bookd.
Nott'm Forest
Arsenal
poor bad game very reimiscient of the leeds and villa games. scrappy, players getting stuck in. if you showed me all the fouls konsa recieved this game i woulda thought he got injured. arsenal looked very jaded this game and it shows. once again a very lackluster performance in the first half and that really makes me worried. a better team should and would punish us for that type of showing. i think this season i saw something that the only other time we haven’t registered a shot on target was at villa, and that also was a dreadful game forest put up a compact block of doom that has dragged out the game to the very end. big ups to them, they were incredibly organized and caused us many issues. i don’t want to imagine what they could have done with MGW and somebody other than delap on the transition. glasner definitely tried to take it to us more on the second half. big positive though: arteta has learned to make use of his depth to change the gamestate. this is like the 3rd or 4th game in a row that the subs have saved the game from a draw/loss. for a lot of people, their biggest criticism of him for a while was his inability to make proper subs or waiting till the last possible minute. hopefully this trend continues, especially with the way we’re playing. eze needs to move back into the midfield. even with calafiori today instead of mls he doesn’t look effective off the left. january will be a big window for us as it is very clear we NEED a player with pace again in our front line to stretch the pitch. fairs noni, keep doing that caption for god think konsa put in a solid performance and had a great battle against that forest attack, winning fouls and stopping forest’s momentum. him and deccers for me as MOTM
Arsenal
Want to read more?
Get Bookd to read 50,000+ reviews and log every match you watch.
Comments
Eze is a big problem. At least for us Wirtz has age on his side, Eze just looks chunky and like his head’s not in it. You can’t play him in the 10 if Ødegaard is in there, and Merino feels a safer bet there than him. I feel like Arteta never wanted him, and you could tell Madueke, goal aside, did everything Arteta wanted him to do in terms of stretching the defense. Barcola instead of him and this squad is ready for the treble. I’d be on the phone to Nico Williams, offer him everything.
@rafadinhoforlahm agreed. i think eze was a (albeit somewhat needed) reaction to i think it was havertz’s injury before the end of the window. i was actually incredibly excited about him though, he was so prolific at palace and to me he was the “something out of nothing” player signing that we lacked and he frequently did it under roy hodgson. he’s done it for us only very very occasionally and is inconsistent outside of that. it’s a hard issue, because we have talents coming up from the academy
@rafadinhoforlahm right now 2 names circling around that left wing spot for our window in jan is kevin schade and nusa. both would be a great addition to us and offer us a more dynamic transitional threat imo. was trying to be optimistic off the summer window, but really really wishing that we signed another name for the left or at least another attacker
@tligoat I think you’re fine, you’ll definitely challenge and be there in the race for May. City might get points docked, too. And obviously whatever happens to Eze, he won you a league. My feeling is he was just the big fish in a small pond (Spurs loves those players), and he can’t cope with what Arteta wants, which is a very impressive and physical system.
@tligoat I had Schade stocks but the guy has been stinking up my FPL and the more I see him, the lower his ceiling looks. I think Nusa or a rehabilitated Rodrygo would be my picks, but I’d ask Brighton about Minteh. Dogged presser, one of the better creators, and a higher ceiling than Schade. Some thinking should go into Saka succession planning, and a Minteh Tzolis pairing behind a good 9 does feel like a title defending duo.
@rafadinhoforlahm i’m still relatively confident going into the season. despite my questions on how sustainable these 2ndhalf/late game goals are, these are fixtures that we dropped points in last season (this game exactly was a 0-0 draw in jan) and we’re getting them out the way now. we’ll see how city fairs, but we’re still early in the season and the real grind begins around the holidays into the new year
@rafadinhoforlahm i hear the minteh shouts and honestly anyone sounds pretty good right now to bolster our attack. i kinda like schade cause he’d be a good outlet for our transition game/david raya longballs. he’s good aerially at only 6’1”(?), quick pace to stretch the pitch, good crossing with his weakfoot, runs off his defender’s shoulder, stuff like that. i hear it tho, his finishing is something to be desired and struggles technically in a 1v1. he’d be a player my fanabase would hate.
@tligoat would find good chances and fail to convert. jan window has to be a signing that addresses our needs now. not sure how well a rodrygo would translate over, and nusa for all his strengths (especially in his rather unique finish, willingness to take on his man, technical ability) suffer from issues in decision making and just being a young raw talent. again would still be pretty happy with them, schade, or minteh tho at this point
I agree with mikels sub depth plan I can’t lie I don’t want him to rely on it but props to him for aligning players who can change the pace of the game
very enjoyable review👍
not the type of performance we need with the fixtures we have coming up, something really needs to change
@sabeen the only thing i can think to cope about it is that we’re getting these shaky performances out the way so we don’t play like this in the latter half of the season
@tligoat true, also these away fixtures aren't for the weak so i'm glad they are done with
@sabeen granted yes, but we won a league with a loss and a draw to Forest in 2025…the real issue is that City look untouchable both on and off the field this season
@rafadinhoforlahm yeah, playing catch up already isnt a great start as well
@sabeen you have Fleetwood before us, I can see our game being easier because of how open we play, probably a draw - the real test is going to be Everton in my opinion, Moyes loves himself a nasty little midblock, and having that after Bayern is going to be tiring
@rafadinhoforlahm going from the allianz to facing everton will be tough, especially with how our attack has been, in regards to playing u i would be willing to take a draw since we haven't won at anfield since 2012
@sabeen Yeah I think Iraola takes the draw too since we face Chelsea right before - hopefully a nice 2:2 and no injuries. I can see a win against Everton and Bayern as long as he rotates, ie Havertz in Germany and Gyok against the Blues, but still…Arteta probably will not be happy with two points dropped against us, since 114 FC could be 5 points ahead after that.
@rafadinhoforlahm one thing i will say arteta has been good at making subs at the right time as they've been winning us points these past few games, i just wish our attack would take more risks, in regards to city, i'm hoping brighton can take points off them as they've been insane this szn
@sabeen Saka and Øde look like they miss Tzolis, who wasn’t stupid fast, but just provided goal threat that cleared up space for them. White was disappointing today, good on Arteta to sub him out. Bayern will be a tough watch, I can smell the Timber RB shift on Diaz from a mile away.
@rafadinhoforlahm tzolis being out is far from ideal, he's been decent since joining but i haven't seen enough to properly judge him, hoping timber will start against bayern as he'll being able to handle diaz better imo, just hoping timber keeps his fitness up