Does Ange ball bang - or a load of Flange? (A match thread)

Ndoye rather proved Tricky's point there about failing to come away with the ball.

I'd respect more a defender who is able to do as good a job without injuring anyone.

Indeed. He's ok. Good even. But he needs to be stronger.

After yesterday's conversation I've made a point of watching Sangare closely today and I'm even more convinced I'm right now. He is so frustratingly passive, and his passing - one of the primary attributes that Ajax fans sold him on - is pretty miserable under the slightest bit of pressure. This is exactly the sort of game where a top defensive midfielder should impose himself and force the ball away from where the opponent wants to play it, but they just pass around him like he's a minor irritant.

If you think about the great #6s of the Premier League era - Makalele, Essien, Petit, Kante, Deschamps (fuck me, Chelsea and France really cornered the market, didn't they?) - they were all dominant players. They didn't wait for the game to come to them, they made opponents think about how to avoid them. Sangare looks like he'd be scared to send back an undercooked steak, much less actually risk offending fellow professionals by getting in the way of their pleasant Saturday afternoon stroll.

Quite happy to not see him in a Forest shirt again.

How fucking easy was that?

This has been a very frustrating lunchtime. We’ve not been in this game at all. Everyone will wank off about Arsenal but we have been terrible.

Dilane Bakwa's delivery is the best we've seen from any Forest player all afternoon.

I don't feel like it would have been any different with Nuno in charge. Arsenal at home are a pretty tough proposition for anyone in the league. I don't really mind Ange getting a game like this as his opener, we're supposed to lose this one and he gets to see his players in action with no expectation of any other result than this.

I initially read that as Diane Bakery.

I will agree with you. He’s been a passenger today. I think against lesser opposition with more time he can still do a job for us.
I’m surprised that Yates has come on ahead of Luiz.

Sangare has been poor today. Luis still not getting any minutes is just getting weird now.

MGW totally missing again too.

I hope we really freshen things up against Swansea, batter em, and give Ange some selection issues for the next league game.

Maybe but we have been totally outclassed, as is usual at the Emirates. There’s nothing the referee has done that has made it worse for us.

I'm not sure what Kalimuendo is supposed to be. We've only seen cameos but he doesn't appear to be either a striker or a winger. Maybe he's an inside forward of some kind, but I don't know if that will fit with Ange's preferred style of play.

Do you seriously think we’ve been anywhere near in this game?