DANGEROUS HEADLINES MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE
I can’t demand bravery from our players if I, a writer, am not willing to be brave myself.
Nottingham Forest arrive at a very weird time. They are a contradiction of a club. On the one hand, this is the most impressive Nottingham Forest side since the early 90s. They boast an aggressive owner who wants to win, they had a very good manager, and a very good set of players more than capable of delivering upsets. Let’s be clear here, Forest were challenging the top 5 last year and were genuinely a very scary team.
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On the other, they are a chaos club.
The owner blew up at the manager on the last game of the season very publicly. He added Edu as the Global Football CEO. They sold €123m worth of talent and spent €237m. Gone are big names like Elanga, Danilo, and Matt bloody Turner… in are names like Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye, Dilane Bakwa, James McAtee, and Igor Jesus.
Then… they did the unthinkable, they sacked Nuno three games in and replaced him with Big Ange. A staggering decision that does not look strategic in the slightest.
Out goes compact deep blocks that explode into rapid counters… in comes high pressing free flowing attacking football with no defensive rigor. This decision feels very much like the owner mandated entertaining football. Could be genius, like the time Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins for some Argentine that couldn’t speak English called Mauricio Pochettino. Or it could be a disaster like the time Spurs sacked the same manager to chase winnertivity and added Jose Mourinho.
The whole club is a basket case led by a man who is a cult of personality type… a very rich one, that has proved everyone wrong so far, but we’ll see what happens now he’s got his confidence up.
Big Ange is a great guy, but he’s thin-skinned, and his methods were well and truly sussed in season two in the Premier League. You can’t really succeed if you’re too militant with your ideology. All the greats in the Premier League have to balance their desires. You can’t be too artistic with your attack, and if you’re too defensive, you’ll pay the price. Ange is a dream, cut from the same cloth as Arsene Wenger, and I think his dated views will be problematic for Forest.
This fixture, without doubt, is a nightmare for Arteta because he can’t plan. Is Ange going to bring his Spurs approach to the game, or does he have to be practical with a team he’s probably had less than 4 training sessions with? Ange is all about attack, but his squad has been playing Nuno ball. This is not a continuity manager, or someone who is going to upgrade a system that was working really well. Ange is going to have to burn things to the ground to play his way…
… but what will he do tomorrow and how will his players feel? A new manager bounce is not a given here. The bounce is usually associated with players who have watched the green mile walk for a manager that has lost the players. That is not where Forest are. They’ve just seen the manager who made them all better given the Old Yeller treatment behind the family barn. How easy is it to react positively to a decision that isn’t popular? For a manager that took a better squad 10 places lower last season?
This whole post is toxic positivity at its finest… but I don’t think I would be happy, even if I was paid BIG money, if a boss I loved was moved on for no good reason? How about you? Oh, that’s f*cking weird my friend. No loyalty.
Arteta’s tan has gone, he looks like he’s spent the break watching a lot of video, and he seems pretty calm about the nightmare run of games coming up.
At home, against a team in chaos, one would imagine he’s probably quite keen to get a BIG result to silence some of the doubters. Points are the most important thing, but for me, I am at the point where I’d quite like to see a very good performance that allays the fears that we’ve spent a load of money to add potency to a brand of sufferball most of us don’t really enjoy.
Again, I am being an awful fan here… I want to see football that has us competing at the very top. We have that. But… we finished second playing exciting emotional football and we finished second playing extremely cautious. Can we Chinese menu the style? No. But Arteta added bang BANG players, he now has two great players in every position at minimum, and I think we’re all pretty confident he has the best squad we’ve seen in a very long time.
Give me some SEXY football. I want some Liverpool moments. We don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but we can afford to be a bit more pro-risk because if we’re not, we won’t get magic moments like Liverpool do.
My gut feel tomorrow is that Madueke is going to be extremely important. He found his confidence with England, he looked like he was feeling himself, and he has to prove to all the petitioners he is actually good… not underlying stats good, I’m talking actual numbers. I’m not going to the stats blogs this season to understand why I should be ok about being totally underwhelmed by a player. I’m over data. I want my season to be joyful because my eyes are being treated to a thrill ride for 90 minutes.
Things I’m looking for tomorrow…
Who gets a go on the left?
What does the mix of fullbacks look like?
Will Arteta learn his lesson with Calafiori and loads of minutes?
How are the team going to get cooking with Gyokeres?
Can Zubi and Declan dictate a dominant attacking display?
Injury news is positive, Saka will be ready sooner than you were led to believe, Saliba’s rolled ankle is not that serious, and Ben White is back in training.
So let’s see what we have in the locker tomorrow… it’s a big game. It has to be three points. Arsenal need to keep pace with Liverpool who are about to wallop Burnley 9-0 because shock horror, their next batch of fixtures are outrageously favorable.
Ok, remember to sign up to a membership to get the full On The Whistle LIVE after the game. You won’t see that as a freebie until Monday. You can also dive right into the Before the Whistle with me and Johnny. Sorry it was late, my world has been crazy of late. The podcast was GOOD. I think. You can judge. x
Podcast## 🔒 NOTTINGHAM FOREST (H) | BEFORE THE WHISTLE
Pedro
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12:41 AM
🔒 NOTTINGHAM FOREST (H) | BEFORE THE WHISTLE
It’s a Before the Whistle members edition of The Arsenal Opinion Podcast as Pedro and Johnny get stuck into a massive clash against Nottingham Forest. The stakes couldn’t be higher with City and Newcastle looming right after, and the lads bring their hottest takes yet.
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