Flat Gunners out of ideas against more motivated Forest

 

Nottingham Forest 1 Arsenal 0    
Premier League   
Saturday 20th May 2023 5.30pm   

It’s been a season far better than anyone could have anticipated, but having set such high standards, the way Arsenal have tailed off has been disappointing. Yes, the bigger picture gives reason for optimism, but of course, it’s the hope that kills you. The difference between drawing a game from a winning position and salvaging a point from a losing one. The result is the same, the emotions very different. 

 

So the Gunners’ campaign winds down in a state of whimper, which seems to have become the norm in recent seasons except for those in which they made the FA Cup Final. They recovered wonderfully from the February blip that saw them take one point from three matches, by winning seven in a row. All set for the title run-in. Since then, nine points out of 24. Manchester City have dropped just two out of the last 42 available to them. There was a time when over 80 points gave you an excellent chance of winning the title. The game has changed.

 

Yes, injuries have been a factor, but should the loss of one centre-back have been so critical? Things got worse by the time the club were no longer in the driving seat, losing first Zinchenko, and now Martinelli. Tomiyasu has been unavailable for as long as Saliba. It’s not the first time. Injuries have cost the club in title run-ins in the past, although you must wonder about Arteta’s decision to make changes to his backline ahead of yesterday’s trip to Forest. People wondered how they would line up, with Tierney dropped. As it turned out, Kiwior played on the left side of the defence and Thomas Partey did the Zinchenko thing of dropping into midfield from full back – albeit from the right-hand side of the backline. By the end of the match, you’d have to say that Tierney was a better option than Kiwior on the left side. He’s certainly played there in a three before.

 

It seemed that in the first half almost everything came down the right-hand side when Arsenal attacked, in spite of Ben White playing as a centre-back. The understanding was not quite the same and clear chances hard to come by. On the left, Kiwior was content to play more cautiously and neither he or Xhaka had much to do. Trossard ventured over to the centre to get more involved. 

 

Arsenal may have felt in control of the game, but after 18 minutes, a very sloppy Odegaard pass went to a Forest player and the resulting break saw the home side take the lead. Gabriel was unfortunate with his tackle leading to Awoniyi’s goal, but was a hostage to fortune once the move developed from the original mistake. After that, the home side continued playing the result football that suited their players and frustrated Arsenal with relative ease. There was little in the way of spark from the visitors, and we were often reduced to the old arc of doom that saw the ball make its was from one flank to the other, though the defenders and Jorginho, but not actually going forward very much at all. It reminded me of latter day Arsene. Steve Cooper’s side defended deep and denied space where their opponents could hurt them. Bar the odd shot that went high or wide, the Gunners could not work out how to break them down.

 

The second half was painful. Arteta threw on Tierney and Nketiah for Kiwior and Xhaka, and Tierney provided more in the way of drive, but not enough on his own. Where was the determination we had seen in the previous away game at Newcastle? You wanted Arsenal to at least maintain the pressure they could in the hope of a freak result today when Chelsea go to the Etihad. But just as important to finish the season with something to feel better about after such a drop-off in recent weeks. Later Vieira came on for Trossard, which almost felt like running the white flag up the pole. Arsenal needed magic and the unpredictable, not the Portuguese feather. Vieira doesn’t suit English football, cosmopolitan as the top flight has become, and looks like a waste of money. Sure, Arteta doesn’t value Emile Smith Rowe anymore, but Vieira’s been tried enough in these types of games, and before his operation, ESR did used to have impact. On that note, Trossard is a better sub than a starter, more effective when the opposition are tiring.

 

Forest were continually stopping the game with substitutions and remaining on the floor after any foul, preventing any momentum, just a sense of inevitability as the clock inexorably wore down. You had that feeling of the season can’t end soon enough. I am sure there will be a warm lap of appreciation for the players after the Wolves game next weekend, but the atmosphere will be fairly flat on the day itself. 

 

The team may have enjoyed 82% of possession yesterday, but that is meaningless. It produced just three shots on target. Forest plugged gaps where there was any chance Arsenal could hurt them, and quite plainly wanted it more. It’s the kind of performance you suspect Inter will have to produce to deny Manchester City the Champions League in Istanbul. Good luck with that because of course, City have the option of brute strength in attack that Arsenal could have used yesterday. When Artetaball clicks, it is a wonder to behold. But it can be negated, and when it is, there doesn’t seem to be an effective alternative. This is something that must be developed, otherwise there is likely to be a ceiling on what the club can achieve. 

 

It was Forest’s first clean sheet in 16 League matches, and only their third win in that time. It shows how playing relegation threatened sides at the end of the season can be anything but a formality. I recall when the tickets for the Wolves home game went on sale at the end of March. Arsenal had recovered from their February mini-collapse and were six matches into that seven game winning run. Momentum was back, the team were scoring three or four a match and Saliba had only missed one game since his injury. People were hopeful they were buying a ticket to watch the Gunners win the title for the first time in 19 seasons. Ah well. “Many a slip twixt cup and lip” as my sometime co-author Alex Fynn used to say. 

 

Forest were not pretty on the eye, but got what they needed. They fooled the ref more than once to win free kicks and found a way to disrupt Arsenal’s football. It was the kind of battle that the players need to be motivated to win and Arteta’s men weren’t yesterday. That’s understandable, the chances of a Manchester City side that had just taken Real Madrid to the cleaners doing a Devon Loch are remote to say the least, although now they can without fear of being overtaken. City have combined financial malpractice to establish the platform on which a very talented coach can get the best out of some very astute activity in the transfer market. It’s not a level playing field, but football generally isn’t. But it’s why, when a team gets a rare chance to beat the odds, it hurts so much if they can’t make the most of it. 

 

So, whilst we can recognise it has been a remarkable season for Arsenal with a lot of credit due to Arteta and his players, there’s no escaping how flat it all feels after the last eight matches. Won 2, Drew 3, Lost 3. The areas for improvement are clear, and there is fortunately more money because of finishing in second place with the attendant Champions League windfall. It does promise to be a busy summer behind the scenes and needs to be. Newcastle’s entry into the top four, as well as Brighton achieving European qualification makes for a more interesting division, even if the title itself is in danger of becoming similar to Germany, where Bayern rule (good luck to Dortmund there!). Arsenal’s challenge now is to remain in the mix and be playing matches that mean something bigger than simply maintaining the cycle of Champions League qualification we saw in Arsene’s final decade. 

Football moves in cycles. Guardiola won’t be around forever and there comes a time when even the wealthiest teams drop off. Manchester United and Chelsea divvied up the title in the years after the Invincibles until City’s financial shenanigans broke their monopoly. The hope is that, as Liverpool rose again, Arsenal can now do the same, that Arteta can improve as a coach in tandem with the depth of his squad, and that the team develop a greater ability to avoid individual errors presenting goals to the opposition. Because to get enough results to win a title, too many of these will prove fatal.

 

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