Nuno Espirito Santo embarrasses Arsenal by admitting to Nottingham Forest tweak

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Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo shared a shocking assessment of Arsenal after the draw at the City Ground.

It was another instance of dropped points for the Gunners, who drew 0-0 with Nottingham Forest to see Liverpool take another stride closer to the Premier League title.

Now sitting 13 points behind the Reds, it looks like a near-impossible task for Arsenal to catch Arne Slot’s side in the title race. 

Mikel Arteta won’t give up until it’s officially over but, it’s clear that the boss understood how deflating the result was at full-time at the City Ground. 

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Nuno Espirito Santo humiliates Arsenal with striker admission

Arteta spoke to the media with a dejected look on his face after watching his side fail to excite in a must-win fixture.

The Arsenal manager surprised many as he named Mikel Merino as a starting striker for the second consecutive game, something that hasn’t gone down too well in the footballing world. 

Paul Merson couldn’t believe Merino’s position as Arsenal’s starting centre-forward against West Ham, and the former player will have a similar feeling after the draw against Forest. 

Merson isn’t the only one to see fault in the midfielder playing out of position and quite frankly out of his comfort zone, as Nuno Espirito Santo also noticed Merino’s weaknesses.

Speaking after the game to Arsenal legend Martin Keown, Nuno revealed that he changed how his side lined up due to how frail the Gunners are in attack. 

“Against Brighton, you played with a five, today you went with a four, what was the reason for that?” Keown asked the Forest boss on TNT Sports. 

“I’ll tell you the idea,” Nuno replied, “As Arsenal don’t have a striker, so Merino playing that position, there’s no need for an extra body.”

The former Spurs manager didn’t deem it necessary to use another defensive body to keep tabs on Merino, which is quite a staggering admission but, then explained his statement.

“The extra load will be in midfield so he drops, it’s about containing the midfield,” He said.

Still, the Forest boss was clear when outlining why he tweaked his squad’s formation to play Arsenal, noticing just how lacklustre the Gunners’ firepower is.

Merino was out of his depth against Forest

While Merino was the man selected to lead the line by Arteta, the Spaniard didn’t actually do a lot of work at the spearhead of attack.

By no fault of his own, the midfielder was rarely found in potent positions, not aided by the fact that there was very limited delivery into the danger zones anyway. 

The summer signing instead floated around the pitch and, as Nuno predicted, dropped into deeper roles, which while being understandable, abolishes the reasoning for starting him in the front three.

It’s back to the drawing board for Arteta, who after two games of starting Merino as a centre-forward, surely understands that the ex-La Liga ace is better suited elsewhere.