Ron Atkinson reckons he has been in some ticklish situations - but he will not
be laughing at the enormity of the task now confronting him at Nottingham
Forest.
Atkinson hoped to work a quick fix with his new charges when he met them for
the first time at noon in a city hotel after finally arriving in Nottingham
following an overnight flight from Barbados.
But his opening stab at psychology did not meet with instant success against
champions Arsenal.
The Forest players were more committed than they had been during the final
pathetic days of Dave Bassett.
But the end result was still the same and Martin Keown headed home a rare goal
to settle this forgettable clash and extend Forest's record run without a win to
19 Premiership games.
The real work starts now for Atkinson and he has two weeks in which to sort
out Forest before their next game against Everton with home matches against
Manchester United and Chelsea to follow.
Atkinson says he wants to emulate Blackburn's renaissance under Brian Kidd -
the only difference of course being that Kidd has Jack Walker's millions behind
him, while Big Ron has a reported transfer kitty of £2million.
And he has already spent £1.1million of that on his first signing Carlton
Palmer, who is due to complete his move from Southampton on Monday.
The City Ground faithful remain to be convinced by Atkinson's appointment and
they handed out leaflets before the match in their continuing campaign to oust
the board.
Sunshine greeted Atkinson's arrival at the City Ground and although it was
several degrees cooler than where he had come from, the sand on the pitch should
have made him feel at home.
He was applauded as he emerged from the tunnel, to the strains of 'Do Doo Ron
Ron', and proceeded to the away dug-out before he realised his mistake.
The omens augured well for Forest before the game. The Gunners were Atkinson's
first opponents when he took over at Sheffield Wednesday last season when the
Owls won 2-0.
Arsenal were also the victims back in December 1996 when they lost to Forest
in Stuart Pearce's first match as caretaker boss.
But there was to be no flying start this time.
Forest's cause had not been helped by the loss of skipper Steve Chettle
through flu, while Arsenal, by contrast, welcomed back Nigel Winterburn, Dennis
Bergkamp and Tony Adams - the latter after seven weeks out because of his
troublesome back.
Ray Parlour started with a bang and he forced a smart save from Beasant after
37 seconds before he cut inside and set up Bergkamp, who shot wide.
Back came Forest and Alex Manninger plucked a 25-yard Andy Johnson effort out
of the air.
Both sides were struggling to create anything on the terrible surface,
although Marc Overmars shot into the side-netting and Manninger punched a Des
Lyttle cross over the bar.
Forest were gradually growing in confidence and Pierre van Hooijdonk was
showing some nice touches up front.
But it all came crashing down on 34 minutes when Arsenal took the lead.
Keown headed home Emmanuel Petit's corner at the back post for his first
League goal of the season and only his third in the Premiership for the
Gunners.
It might have been worse for Forest three minutes later when Bergkamp released
Nicolas Anelka through the middle only for Dave Beasant to rush out and make a
fine blocking save.
Atkinson had a few choice words to say during the interval and they had an
effect as Johnson hit the bar with a 25-yard shot within a minute of the restart
with Manninger beaten.
Forest failed to build on this chance and, as in the first half, Petit soon
started bossing the midfield.
Perhaps Forest were becoming frustrated, but if that were the case it is still
no excuse for Jean-Claude Darcheville's blatant kick on Manninger as the Arsenal
goalkeeper caught Chris Bart-Williams' deflected shot in the 56th minute.
Manninger reacted furiously, but referee Paul Durkin merely booked Frenchman
Darcheville.
Forest tried to rally as yet another defeat loomed and Thierry Bonalair had a
penalty shout for handball turned down.
That was about the height of the drama in a dull finale which reflected
Forest's prospects of avoiding relegation.
Teams
Nottm Forest: Beasant, Rogers, Hjelde, Gemmill, Johnson,
Bart-Williams, Armstrong, Bonalair (Shipperley 75),
Darcheville (Quashie 85), Lyttle, Van Hooijdonk.
Subs Not Used: Crossley, Woan, Edwards.
Booked: Darcheville, Johnson, Gemmill.
Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Winterburn, Parlour,
Garde, Petit, Overmars (Vivas 69), Bergkamp, Anelka (Upson 86).
Subs Not Used: Wreh, Lukic, Caballero.
Booked: Winterburn, Garde.
Goals: Keown 34.
Att: 26,021
Ref: P Durkin (Portland).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook