Morning from a really moist and windy Dublin.
Soccer is again and we face Nottingham Forest at residence. On paper not probably the most tough recreation we might have had, however given their kind up to now this season (and maybe ours), positively not a foregone conclusion by any means. Mikel Arteta was surprisingly forthcoming concerning the health of his gamers yesterday, and there was excellent news and a smattering of unhealthy as he offered updates.
Primarily based on what he mentioned, it seems as if we’ll have Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori all accessible at the moment. All of them educated, to various levels, and the supervisor sound fairly optimistic about their involvement. I additionally thought he was fairly fascinating on Martin Odegaard who, after enjoying 96 minutes in his first recreation again, had a little bit of a response. Arteta mentioned:
After such a very long time not enjoying he wanted time to recuperate. The ankle reacted and different areas of the physique with a lot load going into it. It wasn’t ultimate, however he’s been OK, the final day and a half he’s educated with the workforce and he’s feeling good, in order that’s actually optimistic.
I don’t suppose it’s in any respect sudden that it took loads out of him. To go from 0 to 100 on his first recreation again wasn’t ultimate, however as we now go right into a interval of the season with a recreation each three or 4 days, it’s going to be vital that we handle his load fairly fastidiously. That mentioned, I count on him to begin at the moment, and it wouldn’t shock me to see us line up as follows: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Havertz.
There are attainable tweaks in fact, however as I wrote yesterday, I feel a slight shift within the midfield steadiness is price attempting, and at the moment appears like a good day to provide {that a} go. At residence in opposition to a workforce that can sit deep, deny us house, and look to hit us on the counter, I don’t suppose you want a facet with each Rice and Thomas Partey. And whereas I don’t suppose you may classify Mikel Merino as an attacking participant per se, he does have the power to get into the field, the timing of his runs into the realm is usually good, he offers an aerial risk in there too.
That leaves the supervisor with choices from the bench, ought to he want to vary issues within the second half, however nevertheless we go about it at the moment, three factors are a should. We’re again at residence, and the supervisor was clear about what’s required:
It’s about constructing momentum, getting outcomes and getting back-to-back wins. That will once more create the vitality that we’d like with all the good issues that we’re doing. Tomorrow and after each break, and particularly we’re going to get into the Christmas interval, we all know that there’s something particular in that interval and you need to generate that momentum. We really feel that it’s the proper second now for us to begin.
As for the opposition, they’re flying excessive up to now this season. Chris Wooden has scored as many as Mo Salah, and with gamers like Anthony Elanga, Calum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White, they’ve loads of tempo and direct operating, significantly on the counter. So, how we handle these moments of transition will probably be key, in addition to attempting to interrupt down a reasonably cussed defence. Forest have the second finest defensive report by way of targets conceded up to now this season, and we’ve struggled just a little bit with regards to scoring (though with 18 targets we’re simply 3 behind leaders Liverpool, so it’s not as unhealthy because it has felt).
An early objective for us at the moment could be ultimate. I don’t suppose it’s the case it might make Forest go gung-ho, however they’d have to return out a bit at some stage, and hopefully that may simply give us the house we’d like for extra.
Proper, I’ll depart it there for now. Don’t neglect the preview podcast is accessible proper now on Patreon. Be a part of us later for dwell weblog protection, plus you’ll get the match report, objective clips, response, participant scores and rather more over on Arseblog Information.
Come on you reds!
