{"id":11908,"date":"2025-09-14T09:43:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T08:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11908"},"modified":"2025-09-15T20:21:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:21:02","slug":"is-ange-a-secret-gooner-we-should-be-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11908","title":{"rendered":"Is Ange a Secret Gooner? We Should be Told!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Forest came to the big city yesterday, minus Nuno of course, but now destabilisingly led by Agent Edu and Agent Ange. I asked myself before the game is Ange another ex-Spud manager and secret Gooner? The Large to Timmy Sherwood\u2019s Little? After all, he did give us 10 points out of 12 in NLDs with some seemingly suicidal selections during his time in the Marshes.  Well, the usually forthright Wizard of Oz isn\u2019t saying but yesterday\u2019s game tells it\u2019s own story I think. Cheers mate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, enough of him and on to more important matters. It was great to see The Arsenal back after another damned interlull but could they deliver a welcome three points on the auspicious occasion of my birthday? The omens were favourable, Bath had read the runes in his preview and Forest had kindly brought along a couple of fatted, though oddly elderly, calves for the occasion. As I am sure you know by now, Dennis did indeed smile upon us; three points, three nice goals and our third home win on the trot in the PL were all delivered with a performance that was far too good for a limited Forest outfit. I was surprised to find out afterwards it was the first time in just over a year that we had won three homes games in a row. That is something that needs to change this season if we are to win this league. However, two home games, eight goals, none conceded and six points mean we are certainly going about it the right way<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/strong>st<\/sup><\/strong> half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game kicked off with a side pretty much as predicted, with the exception of Mkel Merino coming in on the left to replace Declan Rice. There were five shiny new summer signings on the pitch including Cristhian Mosquera. His inclusion was I think a show of faith from the manager after his excellent debut at Anfield, especially when you consider there were several more experienced options available, not least of whom was the returning Benjamin White. Our other pre-match doubts N\u00f8rgaard, Saliba and Saka were not included at all on what was nevertheless a strong bench. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game kicked-off on what looked to be a clement early afternoon in North London and we spent the opening few minutes, as appears to be our wont these days, in having a look at how Forest would set up for the game. Once we had worked out their approach \u2013 be supine was the plan as far as I could tell – we spent the rest of the game more or less entirely in control of proceedings. Our first chance arrived on seven minutes and to be honest I thought Mikel \u201cGoal Machine\u201d Merino was going to score but Sels got out quickly enough at his near post to smother the shot. However, in the immediate aftermath of that chance the injury gods struck their now customary blow, Captain \u00d8de injuring the same shoulder again when he fell awkwardly after challenging for a loose ball. Although Martin bravely shouldered on for about 10 minutes it clearly wasn\u2019t getting better and Ethan Nwaneri came on just before the 20-minute mark. Half chances came and went after that, a Gabriel header from a Madueke corner was probably the best of them, though, not surprisingly with five new faces, things weren\u2019t quite coming off in the final third. That, however, was to change just after the half-hour when we delivered the goal our dominance deserved, and what a goal it was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal 1 Forest 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A corner from Noni was headed away by some hapless Forest defender only to drop invitingly on to Zubi\u2019s right foot just outside the D. From there it was despatched splendidly into the Forest net, via a slight defection from another hapless Forest defender. As sweet a strike as you could wish to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did feel we sat back a little after that goal as if to see whether Forest could do anything. Very little was the answer, Gobbs-White hooked, what I think was their first shot, wide on 45 minutes and that was about it. A cracking goal and utter dominance would I think be a fair summary of the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2<\/strong>nd<\/sup><\/strong> Half \u2013 The Arsenal 2 Forest 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could we basically kill the game with an early 2nd<\/sup> half goal? Yes, in fact, we could and did. Calafiori chipped an inch-perfect long ball over the top of the Forest right-back\u2019s head and into the path of Eze, who looked up and then put in an inch-perfect first time cross for the perfectly placed Victor to despatch straight into the net. A lot of perfects in that sentence! But it was, I thought, a great goal made to look deceptively simple as the ball was moved from the left-hand side of our half to the Forest net in three touches.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game became a little more open after that as Forest had no real option but to try to push forward. They did have a Wood effort off the woodwork (I am not convinced he meant it but what the hell let\u2019s give him the benefit of the doubt), but apart from that we were largely untroubled and had our own woodwork moment when Victor crashed a shot off the Forest near post with Sels well-beaten for pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We kept control of the game through a raft of substitutions on both sides: Viktor, Cala, Nino and Eze went off and Declan, MLS, Martinelli and Leo came on for us. The usefully versatile Mikel Merino went to CF as we reshaped our front three with Gabi and Leo out wide. And it was to be Leo who had the most immediate impact as things turned out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal 3 Forest 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third goal arrived just before 80 minutes when the ball came to Leo on the right-hand edge of the area, he steadied it with his first touch of the game and then with his second he swerved in an inviting cross for what I at first thought must be Merino but turned out to be the perfectly placed Zubi rising to nod home his second of the game! How many Spanish midfielders turned centre-forward do we have? Joking aside, it was a nice finish from a good cross and gave the scoreline a fairer reflection of the game. To be fair, I have probably been a touch harsh on Forest as they aren\u2019t a bad side and do have a few decent players, but yesterday we basically outplayed them in every area of the pitch and made them look very ordinary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game petered out after that and was played out comfortably to its conclusion, though I did note a spot of rain fell so there must have been a cloud to our golden lining somewhere. I hope our attending \u2018Holics remained dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, a very impressive piece of game management really. I thought Mosquera was good again, a very timely interception to stop Hudson-Odoi being the highlight. Noni looked good, a well-toasted full-back or two who won\u2019t remember the game with any fondness. Zubi of course with two good goals, Viktor in the right place, and Eze who was involved well in the 2nd<\/sup> half. I suppose Zubi gets the shout for PoTM with a cracking volley and centre forward\u2019s header but everyone was good in truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What next?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, with four games to play before the end of September, there is plenty to do for Mikel and our Merry Men. First up a trip to Bilbao, followed by C130+y, Port Vale and Riyadh Toon in no particular order of moral bankruptcy. Though I am sure Port Vale are nice really and I believe the Basque Country is pleasant at this time of year. We will need and use the squad of course, though I must admit I am very curious to see the starting XI in Bilbao. That\u2019s about it for now but I trust I will leave you all in good heart after a commanding win yesterday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on You Gunners!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forest came to the big city yesterday, minus Nuno of course, but now destabilisingly led by Agent Edu and Agent Ange. I asked myself before the game is Ange another ex-Spud manager and secret Gooner? The Large to Timmy Sherwood\u2019s Little? After all, he did give us 10 points out of 12 in NLDs with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11908"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11925,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11908\/revisions\/11925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}