Arsenal and try and regain a bit of pride, and we started thev game in a serious mood, forcing Forest to defend with their lives. After ten minutes a nice bit of short passing in the Forest box nearly gave Jesus a half chance to give us the lead.
But, as is typical lately, our pressure gave Forest the chance of a breakaway goal, and sure enough Gibbs White went haring down the middle and found Taiwo Awoniyi who happily scored his 5th goal in 3 games, and Arsenal found themselves a goal down after just 20 minutes.
And so it continued until half tme., with Arsenal fans wondering what happened to our unbeatable team recently.
The ridiculous stat in the first 30 minutes was that we had had 80% of the possession, but still losing.
Arsenal started the second half in flying mood but still couldn’t gain control, with Forest continually trying to kick the ball over our advancing defenders- But it was Arsenal that had a couple of half chances in the first 15 minutes but thy hardly looked commanding. Forest are obviously playing with ten defenders even though previous results earlier mean that the Reds are now certain to stay up.
So now, neither side had anything to play for except pride, and Forest went on another break and the striker was left one on one with Ramsdale on 67 minutes, but hit the side netting.
There didn’t seem to be any real urgency from Arsenal but it was a bit feisty, but Forest were defending solidly as expected and carried on looking for the fast break.
On 90 minutes Forest yet again came close but missed again, but instead we were sentenced to another 7 minutes of torture.
Whatever, Forest and their fans will be celebrating wildly after the game, and great for the home fans to go home happy after their last game of the season at the City Ground.
When you think that just a couple of months ago we were 8 points ahead in the title race, it now feels like Arsenal have just collapsed completely and Arsenal fans must be totally deflated….
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We had almost zero hold-up play in the final-third. If Arteta and Edu still rely on our diminutive CFs next season, they would deserve to be sacked
Jesus’ tricks are useful to win free-kicks, but they will be useless if the referee doesn’t consider the fouls. Saka played with his back to goal better than Jesus
I got shot down for having an opinion against Jesus last year and i have been proved right. HE IS NOT A NO9 NEVER WILL BE.
Unfortunately, he can’t lead our front-line. We need a stronger CF who can consistently bring others into play, because our system isn’t mature yet
I think he could only thrive under Guardiola’s system. If Real Madrid offer £40m for him, I think Arsenal should take it
gai, absolutely right about Jesus. I’ve never been a fan of his but was OK when Arteta brought him here. I thought he could add some experience to the squad, but always knew we needed more from a CF than he would be able to give us. And this is not hindsight talking. Your suggestion to sell him is totally right if we can get a good price for him. This however will not happen because he is Arteta’s man. This is not a knee-jerk reaction that some may criticize me for. It’s a cold-blooded suggestion that I make.
Players to go – Jesus ; Nketiah (nice boy but not enough for us) ; E Smith-Rowe & Tierney because MA doesn’t fancy them; Pepe; Xhaka; Elneny all must leave.
Bring back Balogun and also buy a top quality CF so they can both play as and when.
Ofcourse this is all subject to us getting good replacements, which is going to be difficult.
Sadly, all the names you mentioned would likely be let go, if we get good offers for them
City didn’t win the league this season, we lost it and some!!!!!
The way in which we handed City the EPL title in that manor was shocking!
Where was the pride and passion? NONE
Where were the tactics? NONE
Where were the men? NONE
City will be laughing at the way in which they won. This Arsenal side proved one thing over the past month. They are still a bunch of bottlers. Not one of that squad today would I give a rating over 5. Sh*t performance and a sh*t month to capitulate once more!!
Yes we got 2nd. But that is because most other tams around us have been so poor.
Im afraid the style of football we play is not robust. It has too many flaws. Any style has to stand up under extreme pressure, we have yet to prove it does. There is no allowance for a change of tactics or personnel. It falls down too easily when the pressure is applied. Two seasons we have failed in cup competitions and two seasons we have faltered from a position of strength in the league. I am happy we finished second and 2nd 3rd or 4th, it means we qualify for the CL. BUT i am really worried by the substance of our play when it really matters. Yes we have fought at times this season but the fight and tactics have been wanting when it mattered.
I think we all saw that coming. We had nothing to play for, Forest at home fighting for their lives knowing a win kept them up.
Very flat again, just like against Brighton. We really need some squad depth next season.
A pathetic gutless display for the second time in 6 days.
Sideways passing.
No urgency.
Horrible to watch.
Thank christ the season ends next Sunday.
If we can finish second this league must be poor
No passion desire absolutely pathetic Arteta out and take half the team with you please don’t give this guy 200 mill to spend he will only waste it and get us nowhere crap manager show him the door now!
Yeah you’re completely right. Useless manager pushing City all the way with Nketiah as our main striker for a large chunk of the season, Saliba missing a third of the season, plus all the other injuries and hardly any squad depth.
Must tough winning a league when you have unlimited funds, Haaland, KDB, Grealish, Rodri, etc.
Some fan are quite emotional right now and I understand but for them to call for Arteta’s head is quite silly. I saw progress despite the bad results the past month. If I was the owner of the club I would back him massively this summer and if he fails to deliver a trophy and champions league football I would sack him.
Firstly jesus is not a proper number 9 so was no loss secondly who’s thought is it that we had no quality in depth to cope with injuries? And thirdly all the hype about Saliba is well over the top he’s average and if he goes it’s not the end of the world! We completely bottled it and will never get a better chance of winning the league prob never be in this position again!
Well no point in debating with someone who claims Saliba is average. Crazy comment!
Mark, Saliba “average”; I’m glad you’re not part of Arsenal’s recruitment team!
Arsenal did not push city
They where top of the league for more than 240days which means if anyone pushed another it was city who pushed us and we crumbled like bunch of amateurs
Even gave city the league without city kicking a ball and with 3games to play, city pushed us and when it was time to push them we couldn’t even hang with them for a month
it’s Arteta so we should be happy for finishing above Newcastle and united
So you fully expected a league title at the beginning of the season?
We will win against Wolves 5-0. That is because Wolves have nothing to play for anymore. This is what we always do when pressure off by the opposition.
We have been awfully predictive since January.
Am Short of words, perhaps Wenger is still in charge.
As soon as Odergaard gave away that ball, I knew they were going to score, it’s happened before, same position, same player, same season, same result. This should not be in his play. Not sure what’s going with ESR, but don’t think we could’ve done any worse with him on.
Pathetic,down from the so called genius manager and these players .
We won’t be going anywhere next season with him in charge and some of these so called world class players .
Embarrassing.
Top clubs sack bosses after such displays.
Real sacked Toshack after winning the double.
Like Mikel but think he has taken us as far as we can go.
Exactly ,clubs get rid of managers straight after they win big cups when things look like it’s not working ,trust the process is the biggest cringe Moto I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing daily .
Ridiculous take we’re miles clear in 2nd. We’ll invest heavily in the summer and already had the youngest team. Future is bright even if this season is bitter sweet because we all started to believe.
No one remembers second place Angus ,no way this team kicks on next season with this management and team ,not good enough it’s so obvious to see ,yes it’s a better than last season but it’s still a pathetic end to the season,I don’t wanna hear these excuses ,heard it all before it gets old fast .
Don’t forget Wenger also had young teams for so many years and didn’t win the league. We became an ‘almost’ team, until the players started getting old and leaving us. There is absolutely no guarantee that we will win the league even if we keep this players till their late 20’s. Other teams only have to be improving their team with new players every year and better manager to continuously be ahead of us.
Pathetic and gutless performance
Gutless performance
As someone who lives in Nottingham, I’m happy that Forrest is staying up but gutted how we blew a big lead over City and had a bad end to the season. Next season will be even more difficult. City will be there, United will be better, Newcastle will have a shot.
More than deflation really. Any sane mind will be thinking: Are these the signs of things to come next season? Where we just lucky this season? If poch and Klopp get it right next season then we’re in deep sh1t. I don’t see us fixing our self-inflicted tactical flaws any time soon. This must be the biggest capitulation in recent times. It’s up there with the Newcastle one no lie.
Elite mentality so says Arteta
Atleast arteta learn playing with same eleven whole season you cant win any title, you need a plan b actually there is no plan B, now opposite teams know how we play. Next season will be tough with zinchenko plan, from previous season we actually want a proper striker who can hold the ball. ( we replace lacazette and aubameyang with a short guy who is not clinical in front of goal), this season xhaka already leaving we are well short of players who can compete in champion league level ( we see the europa league sqaud rotation and also out from all competition very early)
Obviously Arteta and Edu can’t purchase the right dog from the pet shop. Instead of calling the poor dog Win,, they should have named it Capitulate. If they can’t purchase the right dog,, how can they be trusted to purchase the right players. At least you can take a dog back to the pet shop,,, I’m not so sure about returning new players back. There wasn’t anything positive today. And to think the sun is coming up right now
Spurs could never copy the dog thing as be to scare son will eat it for his dinner! He shoots he scores he eats a labrador…………….🤣
Funny
Arsenal and Arteta did not care for the fans; no respect for fans. All we have is Champions League opportunity. It is a terrible end of the season squandering 8-point lead and dropping 7 more points in matches with relegation-bound teams. Is this an enviable record?
It’s not. We overachieved this season and showed our true form at the end
I was very proud of this Arsenal squad about four weeks ago. Today I feel much different. It’s great to have CT football next year and that is a great achievement. But let’s not forget how other teams have been so erratic or poor this season. Had Manure, Chelsey, Spuds or Liverpool had a good season we may be in a much worse position?
We’re absolute pants. We won’t win the league anytime soon, and will get flogged outta the champions league next season
I think arsenal chased Unai very early, look what he’s done at Villa with such a short time, those players play with passion, determination, and guts. Arteta seems like an emotional person. I’m sensing he’s lost the dressing room
Sanchez can still do a better job at scoring than Jesus, no creativity, I miss the carzola,ozils combination, it was pure, just that giroud was a cow of a striker, and Wenger is stupit too, if he had bought saurez than year we would have won the league, all in the name of 1quid.
👍Unai Emery has gone to a club where he is resected by the Board by being named “manager” rather than “head coach”, will be backed in the transfer market and supported by the fans.
Why did Arsenal not fully support Emery with player discipline, allow him full involvement in transfers and provide him with the funds they have with Arteta, given his managereal pedigree?
There is an article here that says NF is hopeful and motivated to beat Arsenal and that is what they did. Compare that to our team our team all talk but no action. Enough said
Oh well. At least Arteta can open up a business in walking dogs. They say he has experience in that. Instead of teaching football.,,, it’ll be teaching dogs to sit,, roll over,, heel,, and high fives. He can BARK out his instructions to the dogs instead
Blah, blah and blah.
Good season but as A Typical we were found wanting.
This Curry will leave a sour taste.
Agree with the comments on today’s or recent performances, disagree with the toys being thrown out of prams. Let the dust settle. We’re in the CL next year, have money spend and are the youngest team in the league. It’s the best state we’ve been in for a long long time, enjoy it. We’ll be back next year and get to hear the CL music again!
Any top manager like Mourinho, Ferguson, Klopp or Pep would have said at half time that if you do not improve your level in the next 10 – 15 minutes, I am playing the kids an put on Bandeira, Walters and Cozier Duberry. Our regulars have now really put me off. Hope they learn for next season and soon.
I would only be interested in the match against Wolves if we see some of our youngsters to see some hopeful potential for next season.
Agree 100%. Arteta HAS to send a message to this lot that NO ONE is safe and guaranteed to start any game.
Players are too comfortable and complacent and that has shown in their body language and play.
Start Turner, Kiwor, Tierney, new RB, ESR, Nelson, Trossard, Vieira even. Don’t see a single player today that is deserving of a start next week.
Ramsdale saying they didn’t bottle anything just infuriates me even more. Denying reality won’t help this lot improve.
Give them hairdryer treatment for that slop they have served up the last 2 weeks.
The match result prediction by the match result predictors for this our today’s away match loss to Nottingham Forest, was Arsenal will lose the match to Nottingham Forest. Because as they have said, Arteta and his Gunners team have lost their mojo
And truly, they didn’t make the match result predictors a liar. As they have lost again today to Nottingham Forest at away. That came after they lost at home against Brighton last Saturday.
But what has suddenly gone wrong to have seen the Gunners and Arteta deflated in the run in of the season? Which has seen Arsenal collapsed to relinquished the Epl title win today ronaldo Man City? This has come after they looked set to win it having dared incredibly for it’s win when top table a very long time in the season. But inky to later on collapsed on the run in. But should there be an investigations by the Arsenal Board to know why Arsenal failed so badly in the run in to not had won the League? Which they were in position to win in their last 7 games of the season. But failed when they took 7 points out of the last 21 on offer to lose the title this season and lost it to Man City. Too bad!
7 points out of 21 is a collapse.
👍 Reggie, certainly not EPL winning form!
The match result prediction by the match result predictors for this our today’s away match loss to Nottingham Forest, was Arsenal will lose the match to Nottingham Forest. Because as they have said, Arteta and his Gunners team have lost their mojo
And truly, they didn’t make the match result predictors a liar. As they have lost again today to Nottingham Forest at away. That came after they lost at home against Brighton last Saturday.
But what has suddenly gone wrong to have seen the Gunners and Arteta deflated in the run in of the season? Which has seen Arsenal collapsed to relinquished the Epl title win today to Man City? This has come after they looked set to win it having played incredibly for it’s win when they top the table for a very long time in the season. But only to later on collapsed on the run in. But should there be an investigations by the Arsenal Board to know why Arsenal failed so badly in the run in to not had won the League? Which they were in position to win in their last 7 games of the season. But failed when they took 7 points out of the last 21 on offer to lose the title this season and lost it to Man City. Too bad!
We won’t last long in the Champions League. Before we can finish singing the Champions League Anthem,, we’ll be back in the Europa League before you know it. Arsenal are likely to be in POT THREE in the seeding system for the Champions League draw. Arsenal have dropped way down the rankings of European clubs because of lack of involvement in Champions League competition for 6 years. And Arsenal will not get a favourable draw in the group stages. It will be back to Thursday night football. DogGoneItFlees
Arsenal need nothing less than 5 new starters for next season and, more importantly, tactical flexibility. I am afraid next season might be Arteta’s last with us if he doesn’t get it right. We can blame the players all we want but this team is never set up to withstand pressure. There is no plan B. I don’t know what is being instilled in them during team talk or training but something is definitely off. They are so afraid of losing possession even at the expense of opportunity to attack. This makes them very slow in decision making and gives time for the opposition to regroup. Next season, we need 2 new midfielders — Caicedo and a box to box player capable of sitting Odegaard on the bench; a new centre forward so that Jesus can replace Saka sometimes; a defensive LB; and a RB.
Sell Vieira, Lokonga, Tomiyasu. Keep Partey if he is able to resolve his off-field issue and clear his head, otherwise sell him too. Keep Smith Rowe. Sell Jorginho. Keep Xhaka, if possible. Keep Trossard. Sell Balaogun to raise fund. Sell Holding.
TEAM FOR NEXT SEASON
Goalie: Ramsdale/Turner
RB: New RB/ White/ academy player
RCB: Saliba/ New CB/ White
LCB: Gabriel/ Kiwior/ all RCB
LB: New LB/ Zinchenko/ Kiwior
DM: Caicedo ≡ Partey
RCM: Odegaard≡Caicedo≡New box to box
LCM: New box to box/ Xhaka≡Smith Rowe
LW: Msrtinelli/ Nelson/ Trossard
RW: Saka, Jesus/ Cozier- Duberry/ Nelson
ST: Jesus≡New CF/ Nketiah
You made some very interesting points which I agree with and have stated several times myself.
It’s obvious Arteta has to learn, change and adapt. And he has to be fast about it.
Flexibility and dynamism is key.
Next season will be tougher and he’ll be harshly judged.
Arteta was not flexible with the squad enough. Thank goodness I didn’t watch the game. Although the news soiled my evening. I would just be bold to go for ex Madrid Zidane. He literally surrendered to city in a diminishing manner. Potential players may want to reconsider being coached by him.
We lose the league to city and the first thing he goes and do is BUY A BLOODY DOG!!!!!
A DOG is better than a (useless) coach…that’s why.
@Arteta
Thank you for the woeful memories but it is time to say goodbye.
He has taken us as far as he can, no disgrace in him hitting his ceiling as a manager.
He can manage a mid table team and still have a successful career.
Unfortunately, he won’t go down in the history books .
well said @sws
Any suggestions to replace him?
the DOG?
Haha good one RFrancis 👍
I was being serious
Surely it’s better to have someone in mind rather than do what Spurs did? You come up with the dog I was expecting something more enlightening
I don’t buy into the usual song if we have overachieved. This is a team with no title ambitions. The games we have lost and drawn shows that we are not going to win any title or cup anytime soon. I can tell you for a fact that Manchester United or Liverpool wouldn’t have bottled it this way if they were in our position. No heart, no fight, no determination.
After such a dismal, disappointing and deflating end of the season, it will be almost impossible for Arteta to motivate the players and get them to buy into Artetaball for next season.
After over three years in charge, he doesn’t even seem to know the basic strengths and weaknesses of his players and the squad as a whole.
We should really be concerned about next season and especially how he decides to spend our transfer budget this summer.
Never had any faith in his decision-making and still no reason to.
I know we have lots of injuries etc but apart from Jorghino and Gabriel I really didn’t see any commitment from anyone. Sideways backward lob it to their goalkeeper ….. and repeat ….
Dumb and Dumber!
It’s was dumb playing Partey at right and not playing Tierney at left back. We lost the interaction of White and Saka down the right flank and the whole back line looked uncomfortable playing forward on the flanks. Is that the only reason we didn’t win the game, maybe not, but it definitely didn’t help. MA should have realized way before HT that it wasn’t working and should’ve made a change, but if he has a failing, he is to stubborn to change a tactic when it’s not working.
This may sound redicilous.
But am certain money exchanged hands for this game.
This match seems fixed honestly…..cos this is so unthinkable.
All I can say is next season we go again
How many more times are you going to say that EDU until something clicks .
It was a shame we dropped off so badly over the past few weeks and I understand the fans’ reaction but we still finished a clear 2nd. We need to strengthen the squad with players with leadership qualities as I don’t see a single leader in our squad. The benchmark is Man City who have quality players and leaders like Gundogan, Rodri, de Bruyne, Dias, Silva etc. 20 years ago we would win games playing badly because we had leaders like Tony Adams, Patrick Viera, Gilberto and Sol Campbell.
I think Arteta deserves another year and I believe he will be backed in the Summer.
We finished a clear second because other top teams had a bad season (Liverpool, Spuds, Chelsea, Utd etc.)
This season has proved that we have still not mentally of physically improved. When on a good run, we are capable. But when it gets tough, we buckle. As much as it’s good to have youth, experienced winners want to win more. We need more top quality proven winners if we are to improve this squad.
I think the two big let downs on the run in were our experienced players, Jesus and Zinchenko. They were not good enough.
Jesus being next to useless and a hinderence.
Thought some of our best performances were when Trossard was playing as a 9.
Notice how our form nosedived when Arteta benched Trossard and gifted starts to Jesus?
Aside from running around a lot and constantly dropping too deep in midfield I don’t see where he has made us better.
Weak holdup if at all, and flops as much as Richarlison or Zaha. Hope Jesus shifts to RW and competes with Saka and we get a real striker this Summer.
Favoritism from Arteta has to stop if we want to push on. Players should compete for starts not be automatic selections.
Then must we dare call both ” City agents”. Seeing their former employer eventually trumped Arsenal
Today was an absolutely awful experiment, I mean really WTF was arteta thinking, was a shambolic plan, a joke!
Just saw the result now. 9.30 am Australian time. Actually thought they were playing today, such is my interest but looking at the starting line up it looks as though Arteta sent in his old mates on the hope that they would redeem themselves and his reputation. Obviously it didn’t work out. Glad Smith Rowe was not part of his plans ad did not feature in the debacle.
Pathetic, wimpish performance. If Arsenal believe they can take this squad into the Champions League without major upgrades and additions, the Board is living in ” cloud cookoo land”. On current form (given Everton, Southampton, Nottingham Forest etc) they will struggle to win a game
3 centre backs plus Xaka, Jorginho and party in the same team….wtf was that?
My view is that there were a few factors which we glossed over and in the end they cost us dearly. One was that we were so obsessed with Champions league we let go of all other competitions. Secondly, our manager was overwhelmed by the progress of the team that and failed to rally the boys to sustain it. He had so much respect for Guardiola that he could not imagine beating him. Even his reaction whenever he met Guardiola could tell that. It was a meeting of pupil and teacher. Thirdly, the idea of giving up on some competitions demotivated some players who wanted to win any trophy for bragging rights. Team selection was another issue. Many of us wonder why Emile Smith Rowe was never played even though he was always on the bench. It defeats logic that a light weight like Fabio Vieira was played ahead of ESR. Furthermore, our small forward players proved a liability as time went by. We need players who will scare the defences the way Thierry Henry and Olivier Giroud did. Many of our high balls always went begging. We also lost a threat in Martinelli when he got injured.
What is the way forward? I believe the following ought to happen: Get two strong defenders, two strong midfield players, two tall forward players and ensure that there is competition for every position; regularly rotate the players; get rid of all players that have failed to improve; treat all competitions with respect and avoid regarding some competitions as inferior; all players should get equal and fair treatment based on merit. Lastly, the team should be given targets to achieve at the beginning of the season and there should be review of performances after every game. There should be no excuse for lackluster performances. A loss should be inevitable and not for lack of trying.
What is my overall assessment of the team’s performance? It was better than any one had anticipated but it became frustrating at the end because it raised our hopes high but failed to deliver. We need to remember the words of George Bernard Shaw that he who has never hoped will never despair. Let us look forward to a better 2023/24 season.
Hopefully Nottingham Forest now accepts that the donation of the football shirts to Woolwich Arsenal all those years ago, has been fully repaid.