Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal 20.05.2023 Player ratings and Match Reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Ramsdale 6 - Couldn’t do anything about the goal, some of his handling from Forest set pieces was a bit suspect


White 5 - Another player who has played too many games this season


Gabriel 7 - A couple of mistakes aside, did a lot of good work to clear the danger and was unlucky not to prevent the Forest goal


Kiwior 5 - Not a full back


Jorginho 5 - A lot of what NQ would call Tippety Tappity, not much end product


Partey 5 - Like Kiwior not a full back


Xhaka 6 - Not one of the worst players on the pitch for once


Odegaard 3 - Terrible


Saka 4 - Largely isolated in a team that played far too narrowly


Jesus 4 - Day summed up by tripping up and falling on one of the few occasions he got behind the defence


Trossard 4 - Played far too narrowly



Subs


Nketiah and Vieira 4 - Had no idea they were even on the pitch


Tierney 7 - Actually introduced some threat on the left hand side



Started ok, dealt well defensively with a team that was going to play like Stoke City but then just utterly carelessly casual from Odegaard and it never felt like we were going to get back into the game, even Arteta himself claimed we could have played for another two hours and wouldn’t have scored…and he’s right, we didn’t come close.

For me the referee didn’t help, did everything in his power to stop the game from flowing and enable Forest to waste time and slow the game down. It was pathetic how often their players went down under virtually no contact from us.

Of course it doesn’t change that we were utterly toothless, pass, pass, pass, pass give the ball away

[Mac76]

Generally agree but add a manager rating of 3, Arteta making terrible decisions and the tired playets were so because of his running them into the ground

The relentlessness with which he continues to play Saka in particular is almost farcical

[mandela8]

Generally agree but add a manager rating of 3, Arteta making terrible decisions and the tired playets were so because of his running them into the ground

The relentlessness with which he continues to play Saka in particular is almost farcical

Saka has scored 1 goal in his last 9 games.

He's scored in only 2 of his last 14.

He's not tired. He's ineffective.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Fucking hell you’re tiresome

If Saka was a striker what you’ve just stated might have some relevance but most wingers have those kind of stats and score in short bursts. The important stat is that he’s got double figures the last two seasons. But what? Because he’s English you can’t stop this stupid narrative that literally no one agrees with you.

The statistics bear out that he’s been ridiculously overplayed and that will have an effect.

Utter Twat

[Letters]

Saka has scored 1 goal in his last 9 games.

He's scored in only 2 of his last 14.

He's not tired. He's ineffective.

I also think that ignoring all the other games this season is an honest way of debating

[mandela8]

I also think that ignoring all the other games this season is an honest way of debating

It's a direct response to this "he's tired" claim. This is a third of a season we're talking here when a host of other players across the league have maintained their output. Yet this 21 year old is just tired?

Look man, I get he's been deified after the Euros but is this outright refusal to scrutinize a player because "he's a nice boy who plays with a smile even though he's been through a lot" honest?

Mon.

[Marc Overmars]

Saka has been very shit during the run-in tbf.

Absolute failure on Arteta’s part for not identifying this and leaving Trossard, Nelson and Smith-Rowe on the bench, while Saka was just being horribly overplayed.

[Letters]

Look man, I get he's been deified after the Euros but is this outright refusal to scrutinize a player because "he's a nice boy who plays with a smile even though he's been through a lot" honest?

There is no refusal to scrutinize him, though.
As with all debates on here - and everywhere else these days - it's all so black and white with no shades of grey.
If your position was that he's over-rated then that could be a reasonable position to discuss. But you've gone straight for the "sell him, he's shit" nuclear option when he clearly isn't and it's too stupid to have a discussion about.

[mandela8]

There is no refusal to scrutinize him, though.
As with all debates on here - and everywhere else these days - it's all so black and white with no shades of grey.
If your position was that he's over-rated then that could be a reasonable position to discuss. But you've gone straight for the "sell him, he's shit" nuclear option when he clearly isn't and it's too stupid to have a discussion about.

I've been watching him for 3 years now.

I thought he was excellent at LB, where it was a simpler, more linear game for him on his natural side.

Since his move to RW I can count on one hand how many genuinely good performances he's had and I challenge anyone to do the same.

He's unbelievably over rated. Moreso than any other player I've ever seen. He's young though and I've maintained throughout that there's potential to improve. I don't think Arteta is the coach to realize that though. His flaws are so fuckin obvious it's baffling they've not been addressed. He's far to one footed and tries to cut inside 80-90% of possessions. Ends up just laying it inside. He needs to add variety, getting to the line or getting the ball in the box earlier. Just be more direct.

Lime I said though, he's been deified. Immune from scrutiny much less criticism. Came 2nd in the writers POTY award, ffs he's not even been his own teams beat attacker, never mind player, ffs.

Finally, as I've said before, I think his lack of progress is in large part down to this favoritism from fans, media and manager. He's constantly being lauded as this elite player when he's a million fuckin miles from it.

[Mac76]

Saka has been very shit during the run-in tbf.

Absolute failure on Arteta’s part for not identifying this and leaving Trossard, Nelson and Smith-Rowe on the bench, while Saka was just being horribly overplayed.

I think Arteta just relies on Saka as someone who can just magic a goal from pretty much nothing, and tbh when he's on form, that's true, but when somone knows they're always going to be in the starting lineup i think they do two things, first they manage their minutes on the pitch, in other words find opportunities to take it easy, and second just essentially become complacent - there always needs to be a sense of competition for places, unless it's Messi