Arsenal: 4 negatives from miserable Nottingham Forest defeat

While the mantra this season has been to try and avoid overreaction to setbacks on account of the average age of this squad and limited time this Arsenal team have played together, this can’t go unmentioned.

Arsenal were catastrophically bad on Sunday night as Lewis Grabban’s late goal handed Nottingham Forest a richly deserved 1-0 win. Arsenal got precisely what their performance warranted: nothing.

Suddenly there is a new bogey team in town.

Losing away at The City Ground in the FA Cup third round consigned Arsenal to only a second third round exit in 25 years. The other defeat in that time? Four years ago on this very ground as Arsene Wenger’s final FA Cup match finished 4-2 to Forest.

Arsenal: 4 negatives from miserable 1-0 Nottingham Forest defeat in the FA Cup third round as Arteta’s side crash out

Everything about the display from Mikel Arteta’s side was horrendous. Having gone from putting in their best showing in the narrow loss to Manchester City, they responded with one of their worst ever in his tenure against vastly inferior opposition.

How important was the FA Cup this season? It’s a tough trophy to win, but one everyone wants to win nevertheless. There is passage into the Europa League as a result of it, although the ultimate aim remains to top four.

Arsenal’s inadequacies included, it was one of the best third rounds for many years. There were upsets galore, high-scoring matches and some cracking goals.

That doesn’t help the disappointment. There were literally no positives to take from this game. None whatsoever. There were plenty of negatives, though.

1. Eddie Nketiah Looking Completely Uninterested

Not the worst player on the pitch, he might win the award for least effort.

To some degree, it’s acceptable having a player who just isn’t especially talented playing. Eddie Nketiah does have his fair share of talent, but he is a player who without the right application can’t harness that properly.

He looked completely uninterested on Sunday night and that filtered into his game. Nketiah was very poor.

Martin Odegaard was seen marshalling him to press his man when he was otherwise stood meandering around, and his concentration levels were not at their usual self as seen with the way he fluffed at a header and then ballooned another effort over the bar.

Likely in the midst of talks with a host of clubs over his future, while his agents may be taking care of it he will still be involved, and it’s very possible his head is already at his next club. Arteta giving everyone the hairdryer treatment at half-time probably had him sitting there thinking ‘I don’t need this’.

You want to be wrong on that. Nketiah has always been praised for his professionalism and desire, but you were scraping the bottom of the barrel for anything on Sunday.

If it was the result of him perhaps not fully recovering from his recent Covid case then we apologise. However, this looked more commitment based than anything else. At a stage where Arsenal are one Lacazette injury way from crisis, that is concerning.

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2. Forest Performance Had Everton Flashbacks

Arsenal have to find a way to cut out the performances that seem to take a step back after a positive run. While no team will continue winning forever and avoid defeat for eternity, when there is a result that kills the run at least let it be one with a few ‘what ifs’ about it.

Any team can lose at any time, with fine margins perhaps being the decider. This wasn’t one of those matches. This was, plain and simply, dreadful.

It felt a lot like the Everton match. Just prior to that Arsenal had lost at Manchester United in a game that was painfully frustrating as it was theirs to win. Scoring twice away from home, two defensive lapses and a needless penalty conceded won the game for a bang average Red Devils side.

Over at Goodison Park it was slightly different, as Everton produced little of note. Arsenal, on he other hand, were awful and deserved nothing. Just like at The City Ground.

Arteta and his team need to find a way to prevent the dips being as sudden as this. By all means lose on occasion, Arsenal aren’t Bayern Munich, but put in a performance that at least comes closer to an acceptable level.

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3. Horseshoe Football Returns

Everyone was off their game on Sunday, barring perhaps Bernd Leno and to some degree Benjamin White, with not a single player producing anything noteworthy in a bid to break through Forest’s shape.

The fabled ‘horseshoe’ system was back in full flow on what was a tactical mess of a performance.

A gameplan would have been devised: get in behind their wing-backs, overload around the half-spaces and try to isolate the wingers one-on-one. Maybe?

What unfolded was possession being recycled laboriously from full-back to centre-back, with the occasional midfielder dropping deep to facilitate the exact same ploy. The ball would be worked from left to right via about three of four individuals. It was like trying to open a parcel by tickling the sellotape.

The players didn’t know what to do. There was a dearth of any tactical insight on how they would break down the opposition. Even with the changes in personnel – which were midfield and defence – they should know how hurt Championship opposition.

It became give the ball to Saka and Martinelli and cross your fingers with a few pointless crosses thrown in for good measure. When Arsenal are flinging balls into the box for Nketiah to try and beat two big centre-halves then you know that the idea tank has run dry.

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4. Injuries & Covid Absences Hurting Arsenal

If it was already bad, it’s getting far worse.

Arsenal headed up to Nottinghamshire without nine senior players through a combination of injuries, international duty and positive Covid tests, on top of allowing a striker and midfielder to leave the club on loan this window.

Ahead of facing Liverpool on Thursday, Arteta is sweating on the availability of Emile Smith Rowe, Takehiro Tomiyasu or Granit Xhaka. Folarin Balogun is also out with Covid, but is due to join Middlesbrough shortly anyway.

Xhaka is the main one, as if Arsenal lacked presence in midfield against a second tier side then there is no doubting they will away at Anfield, but with his uncertain vaccination status – he previously opted against getting one and it isn’t known if this changed – it’s a race for him to be back in time.

As for the other two, their injuries are also growing concerns, even if Smith Rowe is thought just to be precautionary. Tomiyasu, however, is out with a calf injury which may well be an aggravation of the one he picked up away at Leeds. That is worrying.

The general size of the squad is cause for alarm. Arsenal aren’t believed to be close to signing anyone yet and watching Sunday’s events makes it clear how much work there is to do to keep Premier League top four ambitions alive.