Arsenal fell out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle, going down 1-0 to a late goal from Nottingham Forest.
Despite AFCON absences, injuries, and Covid cases, the Gunners were nowhere near good enough on the night, and got what we deserved – which was nothing.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal match report and see the goals here
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Arsenal – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
It’s great we decided to show the FA what we really think of them by taking a dirty protest all over the pitch on live tv in their beloved cup competition.
Which is why we dressed as Spurs players. Shit everywhere.
Let’s agree to never wear white again, no matter the cause. Now I know how my mates felt watching their lot under Nuno
I think they are glad they didn’t have their names on the shirts…………
We must field first team for Carabao semis
They’re in the next round and we ain’t. Glass houses, stones ya dig?
Glass half full 👍
Fuming with Nketiah. Beauty of a cross from Saka and he chested it wide. Was gobsmacked we didn’t hook him on the spot for that and it’s cost us dear tonight.
Hes done that exact same missed header three times now..Overall it hink Holding was the worst of a bad bunch. Everybody was poor but Holding especially and his hair just kept throwing me off.
For me it was Soares refusing to pass the ball forward.
The game this evening goes to show how paper thing we actually are, to go away to Forest who are mid table in the Championship and not even register a shot on target in the second half, as a Premier League side who are supposedly trying to get into the Champions League is laughable. I thought it was a very big show of faith to give Patino a start away from home next to Lokonga in a game like that, a bit too big in my opinion. For all of his talent he struggled a lot, particularly in the second… Read more »
Seen Luiz and Mustafi get nagtive scores for a performance like Holding’s tonight. He was atrocious. Nuno has every right to wonder why he was hooked and players performing equally as poorly played 90 minutes…
But the thing is, if Nuno gets hooked for a dire performance, then it has to be the same for everyone else. Which it hasn’t been I’d say ever, Arteta has his favourites and if you’re not one of them irrespective of how you play you will always get a shirt (or new contract) So no idea how Eddie survives that miss, also, one more thing on him is… if you’re failing to make an impact against Championship defenders then that says a whole lot about your level. This isn’t something that’s new either, Bielsa never used to play him… Read more »
Because you cant hook everyone which was needed yesterday
I get that but Arteta knows he can’t hook everyone too, so by taking Nuno off he’s treating him differently to everyone else..
Sadly, the truth seems to be that he’s a flat-track bully and cannot deliver on the NB occasions. Take whatever we can get for him, I reckon!
There are flat track wimps who could steal his lunch money
I have to say when the january transfer window is open and were looking to strenghten, this was an oportunity wasted for a lot of these players. I hope i never get to see some of them play for us again.
Its difficult to judge on a single game, especially with a u-23 partner. But Lokonga looks to be lacking any sort of confidence or drive for the entire game, its almost like he did not want the ball at all. It was infuriating watching him exchange passes with Ben White on the halfway line with seconds left on the clock. It seems uncharacteristic of him so I really hope its more of a fitness problem more than anything. And the decision to let AMN go on loan seems really strange, he is literally the utility player we need for depth… Read more »
Still, 5/6 hits, and 1 flop, not a bad summer…
Overall, a rubbish performance, but I’m not taking this one too hard, some minutes for some fringe players and Patino there, will do them good, and onto the better things, a cup we’re already in the semi-finals of, and the all important Premier League.
Who’s the flop from your point of view. Tavares & Sambi are both kids. If you’re expecting them to consistently boss games, you were bound to be disappointed. They both need to grow, but they’ve both shown talent. Hopefully it will flourish with us.
If you were able to understand that replies to comments usually address the very comment, than you might figure out that its Lokonga I’m talking about… Yeah, looking at it from afar, everything can be relativized and spun to be all hunky-dory, but then if one dares to not be pc, giving everyone the “most splendid talent in the universe” award, and to not be in denial of reality, but instead takes a bit of an in-depth look at each case individually, some actual insight might be stumbled upon… with Tavares in and off himself he looks to have all… Read more »
at his age*
I agree that Lokonga at 22, ex captain of Anderlecht with 69 appearances is hardly a ‘babe in arms’ in football terms. He was very poor against Forest certainly (like everyone else apart from maybe Leno and Patino) but I think he’ll come good.
What do you expect when you are the captain of a top club in your country and you are signed by another club who apparently needed you only to bench you perpetually?
Not a shot on target. Holding was as bad as a hackney marshes player with his passing, shocking. Cedric is hopeless. Why would offer a new contract to nketia. He’s 22 and clearly not good enough. He was playing for himself today. Why is he playing.
Eddie would probably look half decent up top for Palace or Southampton but he ain’t who we need. Doesn’t hold up the ball, doesn’t create the space & I’ve seen lamp posts move more in a storm then he did today. Says a lot that his biggest impact was with Samba’s shins when he slipped into him
Thing is he would make it into the Southampton team, Che Adams is often on the bench yet a far better player.
I honestly don’t think he would start in any Premier League 11. Or, even if he did, it wouldn’t be long before he was out the team
True dat. Championship-level striker. I’ve always said that. Have no idea why Arteta is chasing him to stay. Punt him ASAP.
In his last game where he scored a hat trick he was making runs in the box and being a nuisance. He did the complete opposite today, hanging outside the box and when given an opportunity looking like he had no clue what to do.
Playing nketia so he can look good and move for free is insane. I get it that we are low on numbers but to play average players just to be nice is terrible management. Nketia was clear that he doesn’t want to play for us, get rid of him.
Maybe we were playing him so he would look like shit and not get that pre-contract offer in January.
Is it not more likely we were playing him because he’s our second best centre forward?
That’s a problem then, we should have played our best centre forward. Lacasette hadn’t played in over a week, it’s not like he was suffering from fatigue. We needed to keep our momentum going, that’s what will help the youngsters more than anything.
Flo could surely NOT have been worse than Eddie… and at least we’d have given an actual Arsenal prospect some much-needed game time?
Eddie is currently only about the 4th tallest dwarf in that village
The biggest drop in quality was in our midfield. Also what was going on with Holding having so much of the ball and trying to play Hollywood passes to no one. Whether it was tactics or Holding just thought he had turned to Pirlo suddenly, it was bizarre and killed any momentum we had.
It was Forest’s tactics. They clearly knew Holding with the ball was more of a threat to Arsenal than Forest.
Shit game, let’s play full strength on Thursday.
I don’t think it’s entirely due to Forest tactics. I noticed a few times when Holding had the ball and Lokonga was free to receive the pass, Holding was driving ahead with the ball and playing passes out to their goalkeeper.
Hollywood hair = Hollywood passes.
Holding is-judged a few headers again too, probably had the City goal in the back of his mind.
It’s the hair job. They took some strands of Pirlo’s hair and grafted his DNA into Rob. (the DNA rejected its host alas…)
Yea we need some new signings..
Yeah, wafer thin outside the first team.
Holding’s worst performance since he last played at Forest. MA trotted out the same post-match analysis as he has used 7 times previously this season.
Scant consolation that mourinho fields Maitland Niles at wing back and they lose to juventus after going 3-1 up! Same position he refuses to play for Arsenal…to think he would have had a chance this January as the the most senior CM in the squad..get rid of him, nketiah and any negative energy that keeps us mediocre…we need at least 2signings in midfield if we can’t find a utility player in the squad..chambers and Ben White have played there in the past…spurs around the corner..
I’ve read these ratings for years abs never commented but I felt compelled to comment on Cedrics performance. Arguably the worst I’ve seen in an arsenal shirt in seasons and we’ve had some shite. He was on a 0 before he ambled back to let Grabban score.
Holding and Nketiah not far behind.
Horrendous showing. The cyclical life of an arsenal fan.
You missed Tavares. He was hooked after half an hour. No injury, Arteta was fuming at him because he was just bloody awful. We were there and watching the whole thing.
Just hope that this serving of Arteta ‘tough love’ doesn’t destroy the lad’s confidence. I mean there were at least two others who could have been hooked long before half time (Holding and Cedric, both relatively more experienced, we’re looking at you) Tavares had a nightmare against Liverpool but bounced back so fingers crossed.
These 3 players shouldn’t be premier league players let alone arsenal players.
I cannot believe that fella got to wear the Arsenal shirt as many times as he did. He shouldn’t put it on again after today.
I couldn’t beleive him JOGGING back in that pathetic attempt to ‘track’ their counter… absolute disgrace!
Its seems a little unfair as Leno made a couple of saves but I think we lacked the urgency that Ramsdale gives the rest of the team today
Absolutely! Ramsdale is much more than a great keeper – he’s a leader of men (and some boys!)
i think leno had a very good game technically, claimed crosses well, saved a fantastic free kick. but he doesn’t seem to make anyone around him better, as ramsdale does. i’ve never been to a game to be able to properly look at how he talks to his teammates, but he seems to be silent and timid even in matches in which our defense is playing awful and could definitely use some energy
Making Cedric or Kolasinac ‘better’ would require some sort of global pandemic where the more talented but infected players were unable to perform…no sorry, that didn’t work either
At least this strategy can be checked off as tried.
That was soo bad, I half hoped the Forest fans would start chanting ‘Are you Tottenham in disguise’. As upset as i was, that would have bought a smile to my face.
In any case, no point sulking over this when we have a semi-final to play next week COYG!
So now we need cover for White and Gabriel, a backup right back (is Chambers that?), a back up left back, one maybe two centre mids, and a centre forward. Fill the centre mid and centre forward position now, it can’t wait until the Summer. United and Spurs can’t be this bad again next season, this is our chance.
Leno got a 6 for saving 2 certain goals? We were crap but ok, this is wrong rating
Lack of leadership evident with neither Ramsdale, Gabriel and Xhaka not on the pitch. Nketiah is so awful, he’ll be in the Championship in a few years
So will we at this rate
Shite in white – but seriously the boys seemed preoccupied by coming Liverpool league cup fixtures when out of the 2 the FA Cup has more clout & to throw it away was awful. Food for thought: I hope we one day win a European Cup when Forest have done it twice 🙁
Let’s just call it the ‘Milky Bar Kids surrender kit’. I care about the FA Cup. I don’t give a flying fuck about the Milk/Littlewoods/Rumbelows/Coca Cola/Worthingtons/Carling/Capital One/Carabao Cup
The entire back line were pathetic. No urgency, standing still, passing sideways and backwards like it was a Sunday afternoon in the back garden. Not one of those cunts even deserved a 2 out of ten. How Arteta didn’t charge on to the pitch and give all four of them an RFS (running fuck slap), I’ll never know. White and Holding were particularly shit, no fucking attempt to pick up the pace or show any urgency whatsoever. Tierney at one stage passed 20 yards backwards that was quite risky instead of a way simpler forward diagonal pass of about 5… Read more »
I agree with most of this, however I though Martenelli was poor quality wise (up against a good full back it has to be said), Saka also had a poor game but seemed to be the only player who could threaten the Forest back line. Also as ponderous as some on White’s passing was he was also the only player (apart from possibly Odegaard) to play some line breaking passes.
I like the fact that you say it for what it is. After Tierney came on for Tavares, there was no much difference. Tierney kept leaving acres of space behind, not that he did much up front. Holding and White looked like they couldn’t just be bothered.
Why is it 4 for Tavares?
Gave the ball away 9 times and Patino was the LB when the team had to defend. He was noob. !? C’mon!
Anyway, let’s learn the lesson from this game. We need striker end dm. Mr. Kroenke, open your wallet man!
The Kroenke’s have spent plenty. It’s the people who recruit that have thrown it away on bang average players.
Fairly sure we were trying to throw the game. Just playing well enough not to get fined.
Yeh I thought that, especially at the end when we couldn’t even be bothered to throw an extra man in the box or pass the ball forwards with any urgency. A distinct air of meh about the whole occasion
First Arsenal performance in a long time that I have really not enjoyed watching. The slow build up play was painful, absolutely woeful passing. A million miles of the man city game. If we do this against Liverpool we’re gonna get hammered. At least we should be up for it against spuds.
I was there tonight. Eddie really was a real waste of a position. His attitude was poor, just didn’t try hard enough, didn’t run enough and missed his chances.
I couldn’t see the point of playing him to be honest, he’s leaving, what’s the point?
Tavares was terrible. He barely did anything right. I’ve never seen someone subbed after 30 minutes, but he was that bad.
Unfortunately his replacement Tierney had a terrible time really, he was so much better than this not so long ago.
Jose Mourinho sometimes does it as a shock tactic to teach players a lesson and show he is a proactive decision maker who has seen enough- Joe Cole was on the receiving end of his tough love I remember.
Didn’t Eboue come into the game as a sub, and was so awful he then consequently got subbed himself? But yes he was pretty poor, however only as poor as everyone else.
Any of the Lokonga fanboys on here explain the attraction? I can’t for the life of me see it, even his YouTube highlights package is probably the worst I’ve ever seen and I’ve watched quite a few. He just looks an average player to me. Is it just anti Xhaka sentiment?
Wonder whether Mikel might be regretting not offering some kind of contract for Jack to come back!
Lokonga fan here.
Why is it such a great mission for you to get self justification, after on of our kid has delivered a poor performance?
Poor lad hasn’t played an entire game since November.
Be patient with him, he will bring good games to the table
Just out of interest what do you see as the lads best qualities or perhaps a comparison with another midfielder, is he a ball winner? Box to box player? Midfield anchor? Athletic presence? Potential regular goalscorer? Deep lying playmaker? Midfield metronome? Player who can switch play with raking 30-40 yard passes?
There can’t be many fans of the Jupiler league so I’m not sure where the excitement comes from either?
I’m going to have to watch the game again because I didn’t see half the negativity the rest of you saw. Holding made some really poor passes but didn’t do too much else bad. Eddie was our worst player followed by Cedric. Lokonga was deployed as a lone CDM in the way we’ve tried with partey before and only world class players can pull that off. Forrest had 3 good players, their keeper who is probably prem level in a season or two in England, their rb seems decent and the aging Lewis grabban who is a tidy finisher. We… Read more »
Your a glutton for punishment bro! I think the only silver lining was we didn’t get an extra 30 minutes of it.
Save yourself the rewatch- you are right ‘We lost because we had VERY weak links and no midfield’ – I feared this when I saw the lineup.
Should be the last arsenal game for Eddie. He is just not good enough for us. Let him go now and build a worthwhile career.
This was Kroenkes showin up the boys/cows he whants to trade…
So disappointed in Eddie. A chance to show his stuff against a (allegedly) weaker side and he looked like he couldn’t be bothered. Honestly didn’t think anyone rated above 4 except Leno.
I don’t think its right to put it all on holding, he’s not there to feed the strikers the midfield bottled it! no one running with the ball or quick passing it always came back to holding and white. we missed ball players in midfield making things happen! no runners no dribbling no creativity cant blame defenders for that.
Might not be right but doesn’t fit with the narrative on here. They’ve been screaming for patino lokonga and azeez to play all season, even though azera is on loan at Portsmouth. It’s the way it works, they won’t admit patino and lokonga need time and they were wrong. Xhaka is the usual go to , but he wasn’t playing. That leaves Eddie Cedric and holding, and substitutions.
Personally, I don’t give a shit about the FA Cup. This confirmed Nketiah, Holding, Soares are not good enough, along with Kolasinac, Mari & Chambers, so let’s upgrade the squad and get a bit of depth. It’s a team game and when you get two of these in the side, the quality and fluidity just drops off. Patino was constantly too far ahead but that’s experience and this game would have been valuable for him. Just feels like we are really exposed all of a sudden, surely we could have kept AMN until we had a replacement? Certainly bare bones… Read more »
Ouch – sadly, this painfully revealed our lack of depth. Leno – just not Rambo. Solid enough but the drop in the energy level radiating from the back is palpable… his distribution is nowhere close to Rambo. Holding – I’ve said it before to howls of indignation here: diamond geezer, solid on defence but gives us NOTHING going forward. Paired with Leno, the lack of penetration on our transition was excruciating to watch. Cedric – journeyman, capable of the odd flash but just not a Top 4 EPL player. Charlie – just couldn’t get into the game… not helped by… Read more »
Player rating here encapsulates in a nutshell everything wrong – 1) Leno – Finally we have two good keepers which is the right thing but sadly (likely) Leno will leave in the summer 2) Cedric – Rather than convince Bellerin to stay and have (finally) genuine competition at Rback, Arteta was happy to let him go out on loan. In fact we have 2 other Rback options not any worse than an aging and knock prone Cedric in AMN and Chambers. 3) White – Why pay 50m for him at expense of midfield reinforcement obviously needed last summer? Particularly having… Read more »
I really hope that’s a ‘last-chance saloon’ for most of the players who were on the pitch tonight. Cedric, Holding and Nketiah should be nowhere near the first team – and Kolasinac coming on just shows the lack of squad depth. Pay off Cedric – he’s not PL quality, sell Holding to a club further down the league for a nominal price (fingers crossed Newcastle still might be interested?), and let Nketiah and Kolasinac go for free in the summer. I know Patino didn’t perform particularly well in this match, but I’d rather a bunch of youngers be given a… Read more »
Not having a go at Lokonga, I appreciate he is a young player getting used to the English game. However he doesn’t seem to learn not to dwell on the ball too much. Even in the autumn games the number of times he was dispossessed was very high and he just doesn’t seem to learn. To make matters worse these errors almost always lead to counter attacks, shots, yesterday a goal. It’s all well to pamper them and have the arm around the shoulder but it would be useful from the coaching staff to bring this flow in his game… Read more »
2 steps forward 10 backwards-if we really want to believe we are a top 4 club we have to beat teams like this. Never play Eddie again what a waste of a career, still i suppose the money makes up for it, have we forgotten the miss at Everton probably easier than the one yesterday. I swear at one point White stopped in the centre circle stopped put his foot on the ball passed it square to Holding who stopped than passed it to Kierney who from the half way line passed it back to Leno. I was quite confident… Read more »
I love Lokonga.
//Hopefully the tone and content of this comment is accepted by the powers that be.
Not the the previous one which in no place contained any labeling, name calling, primitive smears, but acknowledged the tendency of the player not to be too bothered by continuously losing possession since his arrival and not showing a willingness to clean that up in his game. I’ll hold my breath. 🙂//
We were rubbish and did not deserve to go through. I hope its the last time i see a numbder of the players above in an Araenal shirt… Cedric, Kolasonac, and Nkettiah who really shiuld have shown nire ambition and left for Palace in the summer thiugh he probably knew he was just as likely to be second choice there. But in the midst of this what is the deal with VAR being used in some games but not others? I appreciate not every ground has the set up so surely the right thing is to drop it everywhere (something… Read more »
As laudable as the support for action against knife crime is, Arsenal had the arrogance to think they could tackle some ‘red primordial soup’ armed only with forks. Such is the lack of depth in our squad this season, Arsenal really cannot afford to rest or rotate anyone and hope to win games even against championship opposition. Nketiah, Holding, Tavares, Kolasinac or Cedric wouldn’t even get in the Forest team.
Are we in for Djed Spence? We should be!
Too right!!