Forest v Arsenal updates and Bellerin “has Barça DNA in his blood.”

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

This morning we came up with our scientific prediction of the team:

Oooooospina

Debuchy  Holding Gabriel Gibbs

Elneny The Ox

Adelaide

Perez  Akpom Willock

So what has been going on since?

The main story about Arsenal seems to be a re-run of last year, that Bellerin is about to leave.  The alternative story getting much less space is the Reine Adelaide, who apparently all of us now call “The Jeff” (sorry, no one told me) is now ready to shine.

As is Chris Willock (ready to shine, also) although not known as The Jeff.  As that would be far too silly.

Chris has been praised (according to the press) by Wenger as a ‘very gifted natural player with natural strength and natural talent… he can have a go at people, can get past people in one-on-ones.’

“Wenger will now hope the academy graduate can follow in Alex Iwobi’s footsteps and make an impact in the first-team.”

And there is talk that Granit Xhaka could start although he’s not in our team.

But mostly it is about how Mestre of Barcelona is doing the usual perfidious stuff that that awful club has made its disgraceful trademark (apart from child trafficking).

“We’ve already seen him as a Cule [Barcelona follower],” he said. “He’s a great player, there’s no doubt about that.   Wenger convinced him to move and promised him something which we couldn’t.”  Bit dumb of Barce then, but when you are backed by a state based on slavery you can do that.

Mestre also related Bellerin’s situation to that of other La Masia products who left in search of regular football and then returned as established players in their own right.  In the Indy he says…

“Look at the cases of Cesc, [Gerard] Pique, [Jordi] Alba and Denis Suarez … I hope the same thing will happen with [Sergi] Samper too.

“It’s positive that [these players] get minutes at other clubs. It is a dynamic which has always provided good results for players that carry the Barça DNA in their blood.”

As for today the press are full of the old story that Forest donated Arsenal their first shirts and that “Arsène Wenger surprised Nicklas Bendtner signed for Nottingham Forest”.

So where is Forest (apart from in Nottingham)?

It is the 12th anniversary of Clough’s death and in the 12th minute a tribute is planned for the man who led Forest – “the most unprogressive club in the country” as one of their own committee members described them – to promotion, a league title, two European Cups, and four League Cups.

And ultimately relegation.

The big praise is also coming from the media for Forest’s academy. “There cannot be many other clubs in England’s top two divisions, if any, with a better production line from youth level to first team.”

Not sure about that.

So what have they done of late?  Here are there recent games.

  • 17 September: Nottingham Forest 1 Norwich 2
  • 14 September: Rotherham 2 Nottingham Forest 2
  • 11 September Aston Villa 2 Nottingham Forest 2.
  • 27 August: Nottingham Forest 3 Leeds 1.
  • 23 August: Millwall 1 Nottingham Forest 2 (league cup)
  • 20 August: Nottingham Forest 4, Wigan Athletic 3
  • 16 August: Brentford 1 Nottingham Forest 0
  • 12 August: Brighton 3 Nottingham Forest 0
  • 9 August : Doncaster Rovers 1 Nottingham Forest 2 (League Cup)
  • 6 August: Nottingham Forest 4 Burton A. 3

And from that we might conclude there could be a few goals around tonight.  They have 14 goals in the last six, which is not at all bad.

Recent Posts

The anniversary of the day

20 September 1913: First use of “Victoria Concordia Crescit” – Victory through Harmony – in the club’s programme.  It was used by Henry Norris (although may have been suggested by George Allison) to symbolise the hard work and dedication that had taken Arsenal to Highbury, and was only later taken on as the club’s motto.

 

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64 Replies to “Forest v Arsenal updates and Bellerin “has Barça DNA in his blood.””

  1. Nice article.

    —

    I’ve said a number of times, that the outcome of a football game is largely the result of random factors, and not under anywhere near as much control by players or managers as most fans think.

    In the above, Tony has:

    … the man who led Forest – “the most unprogressive club in the country” as one of their own committee members described them – to promotion, a league title, two European Cups, and four League Cups.

    And ultimately relegation.

    I will suggest that the last statement (And ultimately relegation.) “proves” (in so far as anything can be proven with statistics) that football outcomes have a large random component. Brian Clough didn’t _LEAD_ the team anywhere, he was (only) in charge while that particular stream of events happened.

    —

    I wonder what the Human Genome Project has to say about Barca DNA?

    I doubt Bellerin has it. He is within the _Force_ emanated by the great Jedi Master, Arsène Wenger.

  2. The Express seems to be claiming that they have seen the lineups already.

    Nottingham Forest: Stojkovic, Pereira, Mancienne, Mills, Lichaj, Dumitru-Cardoso, Cohen Lansbury, Kasami, Osborn, Bendtner.

    Subs: Smith, Fox, Carayol, Lica, Hobbs, Grant, Vellios.

    Arsenal: Martinez, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Gabriel, Gibbs, Elneny, Xhaka, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Reine-Adelaide, Akpom, Perez.

    Subs: Macey, Bielik, Sheaf, Mavididi, Willock, Zelalem, Dasilva.

    http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/712656/Teams-Arsenal-Arsene-Wenger-wholesale-changes-Bendtner-Nottingham-Forest-news

    COYG!

  3. IF, if I can watch the match you can expect the usual match report about 2 minutes before the end of the match. 😉

  5. I’m watching it on cricfree.tv in Arabic. I don’t understand Arabic but the commentator is making more sense than the usual sky/bt brit idiots 😀

  8. I’m reading commentary (and working in Perl). One of the commentaries I looked at, was SportsKeeda. They decided to start their commentary by suggesting that Wenger wasn’t taking it seriously, as he was fielding such a young squad. So, kill that tab and found something else.

    Mirror seems to be taking 20 minutes between updates. So, it was nice of Andy to provide commentary on Akpom not read elsewhere.

    COYG!

  12. 0 of 3 commentaries haven’t mentioned the goal. 1 of 3 commentaries has mentioned yellow card. This is coverage?

    Thanks Andy.

    COYG!

  14. Xhaka will be marked as soon as he gets 40m from goal in future 😀 it really was a repeat of his hull goal

  16. This is coverage? Most up to date coverage at Mirror, is Lansbury tackling Elneny “hard”, 16 minutes ago.

    Andy, isn’t that TheJeff? 🙂

    COYG!

  17. need to see a replay but it looks like forest bought holding a yellow and 35m free kick, which hit the wall and out for corner. corner turned into heading tennis and goal kick.

  22. Trying to find some useful coverage. Trying goal.ie. We have:

    > First booking of the game goes to Bendtner, and it’s no surprise. The Danish striker makes his mark quite literally on Xhaka, lunging in late with his studs. He’s lucky that it’s so early in the game, because another referee might have seen that as a straight red.

    I wonder if any of the muppets think it should be a red?

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Landsbury, Traore, …)

    Come on Jeff, earn the “The”.

  26. More about Goal.com Ireland feed. Do these people writing actually read what they write? 20 minutes after Bendtner picks up a yellow, we have:

    > First booking of the game goes to Holding, who chopped down Kasami as he was about to burst down the centre. He jogs away from the scene of the crime, but the referee still flashes a yellow in his direction.

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Landsbury, Traore, …)

  28. Not the best game. nice passing but not enough urgency and many ‘clever ball’ attempts but no successes.

  30. Lansbury seems to have it in for Arsenal players. Twice he should have had a yellow.

    Arsenal are determined to not go overboard.

    I wish this set of players(with the obvious periodic changes) to go to the end of this cup and win it.

  31. The surprise for me in seeing the lineup, was seeing Maitland-Niles at fullback. I thought he was a midfield player? I am not seeing him mentioned in commentary, so I gather he is playing well (good thing for a defender I guess). Then again, someone (aaa) writing in to commentary, says Perez not being mentioned is a horrible thing, and maybe he isn’t fit to wear the shirt.

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Lansbury, Traore, …)

  32. There is life at the Mirror.

    > Gabriel limps off after another dangerous-looking challenge by Lansbury.

    > The former Gunner could have seen two yellow cards already!

    And the various muppets probably still haven’t seen anything (except the bottom of their pint glass).

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Lansbury, Traore, …)

  33. That tackle Holding was involved in – they should have both got a yellow, both feet were same height, both made the same tackle, only difference, it was not Holding who got hurt so he got the yellow?

  34. Another screamer from Xhaka, with a little help from deflection though. Amazing asset for our attack he is going to be!

    Here is a story about Vladimir Stojković who is Nottingham Forrest’s goalkeeper for the night.

    Stojković had been expected to become one of the best goalkeepers in the world as his amazing talent was visible with a naked eye. He was keeping the net for “Crvena Zvezda” and did it pretty well after one of the greatest Italian goalkeepers of all times Walter Zenga gave him the No.1 spot.

    Stojković didn’t stay for long at “Crvena Zvezda” after winning the double with them. After number of loans and unsuccessful spells abroad, Stojković decided to return to Serbia…but this time as the “Partizan” goalkeeper. “Partizan” are the bitterest rivals of “Crvena Zvezda” so “Crvena Zvezda” fans turned onto him and labeled him as “Mustafa” (a Turkish name was used as an insult due to word “poturica” used in Serbian language for those who became Muslims when The Ottoman Empire conquered Serbia in order to get material benefits). Stojković replied by wearing a shirt with a message for “Partizan” fans: “Oprostite mi ružnu prošlost” (“Forgive me for my ugly past”) and his “ugly past” was, of course, “Crvena Zvezda”.

    In 2006, Stojković saved a German penalty at World Cup to help Serbia to beat Germany. The player who took the penalty was our former No. 9 Lukas Podolski.

    In a way, Stojković is Nicklas Bendtner among the goalkeepers. A lot of promise but very few moments to remember.

  35. For text coverage I use Arseblog, for spoken coverage the matchday show on Arsenal player through Arsenal.com.

    The Arseblog commentary is unashamedly pro-Arsenal and language can be a little ripe at times.

  36. First comment of the second half just came out from the Mirror.

    > Another foul by Lansbury who claims he’s hurt himself.

    > Referee Paul Tierney is having a word. The midfielder is, quite unbelievably, still without a booking in this game!

    What about it muppets, any fouls worthy of punishment?

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Lansbury, Traore, …)

  38. Who’s taking penalties? 🙂

    We seem to have found another one.

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Lansbury, Traore, …)

  39. I’d say that they’ve probably had more half chances and we’ve had more clear chances. 1st goal wasn’t ‘against the play’ but there wasn’t much in it. Now we’re leading it’s more comfortable play for us.

  42. I wonder what the pecking order for penalties was? Lucas seems to be first.

    According to Goal.com, Lansbury should really be gone. but it looks like the ref finally recognized persistent infringement.

    > 66′ Lansbury is belatedly booked for a clumsy foul on Elneny – something that could have happened a long while ago given the challenges he’s put in this evening. He walks away without complaint.
    > 64′ Pereira hooks a deep cross into the area but Gabriel wins the initial header. Lansbury then fouls the defender – something of a recurring theme for him tonight. I think his cornrows are twisted too tight.

    Something is twisted too tight in Lansbury tonight.

    COYG! (Not Bendtner, Lansbury, Traore, …)

  44. Forest are just lacking that bit of class. They’ve worked hard and are getting frustrated now, so niggly fouls are even more regular.

  48. Lucas Perez scored impressive second goal and has been on the rise ever since. He tried to pick Akpom instead of taking a shot for a hat-trick. A player with a fighting spirit, quality finishing and lack of selfishness. I like him. 🙂

  58. AMN was OK as an FB but clearly a ‘fill in’.
    Bielik is a defensive player so a little more comfortable.

  59. Congratulations Gunners!

    Not too long ago, someone mentioned Koeman as a possible replacement for Wenger (the endless stream of suggestions). Koeman started the game with no strikers, and Everton is out of that Cup.

    Andy Mack does better commentary than Mirror, Guardian, and Daily Mail. At least no this “low importance” Tuesday night of football.

    Thanks Andy.

  60. Leicester and Chelsea off to extra time. Come on, take the maximum amount of extra time, and go to penalties.

    Where’s the game report? 🙂

  62. Thanks Andy…and to the untold. my cable TV company refused to air the match. and in my small village in Nigeria, I followed with my mobile phone. am very happy. Keep firing Gunners!

  63. You’re welcome.
    It would have been bit more detailed but the advert on this site seems to have a long script which keeps crashing my browser and slows it dramatically.

  64. Andy.

    If you are running firefox (or similar), you might add NoScript to it. You can configure NoScript to selectively disallow. Me, I disallow javascript almost everywhere.

    Another option, is if you know what website the bad script is coming from (and is different from sites you want stuff from), in your hosts file you can specify 127.0.0.1 as the IP address of this “bad” site. Your browser will timeout trying to download the script, instead of downloading and executing it.

    If you’re not a nerd, write what you understand of that, and I’ll try to fix the explanation.

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