Nottingham Forest - Arsenal

[JoeWorrallsBrain]

Johnson at home is a must for me.

Well only way Johnson plays is if he either goes with 4 at the back or leaves a midfielder out.
It’s a tough call, but one thing we can’t do is get out numbered in midfield and let Odegaard run the game.

I can’t see him not going with Yates, Mangala and Danilo.
Taiwo and MGW will play.
It’s Brennan or Worrall for me.

MGW should be playing on the right side of the midfield (as he should have been all season).  He's simply not a forward.  That deployment would support more balls through to Johnson, as well as give Aurier (who will have to start at right back with the injury to Williams) a short outlet (which he seems to have trouble finding).

Forest should line up in 4-4-2 for this game with Awoniyi and Johnson up front.

Worrall should be on the bench unless an injury forces him into action.

[wassy04]

Johnson at home is a must for me.

Well only way Johnson plays is if he either goes with 4 at the back or leaves a midfielder out.
It’s a tough call, but one thing we can’t do is get out numbered in midfield and let Odegaard run the game.

I can’t see him not going with Yates, Mangala and Danilo.
Taiwo and MGW will play.
It’s Brennan or Worrall for me.

MGW should be playing on the right side of the midfield (as he should have been all season).  He's simply not a forward.  That deployment would support more balls through to Johnson, as well as give Aurier (who will have to start at right back with the injury to Williams) a short outlet (which he seems to have trouble finding).

Forest should line up in 4-4-2 for this game with Awoniyi and Johnson up front.

Worrall should be on the bench unless an injury forces him into action.

Yeah lets change tactics with two games to go and move one player to a completely new position. Using a formation that is used by no-one either. Are you putting Danilo left wing too?! Also MGW has never played right wing before, seems a bold time to try that.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

We need our best players on the pitch.

Johnson must start for me and Taiwo too.

[Marinakis Red]

Cannot wait for this one. The City Ground will be bouncing on Saturday night. I think we will do the business too. 2-1Forest. Followed by some wild scenes at the WFCG

[JoeWorrallsBrain]

Johnson at home is a must for me.

Well only way Johnson plays is if he either goes with 4 at the back or leaves a midfielder out.
It’s a tough call, but one thing we can’t do is get out numbered in midfield and let Odegaard run the game.

I can’t see him not going with Yates, Mangala and Danilo.
Taiwo and MGW will play.
It’s Brennan or Worrall for me.

MGW should be playing on the right side of the midfield (as he should have been all season).  He's simply not a forward.  That deployment would support more balls through to Johnson, as well as give Aurier (who will have to start at right back with the injury to Williams) a short outlet (which he seems to have trouble finding).

Forest should line up in 4-4-2 for this game with Awoniyi and Johnson up front.

Worrall should be on the bench unless an injury forces him into action.

Yeah lets change tactics with two games to go and move one player to a completely new position. Using a formation that is used by no-one either. Are you putting Danilo left wing too?! Also MGW has never played right wing before, seems a bold time to try that.

It's always the right time to do the right thing.  When do you want to move him to where he could do the most good - next season?  It's not my fault that Cooper watched his players for the entire season and never realized where they should be.  MGW is listed as a midfielder.   Cooper has played him at forward for the last two matches.  Were you angry about that?  He has the skill set and build of a midfielder.  Yes, he's usually been on the left, but he's not left footed.  Because he is our best possession midfielder, that has resulted in not enough play up the right, and therefore not enough time on the ball for our best player - Johnson.

I would put Danilo on the inside left of the midfield with Yates on the inside right.  Danilo is an effective distributer of the ball.  Yates is an energetic (but not very skillfull) defensive midfielder.  That's a good central tandem.  As to the the outside left, I suppose Mangala could go there, but I would confess that Coopers options are not all that appealing.  Maybe start Mangala, but be prepared to sub in Kouyate early (if he's fit) or, failing that, Freuler.

[oh no]

Johnson at home is a must for me.

Well only way Johnson plays is if he either goes with 4 at the back or leaves a midfielder out.
It’s a tough call, but one thing we can’t do is get out numbered in midfield and let Odegaard run the game.
I can’t see him not going with Yates, Mangala and Danilo.
Taiwo and MGW will play.
It’s Brennan or Worrall for me.

MGW should be playing on the right side of the midfield (as he should have been all season).  He's simply not a forward.  That deployment would support more balls through to Johnson, as well as give Aurier (who will have to start at right back with the injury to Williams) a short outlet (which he seems to have trouble finding).
Forest should line up in 4-4-2 for this game with Awoniyi and Johnson up front.
Worrall should be on the bench unless an injury forces him into action.

Yeah lets change tactics with two games to go and move one player to a completely new position. Using a formation that is used by no-one either. Are you putting Danilo left wing too?! Also MGW has never played right wing before, seems a bold time to try that.

It's always the right time to do the right thing.  When do you want to move him to where he could do the most good - next season?  It's not my fault that Cooper watched his players for the entire season and never realized where they should be.  MGW is listed as a midfielder.   Cooper has played him at forward for the last two matches.  Were you angry about that?  He has the skill set and build of a midfielder.  Yes, he's usually been on the left, but he's not left footed.  Because he is our best possession midfielder, that has resulted in not enough play up the right, and therefore not enough time on the ball for our best player - Johnson.
I would put Danilo on the inside left of the midfield with Yates on the inside right.  Danilo is an effective distributer of the ball.  Yates is an energetic (but not very skillfull) defensive midfielder.  That's a good central tandem.  As to the the outside left, I suppose Mangala could go there, but I would confess that Coopers options are not all that appealing.  Maybe start Mangala, but be prepared to sub in Kouyate early (if he's fit) or, failing that, Freuler.

Bruh, theres a reason no teams use a 4-4-2 anymore. You will almost certainly get outnumbered in central midfield, most teams play a 3 man defence so you get outnumbered in attack and then we wouldnt even have the width of Brennan to counter with. You also dont want Johnson up against a CB, he needs to be in the space that modern attacking fullbacks leave in behind.

We're playing a 3-4-2-1 with a box of:



MGW as the right attacking mid for a reason - thats exactly where MGW works the best. Sure MGW could work at RM, but he's never played a single minute there in 5 years as a proffesional and you'd be wasting a lot of his talent by not letting him link play on both sides. Barely any teams will use a right footer on the right anymore, just look at Palace, Arsenal and City. I'd argue this would actually give less 'support balls' to Brennan as you'd be both cutting out his room to run and forcing MGW to track fullbacks.

Who are you suggesting plays LM? We literally have no players who can do that role at a Premier League level.

Edit: Wait i've just seen you want Mangala, Freuler or Kouyate at LM??? ????

[JoeWorrallsBrain]

Well only way Johnson plays is if he either goes with 4 at the back or leaves a midfielder out.
It’s a tough call, but one thing we can’t do is get out numbered in midfield and let Odegaard run the game.
I can’t see him not going with Yates, Mangala and Danilo.
Taiwo and MGW will play.
It’s Brennan or Worrall for me.

MGW should be playing on the right side of the midfield (as he should have been all season).  He's simply not a forward.  That deployment would support more balls through to Johnson, as well as give Aurier (who will have to start at right back with the injury to Williams) a short outlet (which he seems to have trouble finding).
Forest should line up in 4-4-2 for this game with Awoniyi and Johnson up front.
Worrall should be on the bench unless an injury forces him into action.

Yeah lets change tactics with two games to go and move one player to a completely new position. Using a formation that is used by no-one either. Are you putting Danilo left wing too?! Also MGW has never played right wing before, seems a bold time to try that.

It's always the right time to do the right thing.  When do you want to move him to where he could do the most good - next season?  It's not my fault that Cooper watched his players for the entire season and never realized where they should be.  MGW is listed as a midfielder.   Cooper has played him at forward for the last two matches.  Were you angry about that?  He has the skill set and build of a midfielder.  Yes, he's usually been on the left, but he's not left footed.  Because he is our best possession midfielder, that has resulted in not enough play up the right, and therefore not enough time on the ball for our best player - Johnson.
I would put Danilo on the inside left of the midfield with Yates on the inside right.  Danilo is an effective distributer of the ball.  Yates is an energetic (but not very skillfull) defensive midfielder.  That's a good central tandem.  As to the the outside left, I suppose Mangala could go there, but I would confess that Coopers options are not all that appealing.  Maybe start Mangala, but be prepared to sub in Kouyate early (if he's fit) or, failing that, Freuler.

Bruh, theres a reason no teams use a 4-4-2 anymore. You will almost certainly get outnumbered in central midfield, most teams play a 3 man defence so you get outnumbered in attack and then we wouldnt even have the width of Brennan to counter with. You also dont want Johnson up against a CB, he needs to be in the space that modern attacking fullbacks leave in behind.

We're playing a 3-4-2-1 with a box of:



MGW as the right attacking mid for a reason - thats exactly where MGW works the best. Sure MGW could work at RM, but he's never played a single minute there in 5 years as a proffesional and you'd be wasting a lot of his talent by not letting him link play on both sides. Barely any teams will use a right footer on the right anymore, just look at Palace, Arsenal and City. I'd argue this would actually give less 'support balls' to Brennan as you'd be both cutting out his room to run and forcing MGW to track fullbacks.

Who are you suggesting plays LM? We literally have no players who can do that role at a Premier League level.

Edit: Wait i've just seen you want Mangala, Freuler or Kouyate at LM??? ????

Show me your complete lineup.  Are you putting Taiwo up front by himself in the middle?  Who are the 2?  We seem to be in agreement, rather than disagreement where to play MGW, at least compared to the post I was responding to.  I'm puzzled why you want Danilo wide, unless you disagree with my assessment that he's our best midfield ball distributor.  I have already said the offerings for LM are not great for Forest, but no team has everything.

If your 3 on the back line means 3 CBs, and if that includes Worrall, I couldn't disagree more.  The reason I am suggesting 4 at the back is to keep him off the field.

When you are at a talent disadvantage, as we are to Arsenal, you have to win by using different tactics, even if that means using an unfashionable alignment.

[McDurban]

Is this that Cornish bloke who plays guitar?

[Marinakis Red]

Let's just stick with what has worked for the last few games in the main with the same personnel. Johnson has to start at home.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Let's just stick with what has worked for the last few games in the main with the same personnel. Johnson has to start at home.

This ^^

[Fumanchew]

So if we did start with Johnson and it’s still pretty much 0-0 after half time if we were going to make a change would we add an extra midfielder or defender you reckon?

[DR Forest]

So if we did start with Johnson and it’s still pretty much 0-0 after half time if we were going to make a change would we add an extra midfielder or defender you reckon?

Not at half time but personally, if we were 0-0 at 70 minutes, I’d think most of the hard work had been done and I’d put an extra midfielder on in the hope we can get a point (whilst not inviting them onto us at the same time). I’d probably keep Brennan on and take Taiwo off.
The reason for this is he is more likely to be tired and Brennan can still chase balls in the channels to win fouls or throws so we can roll the dice on set pieces to try and nick a goal. 
The flaw in the plan is when we take Taiwo off we have no one hold the ball up. It’s not perfect.