Transcript of What 0-0 Arsenal draw means for Forest's Champions League hopes

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Garabordy Red, a Nottingham Forest podcast. I might say the host is Nottingham Forest's draw. 0-0 at the city ground with Arsenal on a pretty entertaining 0-0 draw, I've got to say. I thought it was a bit of an entertaining one for a change on a Wednesday night under the lights in front of the TV cameras. It means Forest stay third, but Manchester City and many other teams close in on them. Forest had chances to win it. We look back to that Chris Wood chance, not once but twice, and maybe we could have won it late on at the end. We will discuss that game and look ahead to the small matter of an FA Cup fifth round tie on Monday night against Ipswich, also at the City Ground, and a chance to get to the quarter final of the competition. Remember that time when we got to the quarter final against Liverpool? It was under Steve Cooper. So can Forest recreate that? We will discuss what lineup Nuno should go with, and much more throughout. Joined on a solo podcast today, a quiet one mate. It seems like the Arsenal games took it out of everyone.

So appreciate you joining me, Sam. Sam from the tricky Tee T-shirt business. Good to see you mate. We were both there last night just talking about being a bit been a bit knackered. Night games take it out of you. What did you make of the game? And yeah, did you enjoy it last night? I always think night games at the city ground just feel special. It's just another reason that we never We really want to leave that place, do we?

Yeah, it's a special place to watch football, especially under the lights. It was great. It was a cagey game, wasn't it? I felt stressed the whole way through. I looked up for the clock and it had only been about 18 minutes into the start of the game and I was like, God, it felt like it was nearly half-time. It was back against the wall for a lot of it. In the end, 0-0 was probably a good result, but probably a fair one, I think, in all Yeah, no, absolutely.

I agree. It's interesting one, isn't it, 0-0? I think that I said before the game actually was doing a few interviews and whatnot and said that it would be a nervy one. It would be one of those games where both sides needed to win. Arsenal needed it probably more than Forest. I mean, Liverpool are going to win the league now, but if they wanted any chance of pulling off an unbelievable upset and turnaround, then they needed to get a win last night. Forest, not so much, but we still needed a win to trying to almost get rid of the bad form recently. But I think a draw has steadied the ship, if you like. Obviously, we'll talk about it more. But Nuno said in his postmatch press conference that the players have almost just gone back to the drawing board a little bit and just relaxed after last night. So it almost just evens it all out and we build from here. Let's start with the thoughts on the game, Sam. From minute one, I thought Forest were quite quick on it. I thought we looked quite good for the first five or 10. Then it was a mountain of pressure from Arsenal towards the end of the first half.

But there was chances for Forest to win it. But again, I just thought the quality from an Arsenal side, yes, they're not going to win the league, but they're in the top six. They're fighting really amongst us and other teams. They showed their quality at times as well. I think it wasn't for brilliant defensive clearances, just brilliant defensively from Forest, we could have found ourselves going a goal down at halftime.

Yeah, I thought they did really well to kill the atmosphere at the start of the game. I thought, like you said, city ground under lights is a special place and a hard place to go. We looked like we were going to fly out the traps and have a really good start. And then Arsenal just killed the atmosphere a little bit by keeping the ball and keeping that possession for a long period of time. So it was very good from them. That's exactly what you need to do when you come to City Ground, because as soon as you Let us in with a few chances, the atmosphere gets up and it's a really difficult place to get anything out of. So, yeah, I thought they did really well at doing that. And, yeah, it was a I was a bit nervous before the game going in, thinking the gaps closed, hasn't it? Between a lot of the teams below us, all of a sudden it's now a lot tighter than we first looked at a few weeks ago. So I was a bit nervous That's it. But I thought we defended really, really well. I thought it was proper Nuno defense.

Again, it was so solid, very organized. We really limited their chances. The two chances they had were the corner They went to the back stick and I'm amazed that they didn't score from a corner because they had about 11 or something throughout the game. But no, we defended them really well and Sels made a good save. And then the other chance where Calafiori hit the post. But But apart from that, I thought the chances throughout the game were fairly even. And, yeah, I think, to be honest, I think we're just fortunate that Arsenal didn't go out and buy a striker in January because I think had they had a focal point up top, to maybe either play into and do something without possession and could have been a different story, but they just latched. They didn't look that day. You're not going to win a league playing like they do. They're not a clinical team like Liverpool are. And that's the reason why they're in second place, Liverpool at the top. It's a different story. If Liverpool are in that game, they'll grind you out and then they'll bag one in the last minute or something like that.

So, yeah, I think the game showed our defensive quality and their lacking, lack of attacking quality, really. So, yeah, the nil-nil, it sums up both It seems perfectly, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. Almost, I think, stops the rot for Forest. Not that it really was that much of a rot. We're not fighting for relegation, but I mean that in a sense of... Nuno talks about almost rediscovering off Sal. The fact that we considered eight goals in the past What is it, three games. So it was nice to just almost relax and have a bit of a clean sheet. I thought Matt Sal's made obviously some excellent saves. You're right about the corners, Sam. We'll get onto that in a minute about set pieces. I was surprised that Forest gave away that many and almost struggled to capitalize on the set pieces in the corners that we had at times. Remember, it was the second half, earlier, Anderson had one. It was almost just a bit of a waste. And then there was one where we... Was it Danilo? Anderson were offside with each other, and it was just a bit of a waste from a corner. Let's talk about the lineup, really. Sam Forest kept it pretty much the same. It was the 4-3-2-1 formation. 4-2-3-1, I should say. Of course, Dominguez and Anderson in midfield. They'd been talk about who would come in to possibly replace Dominguez or even Anderson.

People crying out for Ryan Yates. Was it the right decision to start Dominguez? I would have started Ryan Yates yesterday, and I think when you saw him come on as well. I know Osi Dave likes to give us a bit of grief on the podcast about it, but that was a Ryan Yates game for me last night, Sam.

Yeah, I agree. I said before the game that I thought Yates should have When I started and then when I saw the lineup, I saw it was on the change. I wasn't negative about the lineup because I thought that Dominguez is a very good player. I just thought, like you say, it was a very Ryan Yates game. You need someone that's going to absolute work, of course. And Dominguez is that player as well. But Yatesy is that player that wins you free kicks when you're pinned in and he's aggressive. And it showed when he came on, I think the last two appearances he's had off the bench, he's been a real impact. So I think he's got a serious case for Man City in a week and a half that he should be starting because like I said, the impact he's had off the bench in those games has been good. Dominguez, I thought... I'm a massive fan of Dominguez. I think he's a fantastic footballer. I really, really like him. I thought yesterday was one of the worst games I've seen him play in just in the fact that I just felt like the game was going by him.

There was a few chances where he gave the ball away in rash areas where we just won the ball back. And that wasn't just him. That was a lot of the team that we just couldn't find... It seemed like we could find passes together and we were giving the ball away straight back to Arsenal. It was coming back at us in defense. So, yeah, it was a poor game from Dominguez. But it was a tough game. Everyone just had to... It was a grinded out of result, really, in that game. It wasn't a pretty performance from Forest in any sense of the word. I don't want to stick too much blame on him, but I think I In my opinion, I'd go with Ryan Yates in the next game. I think from what he's shown in the last two sub-appearances, he's been worthy of coming into that starting 11, and he's going to have a positive impact.

Yeah. It's a funny one about Ryan Yates. We talk about him so much on the podcast and not just here, but it's a very frequent topic amongst the terraces and between Forest fans about him being the Premier League player and making that step up. But for me, I think last night's game showed something a little bit different. I just think our mate, Max, that comes on the podcast, Max Scott, that everybody knows Talksport Max, and he put a tweet on last night and he put Forrester better with Ryan Yates in caps locks. I do just agree with him. I think, especially against the likes of an Arsenal where you're at home, it's a bit of a nervy game. You're needing to break the midfield up. You're needing to almost help the turnover of play in transition. I think he's that type of player. I was just disappointed He's disappointed that he didn't start last night. It's a funny one you mentioned about Dominguez, Sam, and I agree. I was a big fan of him at the start of the season, obviously still am, but he has gone off the boil recently. You just wonder whether it's...

Is it the competition around him? People fighting for places? Is it the pressure? Is it because he's not really had a full run of games? What would you put it down to, really?

I'm not sure, really. Yeah, honestly, I'm not entirely sure. He's one of those players that... He's not a glamorous player. He's not a Morgan gives white, where you praise Morgan gives white and you base your opinion on Morgan gives white based on his creativity and his output and the magical moments he has in games, whereas Dominguez is the opposite of that. He's the workhorse. He does all the ratty stuff in midfield where he'll press people and win the ball back. I think when we're playing a team like Arsenal, when they're going to keep the ball, they've got fantastic footballers, like the likes of Martin Odegard in the field who I was so relieved when he went off because he was just looked to throw it all night. And Declan Rice in the field, you're going to get passed around all game in midfield. Those games, he goes missing because he's got no hope of pressing those players. The games are the lower teams where they're going to make mistakes and you're going to nick the ball back in midfield. Dominguez is perfect because he'll rat away in there and he'll win balls back. And that's when we break and we get on the break against teams and unleash the wingers.

So against teams like Arsenal, where they just don't give the ball away in midfield, the game is just going to pass you by. And if you've not got that... When you get on the ball finally and you panic or you're not looking for the right passer or not making the right decisions, you're going to look like you're going to have a bad game. But That's where I think he went a little bit wrong for him yesterday. I think maybe that's why in these games, it's Ryan Yates all over. I think for me, the Ryan Yates perfect game is a big team at home. It's like, get under their skin, get in their face, and it's made for Ryan Yates. It's so made for him. I really hope that he does come in against Mattity. I think that'll be a positive change, and I think he's deserved it with his performances off the bench.

Yeah, absolutely. Just staying on that and talk about Ryan Yates and homegrown players, Sam, and you look at the way that even we feel like some of the players in the side at the minute almost are one of our own. I mean that in the sense of Morgan Gibbs-White and maybe Alan Munson, Adoy, and even Chris Wood at the minute. You feel like they get what it means to Forest fans and to the football club. You wonder whether that stands us in good stead going into these last, what is it now, 10, 11 games, that it's going to be hard. It's going to be, Roy Kean was talking about, this is the time where it makes or breaks sides in terms of competing for the European places and Champions League spots. You just wonder whether almost that's a massive advantage to Forest. You You look at an Arsenal, you look at a Chelsea, you look at a city that are all a bit disjointed at the minute. Whereas the one thing that Forest have got on their side is no one expects us to be here. It is really a free hit. Yes, it would be disappointing not to maybe finish in some European places at the end of the season.

But it stands you in good stead almost having that squad atmosphere around and you look at the likes of Arsenal, you think they probably haven't got what we've got. We've got that special feeling, haven't we?

Yeah, definitely. I just want them to believe that they can do it. I think all the way through this season, there's no doubt about that we've been punching well above our weight in terms of the quality that we've got in our squad compared to the other teams in the league. For what we're doing, we are punching well above our weight. And for the entire season, we've been just rolling with it and playing with freedom. And I just hope that we don't go into our shells a little bit and get nervous around playing these teams. It felt for a large period of the games, it felt like we were nervous yesterday about conceding. And I've never seen so many long balls from... I've not seen so many long balls from us since back in the League one day. It was a lot of long ball, hoof ball forward, and it was just coming straight at us. I haven't seen that this season. I've seen us play with confidence, play with freedom. I hope that the added pressure of coming towards the business end of the season doesn't impact our style and our freedom in terms we play.

Because we played some fantastic football this season and we played with real confidence and freedom. Now that it is like, oh, there's something on the line, there's something to lose here, I just hope that it doesn't affect the players in a negative way. I'm sure it won't. I'm sure because like you said, they're just a gather bunch. And they'll be going into that Man City game thinking, these are for the taking. We can absolutely beat these. And we deserve to be in this top four because they've been fantastic all season. So, yeah, just hope that added pressure of having something to lose now is not playing a part in any of their minds. And obviously, Nuno will be working on that and making sure that they're all in the right mind frame to go into these big games.

And I suppose, Sam, is it funny that We forest fans came out last night thinking, in fact, actually being a little bit disappointed that we could have won that. We had chances to win the game and we could have beat Arsenal. It was second V third in the Premier League and we could have beat the team above us.

Yeah, it's weird, isn't walking away from the ground, just feeling a bit dejected. I was like, 'They're second in the Premier League and obviously we're third. But if you just take it, it's black and white. They're second in the Premier League and we've held them to a close game, nil-nil. It It was competed by both sides. It's odd that it feels dejected, but that's positive, isn't it? That we're all feeling that way, that we've built our standards that high, that we can feel that way and it's justified. Just roll on the next one and let's get another win going. And, yeah, keep ourselves in those positions.

Yeah, absolutely mate. No, spot on. In fact, talking about finishing in the Champions League, places. The Opto people, so they do Opto graphics, Opto Analyst, I should say. They've released their Supercomputer predicted table. They've got Forest in fourth. They've got City of Boulas. They predict Forest to finish fourth with expected points of 64. 53. 0% chance of winning the title. They've got Liverpool on a 98. 83% chance of winning the title, Arcel on 1. 17. The chances of Forest finishing in the Champions League spots, according to Opta, is 40 %, and anywhere else in Europe is 21 %. So the odds are looking in our favor for once from the whole super... Can't remember the Supercomputer this season at the starting? It's from sun predicting us to finish at the bottom or something ridiculous like that, which anyone with a football in brain at the start of the season should have maybe thought twice about predicting Forest to finish at the bottom. But just looking at that, Sam, and talking about Europe, and I was asked the question yesterday, will Forest finish in the Champions League places? Will Forest be playing European football next year?

Does last night's performance give you hope? Because for me, if you'd have asked me after the 12 minutes against Newcastle, studying the away and watching those 12 minutes, I said, absolutely not. You can wave goodbye to Europe. If you asked me my thoughts in the last 10 minutes at Newcastle and the game last night, and I said, absolutely, Forest will get Europe because we've shown what we're about, and I do think we have enough quality going into this final push for the season.

Yeah, I think the quality is there, and I think we will. It's going to be a real tough end of the season. But if you look at our fixtures, after next week, we're playing... All of our games are currently in the bottom half of the table, I believe. We've obviously got some difficult games. We've Totton away in there and Villa away, but there's some real opportunities in there. It's ApeSwitch at home and Leicester at home, I think.

Yeah, there too. We've got ApeSwitch and Leicester to play. Obviously, ApeSwitch twice, one in the League, one in the Cup. You've got Villa, City.

Everton, Everton, Brentford.

It's difficult, but winnable games.

Absolutely. Every game is difficult, but there are definitely opportunities So if we play like we did in that second half against Newcastle, against any of those teams, we're going to be fine. It's just which forest turns up, isn't it? That's that first half of Newcastle team or the second half. That's the only thing that slightly worries me is the inconsistency in the performances and how fast it can go from extreme highs to extreme lows, like the Bournemouth to the Brighton. That's the only thing that worries me a little bit. But that's It's just part of football. It just happens, isn't it? All teams go through those up and down spells. I'm just hoping that we've done enough in the earliest part of the season to give ourselves enough of a chance to get there now.

Yeah, no, absolutely, mate. I agree. Spot on. In terms of just before we move on to Whipswitch in the Cup, who was your man of the match last night? I thought it's got to be a player from the defense. I was a bit Matt Sels. I thought he had an excellent game against, some brilliant saves. I'd probably go with, I think, the actual man of the match from, was it TNT or officially the Premier League? I would go with Marillo. I mean, that chance that Arsenal had, albeit it was offside after, but the clearance off the line. He just seems to... He shows up in every game, but he seems to show up against the big boys as well, doesn't he? Every week.

Yeah, he does. That block was phenomenal. Obviously, it was offside. But when he blocked that and then saved the rebound off the block, the upper Bridgeford was celebrated like a goal. It was hilarious. It just shows that they're all like, congratulations each other after that. It's nice that they just fully are so committed to what we're doing at the moment. They're really, really trying so hard to see us through to this end. I think man of the match, one of the two centre-halves, I think they were both very good and back to their best, really. It would have been a bit of an odd game for them not having an out-on-out striker playing with them. They'd have probably felt a bit pulled out of shape at times. But I thought they dealt with it really well. Like I said, limited Arsenal to hardly any chances. So, yeah, those two were particularly good. I always love watching Morgan play, and I thought, even though we were back against the wall for most of it, He still had those moments where he was creative. And the little Croyff turn on the half volley that he did to get Chris Wood in in the second half off that long ball, I thought, that's just magic.

There were some good performances out there, some steady sixes and sevens out of 10s that got us over the line. But the two centre-halves were back to that early season form where they were just immense.

Yeah, no, for sure mate, totally agree. Good point. I think it was a valued point. Yeah, it's a shame we didn't get three, but the fact we're talking about it being disappointed that we've not beaten one of the big boys, I think is just a symbol of really Forest's success this season. Let's talk Ipswich, Sam. Obviously, we have him in the league in not too short while, but a bit of fifth round cup time Monday night at the city ground. A chance to progress through to a quarter final of an FA Cup. You want to from Wembley there. There's already some of the big boys out of it. And Forest are the highest. Yeah, Forest still are the highest ranked team in the league left in it. So Surely got to be favorites, haven't we, to win it?

Yeah, not a chance. I'm putting as a favorite to win that. You're probably going to ask me about what team I'd go with, but I don't know. For me, it's a massive thing. So I'm going to ask you a question. I'm going to reverse it. I'm going to reverse the role here. I'm going to act as host. What would you rather have? Top four or win the FA Cup? And win the FA Cup and no Europe.

Right. Okay. Because, yeah, see, I'd rather have top four. If you ask me if Forrest were obviously ninth, 10th, and we were just going to have a mid-table finish, then I'd be saying, let's just go out and win the FA Cup. How brilliant that would be. But I think where we are now, I would rather focus on getting top four in Champions League football. However, it would be nice to do both, won't it?

It would. No one says we can't do both. It doesn't have to be one or the other. But if we're looking at lineups for the next game, I'm thinking If Nuno's priorities are, let's go and win something, then that starting 11 should basically be the one that started against Arsenal for a switch. I, personally, if I was him, I would make some changes. Not the full 11, but I would-So you wouldn't go for an Exeter style lineup.

You'd go for a bit of a first-A hybrid. Yeah, almost a bit of a mix.

Yeah, I'd have the core of the team in there with a few changes. I'd have maybe Rest, one of the wingers, and have Sosa on. I'd maybe give Taewo a start because I thought when he came on actually against Arsenal, we haven't spoke about that, but I thought he actually was really good. The holder player was fantastic. I think in hindsight, if Nuno had seen those five minutes or 10 minutes of Taewo playing, I think he'd have probably brought him on sooner because while we were playing those long balls with Chris Wood and while he was challenging for them, he's got two of the best centre-alves in the league that are just dominant in the air. And Taewo came on and pinned two of them within five minutes and held the ball up and laid it off and brought us into the game. So I think if Nuno had maybe seen that or had the hindsight to go back and do that, I think we would have probably seen Taewo a bit earlier in the game yesterday because he did really well. So I think I'd start to Iwo and one of the wingers and then make a change with maybe one of the midfielders and maybe one of the defenders as well.

But generally, keep the call. Maybe like, rest Murillo and bring in Morato. That change, I'm thinking. Bring in players that are there and thereabouts to first team, but rest some of the key players.

Yeah, because it's a big chance when you think about it. If Forest get the look of the draw as well in the quarter final, and of course, we always know an upset of bananaskins on the cards in the FA Cup in any Cup competition because it's one game, but you could get the look of the draw and then we're all off to Wembley again. So I think it It's an exciting prospect for the club and I think Nuna will be considering it. And certainly the hierarchy at Forest will be thinking, actually, where do we go from here and can we actually look at Mounds in a bit of an FA Cup push and you never know, get yourselves in the final. It's one game, it's me getting ahead of myself. But it would be nice, wouldn't it? It would be nice to have a trip to Wembley and then finish in Europe. Give us a prediction, Sam.

For Monday. For Monday, I think we'll win the game. I don't think it'll be close. I think Ipswich will be well up for it. They're a difficult one because they've obviously not picked up a lot of points, but they've been in games and they've been competing against a lot of teams. The Man United one last night, was it last night? Yeah, wasn't it? So they were fully in that all the way to the end and ran them I know they're also performing below, but they've got dangerous players. So I can imagine it. I can see it go into extra time or something like that again. And it being a close call. I'll go 2-1 forest in extra time. It's a difficult one. It really is. Just going back to the point on the FA Cup and the Champions League, I'm just thinking about, obviously, you're going They're in the game trying to win everything. I'm sure they do. Whoever's on the pitch is going on there to whatever team's picked, he's going there to win the game. But if you're going to prioritize one, is there much monetary gain from winning the FA Cup compared to...

Because I know the Champions League qualifying itself is massive in terms of income. But do you know if the FA Cup has anything like that as well?

Yeah. So I do think you obviously get some pride. But I think one of the biggest things is with the Champions League is you've got to think about that Forest will be playing. How many games would it be? It's changing now the format.

Eight in the groups.

Yeah. So you'd be playing... Would you be playing... Is it four at home, four away, right? I think so, yeah. So you think about that in terms of at home, the level of sponsorship where Forest commercially can put... If you want to sponsor that game and be a headline sponsor, then they can probably charge you double than a normal Premier League game. So in terms of financially, it would benefit the club the longer run to be in the Champions League. It's always whether they actually value Silverware more. And if then you get to the quarter final and it's against Crystal Palace, and then on the other side of the draw, you could face, I don't know who's left in. City is still another one. Yeah. And then you never know. So I think in a sense of the club must look at it in a way of... But then, as you said, Sam, whichever team goes out will want to get three points. We want to get a win.

Yeah. It's if you risk those players and there is an injury or anything like that that happens, then it's like, oh, well, that was an avoidable incident, really. But you can't plan for those That's the thing. But yeah, I don't know. In my head, if we look at that debate, I think getting us into the Champions League next season would mean even further progress. I think you've then got a building block to invite players from the upper echelons that we wouldn't have been able to target before. All of a sudden it's like, wow, Maranatas can go, come and play for Forest. You're in the Champions League. We're going to do this, we're going to do this. We're going to be challenging for the league in the next few years. Come to Forest. We've got this going now. Whereas if you win an FA Cup, yeah, it's great. The history around it's fantastic, but it doesn't mean it doesn't set you up for that progress into the following seasons, if that makes sense. It's not attraction for the players to come over, if that makes sense. But it's fine because we're going to win both, so it's all good.

Yeah, absolutely, mate. Easier said than done. Talk about optimism on a Thursday. And I don't know, many other viewers can maybe relate that I just think night games, neck are you out. I've had about six coffees today trying to stay awake. I've been working from home as well, and I'm honestly struggling. It's just a wrong way, isn't it? Like the driving. I saw some guy on Twitter and he does it every week. I must try and get him on the podcast at time. I think his name is Lewis. I can't remember his exact handle on Twitter. But he travels from Cornwall for every... Or it might not be Cornwall, it might be somewhere like... It could be somewhere in Scotland, but it's a good long trip. I mean, maybe he stays over on night games or he goes direct back. But for a three o'clock Saturday kick-off, he'll be up, he'll leave the house at 6: 00, 7: 00 in the morning. Wow. Forest fans do put some miles in, so fair play to us all. Some big games coming up, Ipswich in the FA Cup Monday night, and then, of course, a small matter of Manchester City next week at I am.

Appreciate it as always, mate. Thanks for tuning in. If you have done listening on Spotify and Apple podcast and watching us on Facebook, Nottingham Forest News and YouTube, Garabauri Red. We shall be back next week with a postmatch reaction to Ipswich. Then it will be Mark and Dave, hopefully with you to preview City. I'm off on holiday, so don't shoot me for going on holiday during the season. I'm off to get some sunshine. So I'll do a postmatch from Ipswich and then after that, you're late.

You could have at least time it with international break.

I know. Yeah, I know. Those all-inclusive deals don't come cheap all the time, though. Got to get them while they're good. So, yeah, I'm off on holiday, so they'll be covering. I can remember Mark and Max did it last time when I was in Turkey in the summer and they just decided to rip me to shreds. I sent them a video and I think I just hadn't shaved in about a week or something and they completely ripped my beard in quotation marks to shape Max for a slight. Max, have you been drawing it on? So I'm never letting them two do it again while I'm off. But anyway, we will be back next week with two episodes, so don't worry. Sorry, it's been a bit disjointed this week. It always is when there's been a bit of a midweek game, but appreciate the support as always. Thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning in. Sam, thanks as ever, mate. We will see you very soon. Give us a like, share, and subscribe on YouTube. Follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Forest could get to the quarter final of the FA Cup after a win, hopefully on Monday night.

We'll see you then. Come on, you reds.