High lines and low balls make for a nice theory, but wasps don’t care much for ideologies. And nowhere do they swarm with such menace as they do at Arsenal, which evidently remains a rough spot for Ange Postecoglou to visit.
If his hope for Nottingham Forest was to hit the ground with the same speed with which he bolted in those early weeks at Tottenham, then the reality amounted to a brutal awakening. Brutal and familiar.
He never won here in the old gig and the new commenced with a serious, narrative-deflating hiding.
We should be clear of one thing at the outset – there was no major attempt to reinvent Nuno Espirito Santo’s wheel. Postecoglou’s tweaks from one distinct style to its binary opposite were subtle, but plainly there were intentions to use the ball more and to set the trenches higher up the field.
Alas, it is one thing to transform a team and quite another to do it against Arsenal.
So what we saw was a dismantling by one of the deepest and most talented squads in the division against one managing the trauma of Nuno’s departure. Arsenal were excellent, both in how they dominated the game with pace, angles and quality and also in how relentlessly they applied all of the above. Forest were run into the ground by their intensity and variety, a team reduced to swatting at shadows.
Arsenal swarmed all over Nottingham Forest like wasps as they hit them for three on Saturday
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Viktor Gyokeres scored Arsenal’s second goal, either side of a brace from Martin Zubimendi
Zubimendi (left) scored only two goals all of last season when playing for Real Sociedad
Ange Postecoglou only made subtle changes having had limited time with his new squad
For that, Noni Madueke was Mikel Arteta’s leading light, with an utterly destructive afternoon against a rotating cast of full-backs. Neither Morato nor Neco Williams could deal with him.
On the opposing flank, Eberechi Eze was only marginally less effective, and in the middle Martin Zubimendi scored the first and third goals, one of which was a belting volley from the edge of the area. In between, Viktor Gyokeres got his third of the season, which shifted a quiet performance into one where he offered signs of real understanding with both Eze and Madueke.
If the latter marks a sustained trend, Arteta will come to view this win in terms far grander than the isolated achievement of three points.
His first show strength came early with the team sheet, or rather the depths it highlighted on Arteta’s bench. Prime among them was Declan Rice, who was afforded a breather, but there was also Piero Hincapie, Ben White, Gabriel Martinelli, Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard and Myles Lewis-Skelly, among others.
With Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and William Saliba yet to return to the squad from their injuries, it is clear they have better personnel in more spots than ever before to weather the rough patches of a season. Proof of the point arrived quickly here.
After quarter of an hour, Martin Odegaard found himself sandwiched by a hefty collision between Morgan Gibbs-White and Jurrien Timber, with the consequence that he was launched into the air and landed heavily on his shoulder. A few minutes later, he came off to Arteta’s fear that it was an aggravation of his recent injury.
The drawback on a positive afternoon for Arsenal was the shoulder injury to Martin Odegaard
Nottingham Forest faced their own injury concerns when star defender Murillo had to go off
That will be a source of great anxiety, but in the localised issue of this match, Arsenal’s tempo did not drop. Not in the slightest.
Prior to the Odegaard injury, Matz Sels delivered an excellent save from a shot Mikel Merino ought to have converted, and after his withdrawal Arsenal continued to dominate possession. The chances were limited, but the game’s pattern was obvious.
So was the brief: feed Eze and Madueke at every opportunity and unleash hell on the full-backs. Madueke, for one, twice skipped by Morato from a standing start.
His confidence is rocketing and bringing up his output with it. We saw that with England in midweek and again in this one – the only Forest player who seemed to have even a vague read on his intentions was Elliot Anderson.
The net result was an avalanche of Arsenal pressure, multidirectional and constant. Does Postecoglou still fancy a high defensive line? It was awfully hard to be conclusive in a half where Forest were pinned so deep to their own area.
Aside from struggling to handle Arsenal’s pace, they were also pounded by their set-pieces. Timber and Gabriel had already had decent chances through that time-tested route before Zubimendi achieved the breakthrough with a beauty following a Madueke corner. Chris Wood headed the original delivery clear, but the volley was immense.
Reaching the break at 1-0, there were only two thoughts from the Arsenal perspective: how was it only one? And why was Viktor Gyokeres so ineffective when surrounded by so much creative talent? Both were addressed within a minute of the restart and via a pivot in Arsenal’s approach.
This one came from a direct route, with Riccardo Calafiori floating a long ball that was lost in flight by Nicolo Savona, and Eze gathered in the space behind him. The VAR flirted with the idea that he was offside before correctly deciding otherwise, which was key as he then centred for Gyokeres to bury from close range.
The Forest response a first meaningful chance – Wood chested the ball against the bar – and an attempt to set that higher line, but none of it worked.
Arsenal’s swarming continued and the understanding between Madueke and Gyokeres grew. Through that combination, the latter had two more solid chances, one of which hit the frame, before Zubimendi headed the third goal off a Trossard cross.
The best that can be said of Postecoglou’s latest act is that it could have been far worse than 3-0.
