Nuno Espirito Santo and Mikel Arteta. (Image: TNT Sports)
Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo took a brutal swipe at ’s forward problems by explaining his side’s tactics in . After their defeat to West Ham on Saturday, ’s men failed to bounce back as they went a second successive game without scoring.
With beating , the Gunners are now 13 points adrift of the leaders with the title race all but over.
Despite enjoying plenty of possession, the visitors again lacked a clinical edge as midfielder Mikel Merino was deployed as a central striker.
The closest they came to a breakthrough was when defender curled a first-half effort against the post, but they were also left indebted to William Saliba for ensuring they secured a point after his last-ditch challenge denied Chris Wood. Afterwards, Santo explained why he opted to change tactics by using a five-man midfield.
Working for TNT Sports, pundit Martin Keown questioned the Portuguese boss on why he made the switch from his customary five-man defence. However, the ex-centre back was left stone-faced and silent by the answer.
“ doesn’t have a striker, so with Merino playing in that position, there is no need for an extra body (in defence),” Santo replied. “So the overload was in the midfield – it’s about containing the midfield.”
Mikel Merino was again used as a central striker. (Image: Getty)
’s failure to land a big-money striker in the last two transfer windows has long been criticised by club fans. But to hear an opposition manager expose the flaw so savagely will add frustration to Arteta, who cut an exasperated figure in his post-match duties.
Asked by TNT’s Danny Jamieson why his side had again drawn a blank, he snapped back: “I don’t want to discuss that again, we (already) know that.”
The Spaniard was also spikey when asked if he would now be making a tactical change to his forward three, interrupting Jamieson to say: “We have a few days now before the PVS game, so that’s what we’re going to do. Think about it.”
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In the build-up to the trip to Forest, Arteta had . Again pressed on that notion, he refused to give a direct answer, instead arguing he wasn’t worrying about ’s results.
“It’s about us,” he said, again not letting Jamieson finish his question. “It’s about our games now. It’s about winning; that’s the only thing we can control. It was the same a week ago, 10 days ago, or two months ago – that’s the only thing we can control.
“We’re very disappointed not to win the game, obviously. We’re here and doing everything we possibly can, and the spirit they (the players) have is unbelievable. We want to win. We’re here to win.”