Ange Postecoglou had a lot to say about Arsenal ahead of Saturday’s match between Mikel Arteta’s team and Nottingham Forest.
The Australian was appointed as Forest’s new head coach this week, following the dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santo at the City Ground.
Returning to North London three months after being sacked by Tottenham, Postecoglou will be keen for his side to impress to spare his blushes back on his old stomping ground.
However, Arteta will be confident that his team can return to winning ways after defeat at Liverpool before the international break, particularly after receiving some positive injury news this week.
What Ange Postecoglou said about Arsenal before Nottingham Forest clash
Ben White and Christian Norgaard returned to training this week and are in contention to feature for Arsenal against Forest.
Meanwhile, William Saliba was also in training on Friday morning and could make a surprise early return from his injury setback.
However, the Gunners’ fortunes against the East Midlands club may not be determined by who they have available, but by the way Postecoglou sets his team up.
The former Celtic boss has been renowned for playing an offensive style of football, which includes his defence sitting very high up the pitch.
That said, many think Postecoglou will be more pragmatic against an excellent Arsenal team, particularly given he’s only been at Forest for a matter of days.
Arteta will no doubt have carefully listened to what the ex-Spurs coach had to say during his first press conference in his new job this week.
“The responsibility for me and the players and everyone involved is to make sure that, you know, come Saturday lunchtime, that we are absolutely ready for a big, big game,” Postecoglou told the media.
“And, you know, that’s been the conversation. So, I haven’t tried to sort of expand on that too much, what’s going to be our best preparation to take on, you know, one of the Premier League’s best.”
“Mikel has got them off to a good start. I think they strengthened over the summer for sure. They’re a stronger team they were last year, so it’ll be a great challenge for us.
Reading somewhat between the lines, Arteta should interpret Postecoglou’s praise of Arsenal as a sign of respect, which hints that he will line-up more conservatively.
Nottingham Forest playing conservatively could suit Arsenal
The general narrative this week has been that if Forest play a high line, then Arsenal could have a field day.
However, when Postecoglou had to deal with a pile-up of injuries last season and adapted his system to play more defensively, his Tottenham team struggled with it.
Clearly not in his DNA to play in this manner, the new Forest boss doesn’t know how to coach his team to sit in a low block and try and counter-attack.
While the remnants of Espirito Santo’s system could shine through, the East Midlands club’s leader has gone, and they could subsequently be lost going to a tough away ground and being tasked with sitting deep.
This could benefit Arsenal, who may have little pressure on the ball, whilst being able to exploit a chaotic and dysfunctional defensive unit.
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