Mikel Arteta had 13 long days to mull over his side’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in a match that was taken as everything wrong with the Arsenal boss.
At Anfield, he was accused of being too defensive, leaving new signing Ezebrich Ezi on the bench, and setting up in a way that suggested they would be more than happy to leave Merseyside with a point rather than chase all three. A Dominik Szoboszlai wondergoal saw them instead leave with zero and put Arteta’s whole managerial philosophy under the microscope.
In many ways, the Pep Guardiola disciple would have rued the timing of the first international break with pundits given two weeks to fully critique everything he did wrong but the consolation was the prospect of facing an opponent that since the last round of fixtures has plunged itself deep in crisis and with a new manager that had never gotten the better of Arsenal in his four previous attempts.
Arteta’s confidence was perhaps best shown in his lineup. Declan Rice was rested while Eze made his full debut. Even when Martin Odegaard was forced off with a persistent shoulder injury, Arteta opted to bring the attack-minded Ethan Nwaneri on in his stead rather than the defensive solidity of Rice.
As for Ange Postecoglou, he looked exactly like a manager who only arrived a handful of days ago and one who is realising that the squad he has inherited is almost tailor-made not to play the Australian’s preferred brand of football.
In Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic, Forest have two of the more solid centre-backs in the league but they are not bothering any top speed charts.
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Ange has also brought with him his misfortune when it comes to injuries. The ink was only just dry on his contract when Ola Aina was ruled out for three months, forcing Postecoglou to shift Neco Williams over to right back and leaving Morato at the mercy of a confident Noni Madueke.
Soon enough, familiar Arsenal patterns set in. Viktor Gyokeres continued to frustrate in the No.9 spot with the Gunners’ attacks often ending in very little and their opening goal came in the well-known route of a set piece.
A headed clearance arrived at the feet of Martin Zubimendi who hit the kind of volley that only a highly technical player can pull off. Hit with such pace and curve that Matz Sels only reacted once it was already in the back of the net.
Forest survived the rest of the first half whilst failing to create chances of their own but Postecoglou’s hopes of anything from his first game in charge were quickly put to bed when Eze narrowly beat the offside trap to square for Gyökeres who tucked home 46 seconds after the restart. From there, the game was done in all but name with Arsenal adding a third in the 79th minute.
But even if they did not get on the scoresheet, the performances of Eze and Madueke will give the home fans some hope for the rest of the season.
Arsenal still do not look an entirely fluid attacking unit but Madueke in the first half and then Eze in the second showed Arteta a blueprint for not just beating teams but hammering them, much in the same way that Guardiola’s sides do at their best.
The question remains though, when Arsenal host Manchester City next weekend, will Arteta trust his players to go toe-to-toe or put the handbrake on once again?
There are still question marks around this Arsenal side, namely in the No.9 spot where Gyokeres did not overly convince even if he did get on the scoresheet, but their defence survived the loss of William Saliba and being able to rest Rice showed how much the club have improved in terms of depth over the summer.
As for Ange, it will be another test of his dedication to the uber-aggressive high line as it seems Forest simply do not have the players for it. If he does stay true, you get the feeling that the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo may prove to be one of the worst managerial swaps in recent history.
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