was holding up the ball and laying it off.
Can't blame Johnson, he's not a 9.

[McDurban]

Liked what I saw of turner. Didn't feel nervous with him in goal at all and he always looked to pass out for a quick counter... Unlucky for the 1st and no chance with sakas wonder strike

Me neither, I was very comfortable with what I saw.

[WrexhamRed]

Just got around to watching the game as I was at work today.

In the grand scheme of things that was a respectable result but oh my god, teams just know all they have to do is run at us & we'll give them the ball but hey ho, first game of the season & away at Arsenal so I suppose there would be nerves playing a part. To be honest I thought we were gonna get bent over so I'm reasonably pleased with a goal diff of -1

One thing that stood out to me was that it reinforced my opinion that Brennan Johnson is a goal scoring winger NOT a striker (controversial I know)

Thought all the new signings had very good games & I think Turner may be a very astute signing indeed.

Hopefully not getting a pasting will settle some nerves & we can start to play with a bit of confidence.

[JWJW]

Very happy with Aina.

Very happy with Elanga.

Danilo and Yates look well out of form. Yates was good defensively but with the ball, not so.

Aurier - I think we should look at Spence returning, will give us a dynamic on the right side.

Johnson - the later part of last season shows we play best when he is an impact sub. He is a luxury player that would suit a high possession team........but for our squad we are better without him as long as Taiwo is fit. If we keep him then we need Spence/Johnson on the right and Aina/Elanga on the left.

Our defence will be far better when we get Feilipe and Moussa back in there.

I would say based on end of last season and start of this, we need a solid ball winning and ball holding CDM......we lose the ball far too quickly. Mangala needs to be upgraded.

If we can keep Taiwo fit will basically define our season if we do not sign a good back up for him.

[Fumanchew]

Aye I think Elanga and taiwo are a must, and if Johnson is the play we’ve gotta work out how to defend with 4 at the back, maybe that is where a better number 6 comes in, to cover deeper.

I’ve watched our goal a number of times now, and apart from what’s been mentioned that taiwo carries the ball forward instead of hoofing it away he matches Elanga for pace with the ball to get up the pitch but then knows if Elanga is to cross he won’t get the ball so he muscles in front of the defenders to turn a ball with pace pass the keeper.

I think we’ve got enough balls as a team to try four at the back against the blades and see what we can do with 4 attacking players. Even if it’s wood I think positionally (remember he knew to be there for the ball against city last year) he knows where to be in the box for balls from Johnson and Elanga

[zicorice]

Welcome back everyone to the  new season. Very proud of the lads yesterday, kept going and but for a missed chance, the game plan almost worked. Watched it back after getting home.

Positives
- Back 3 outstanding  even in 1st half, 2 shots conceded. Only time we looked open was in last few minutes when we went to a back 4 and they were trying g to break on us.
- Attitude outstanding  no more capitulation hopefully this season.
- Aina, a solid debut very promising.
- Turner looked OK, but gave me heart attack when he was closed down in 1st half.
- Elanga and Taiwo- superb goal. Hopefully they will be fit enough to be considered for starting line up.
- Taking p1$$ out of their "Ashburton Army" in the pub beforehand. We asked whose stag do it was as there were dozens of lads wearing same t-shirt. They got a bit mardy when we said anyone who takes a drum to football should be banned for life. Good fun though.

Negatives
- We have to take our chances, especially at places like this.
- Second goal, although a great finish should never have happened. MGW has to clear the ball there. In fact, he was as guilty as anyone in giving the ball away, but it's his achillies heel-giving it away in our own half.
- Midfield were not at the races for large parts of game and I suppose that's largely to do with the limited possession we have.
- Jonno is one of the best young goalscoring wide players around. He has to score that yesterday regardless of the position he had to play.
- Comments on Social Media. SM stole my thunder a bit as he mentioned it already. People slating Cooper's tactics and why we weren't more attacking for longer? Seriously. They put a World Class Midfield player at RB to accommodate him in team. Plus our goal came from a break. Arsenal sh1t the bed after that and retreated. We went to a 4 snd looked as leaky as last season on their breaks.
- People who weren't even at the game saying "I want to be entertained or I'd sooner be in Championship " absolutely f@(King amazing. Have they forgotten Stoke away for starters.

Overall many more positives to take away going forward. Going to  be strange on Friday. Wondering if we will dominate possession? If we do, will we know how to break down their back 5? Need to raise the roof again though regardless.

[DR Forest]

Very happy with Aina.

Very happy with Elanga.

Danilo and Yates look well out of form. Yates was good defensively but with the ball, not so.

Aurier - I think we should look at Spence returning, will give us a dynamic on the right side.

Johnson - the later part of last season shows we play best when he is an impact sub.  He is a luxury player that would suit a high possession team........but for our squad we are better without him as long as Taiwo is fit. If we keep him then we need Spence/Johnson on the right and Aina/Elanga on the left.

Our defence will be far better when we get Feilipe and Moussa back in there.

I would say based on end of last season and start of this, we need a solid ball winning and ball holding CDM......we lose the ball far too quickly. Mangala needs to be upgraded.

If we can keep Taiwo fit will basically define our season if we do not sign a good back up for him.

Entirely agree.
Said a few pages back, the CDM upgrade required is for Mangala not Danilo or Yates. It will be a massive difference.
Taiwo is so important to our style of play- which is why we need another similar striker if/when he isnt fit so that we can maintain our shape.

Its probably not going to happen now but the thought of Spence and Jakobs as full backs with Elanga and Jonno down each wing was giving me goosebumps. 
With a dominant CM and a quick CB to cover the counter, that kind of pace would put half the teams in the PL to the sword.

However, with FFP restrictions, for me, Johnson can go if we get the right cash and if we use it to get the CB, CM and CF we need. 
We are close, which is why its frustrating.
We are 3/4 players from a cracking Villa/Brighton/Palace secure (and exciting) mid table team.

[JoeWorrallsBrain]

It's only one game, and its too soon to panic, but that first game showed NO development of our tactics and no better squad management from Cooper than last year.

1. Aurier should not be playing in place of Neco Williams. Aurier shows flashes of offensive initiative, but his overconfidence in his ball handling abilities and his lack of pace is a liability against stronger opponents.
2. Worrall can only play when there is a back 5. He is too slow otherwise, and handles the ball too poorly, against the top teams.
3. The lineup we commit to needs to be capable of putting all of our best players on the pitch at once. It is unacceptable that our coach can't figure out how to put Awonyi and Johnson on the field at the same time. We don't have enough elite players that we can afford to have any of them out of the lineup, barring injuries.
4. MGW should be playing in the midfield, not on the wing.
5. Johnson should be playing on the wing, not it the centre.
6. We will lose more games than we will win if we surrender 85% possession every time we face a top 10 club.

Put another way, we're making the same mistakes we made last year.

The off season was a failure when we failed to recruit upgraded midfielders and central defenders.

Again, it's early, but it sure looks like it's going to be another struggle just to stave off relegation.

[wassy04]

It's only one game, and its too soon to panic, but that first game showed NO development of our tactics and no better squad management from Cooper than last year.

1.  Aurier should not be playing in place of Neco Williams.  Aurier shows flashes of offensive iniative, but his overconfidence in his ball handling abilities and his lack of pace is a liability against stronger opponents.
2.  Worrall can only play when there is a back 5.  He is too slow otherwise, and handles the ball too poorly, against the top teams.
3.  The lineup we commit to needs to be capable of putting all of our best players on the pitch at once.  It is unacceptable that our coach can't figure out how to put Awonyi and Johnson on the field at the same time.  We don't have enough elite players that we can afford to have any of them out of the lineup, barring injuries.
4.  MGW should be playing in the midfield, not on the wing.
5.  Johnson should be playing on the wing, not it the centre.
6.  We will lose more games than we will win if we surrender 85% possession every time we face a top 10 club.

Put another way, we're making the same mistakes we made last year.

The off season was a failure when we failed to recruit upgraded midfielders and central defenders.

Again, it's early, but it sure looks like it's going to be another struggle just to stave off relegation.

2. Everyone is aware of thus and we played a back five and he contained the 2nd best team in the league.
3. Taiwo was coming back from injury. 

We narrowly lost to an excellent team away from home ffs. We got battered by them last year, clear improvement. They only created a handful of chances as showed by the xG of 0.6. Basically, glory piece of skill and a wonder goal. Jonno had easily the best chance too.

Why do people have such ridiculous and unreleastic expectations. Its so infuriating, if you're going to be annoyed at narrowly losing at Arsenal, I'm not sure you're going to ever enjoy following a football team.