Arsenal vs Forest: Player ratings and Match Reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ramsdale 5.5 - Didn’t have too much to do thanks to Forest getting altitude sickness that far up the pitch but brought his clown shoes to the game with ball at his feet


White 5 - Just a liability at the moment


Saliba 6 - Good assist for Saka, ultimately his biggest contribution to the game


Timber 3 - Has anyone checked if he’s related to Aaron Ramsey because the way he gave the ball away under no pressure was uncannily similar


Partey 5 - Needs to be given an MRI to check for neurological issues affecting his fine motor coordination.


Rice 7 - Can’t really fault him for the total defensive shambles, he did make some interceptions and he got forward well.


Havertz 6.5 - Still lacks the ability on the ball to play in central midfield but tried to create chances everywhere, unfortunately we have a team of poor finishers.


Odegaard 5 - The Odegaard that we bought two years ago is back!


Martinelli 6.5 - Can’t really give him any higher because he was so totally isolated from the game by the setup that he wasn’t able to consistently repeat the brilliance that led to our opening goal


Saka 8 - Main attacking threat and absolute thunderbolt of a goal.


Nketiah 7 - Finally realised where he needs to be on the pitch to actually score goals


Subs -

Tomoyasu 5 - Was no worse than Timber but that’s a low bar to hurdle over

Trossard 6 - Needs to be prepared to take shots on himself


Gabriel 7 - Solid presence





A lot of Arsenal performances under Arteta have made me angry, this made me angry and depressed. Angry because it’s so glaringly obvious that putting out a side like that can only come from the mind of someone not fully wedded to reality. Depressed because we know full well now how badly this season will go (well some of us who don’t think the writing on the wall is written in invisible ink)
Feel ashamed of us as a club, if we wanted to play like spastics we didn’t need to spend so much money to do so.
For me this season will be like chemotherapy, will be a horrible thing to endure and will make me feel sick. But it’s possibly the only thing that will rid us of that tumour Arteta.

[Mac76]

A lot of Arsenal performances under Arteta have made me angry, this made me angry and depressed. Angry because it’s so glaringly obvious that putting out a side like that can only come from the mind of someone not fully wedded to reality. Depressed because we know full well now how badly this season will go (well some of us who don’t think the writing on the wall is written in invisible ink)
Feel ashamed of us as a club, if we wanted to play like spastics we didn’t need to spend so much money to do so.
For me this season will be like chemotherapy, will be a horrible thing to endure and will make me feel sick. But it’s possibly the only thing that will rid us of that tumour Arteta.

Blimey have you been drinking?

I always add at least a point onto your player scores which means Saka was a 9 but also Rice an 8 - impressive PL debut for him on that score...

[HCZ_Reborn]

Blimey have you been drinking?

I always add at least a point onto your player scores which means Saka was a 9 but also Rice an 8 - impressive PL debut for him on that score...

Nah I’d be a lot less annoyed than I am now if I had been drinking

Today was a horrible shit show, and so horrendously predictable. Sometimes winning games like this almost makes it worse because managers will take it as a sign that things are copacetic.

[Mac76]

I've no doubt the Kroenkes look at the score and think all's well, but from what people have said here it's all horribly predictable and we are not the high-class dominating side we need to be

My concern is if they don't break up Arteta's nursery school soon we'll be wasting some of the best years of the very good/promising players in the squad

[HCZ_Reborn]

I've no doubt the Kroenkes look at the score and think all's well, but from what people have said here it's all horribly predictable and we are not the high-class dominating side we need to be

My concern is if they don't break up Arteta's nursery school soon we'll be wasting some of the best years of the very good/promising players in the squad

Problem is the Kroenkes don’t understand football, so they can’t see the clear warning lights. Otherwise they’d have sacked Arteta almost three years ago. And Arteta has big support amongst an ill informed fan base that equate spending a lot of money with success (which it should be if you buy the right players)

[mandela8]

Everyone gets a 5 for me. Maybe White a 4 and Partey a 6, as the worst best of today, but not much in it, really.

A bit disjointed but it's the first game of the season, so not an issue. I was actually encouraged that Arteta made a meaningful in-game change, around 30 mins, when it was clear Rice was struggling at DM, so he was moved up and Partey came into the middle. I think we've all complained about Arteta being too rigid and not changing it when needed, so credit where it's due.

3 points on the board. All that matters in the first few games.

[Marc Overmars]

Could have been a home game from last season if you didn’t know any better.

Happy with the 3 points of course but you just don’t see that cold bloodedness like you do with City.

[mandela8]

Saka was a 9 but also Rice an 8 - impressive PL debut for him

Not sure if serious.

Saka scored an beauty of a goal but his general play was very poor today. Rice clearly struggled to look like anything other than a white Elneny.

Behave yourself, ffs.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Could have been a home game from last season if you didn’t know any better.

Happy with the 3 points of course but you just don’t see that cold bloodedness like you do with City.

Last season we were able to score more goals, we had to rely on two moments of individual brilliance to stop Forest winning, and there’s no doubt they should have won.

[21_GOONER_SALUTE]

Everyone gets a 5 for me. Maybe White a 4 and Partey a 6, as the worst best of today, but not much in it, really.

A bit disjointed but it's the first game of the season, so not an issue. I was actually encouraged that Arteta made a meaningful in-game change, around 30 mins, when it was clear Rice was struggling at DM, so he was moved up and Partey came into the middle. I think we've all complained about Arteta being too rigid and not changing it when needed, so credit where it's due.

3 points on the board. All that matters in the first few games.

I'd go with you here.

Unlike a lot of you guys, I'm pretty happy we got the 3 points as I did see a bore draw, especially if we'd setup the way we did against Citeh. Thankfully we didn't and I was pretty encouraged when I saw the starting lineup.

This game (and a bit of what we saw preseason) confirms one main thing to me.

Firstly, Havertz and Rice were luxury signings. Having to change his formation to suit them shows they addressed no shortcomings in this team. Simply put if we'd played Jorginho instead of Rice and Trossard instead of Harvertz this could have probably been 5 or 6 with Turner helping us out of course. My hope is that Arteta doesn't get carried away by these two that he feels the need to keep tinkering with his system that was solid enough if our regular players are fit. I do hope however that Rice proves to me that he is needed in this team but I'm pretty sure Havertz (though I've put him as my top scorer) won't be important for this team like I said in the beginning.

Anyway, the priority this summer (for me anyway) was to keep the players that kept us ticking last season, doing so is success. I just hope Arteta starts our best players and doesn't give preference to his luxury signings, that's the new worry.