Oh snap. Just saw a note that Notre Dame cathedral is burning down! Yikes. Meanwhile, after reading one PBP Arsenal needs to wary about not giving Watford reason to believe. Need to take advantage of this and win by 2 if they can.
Because he wasn't playing well. No one did though. This team is so bad away. Extremely fortunate to get all 3 points.
being bad away shows a lack of mental toughness and leadership. we desperately need a couple on the field coaches to help keep guys pumped up and on task.
Jake lives for another day! Okay. Saw the highlights (or lowlights, to be honest) and accept this is one of those days you simply say thanks for the win and move on. Arsenal's play may not have been deserving but they obviously did enough to avoid otherwise. Good teams eke out wins often when not at their best and heaven knows how many times Arsenal could not do so in the past few years, so take today's touch of fortune and keep moving. Sooner or later such wins add to a team's sense of belief. Will see if the full replay warrants other observations.
Our shooting was pitiful, crosses weren’t anything notable. Mhiki and Auba both had several good chances they didn’t even put on net. Really wish Iwobi would have ripped a couple shots instead of passing. Overall, it was an ugly win against a team intent on committing hard fouls. Aside from taking all 3 points, I’m just glad we were able to handle the hard fouls and tackles and come away with no notable injuries or suspensions.
This was a terrible performance, and very confusing from the manager. My feeling about Emery away from home is still the same: that he's overly defensive and spooks his teams with weird, reactive formations that don't work and break down the trust and empowerment the players have. But then his subs were very aggressive subs? Like subbing on Ozil for Torreira. Okay, I kinda dig it, and it's at least aggressive and proactive and taking the game to them. But then for he decides they need CM cover so they bring on Guendouzi for Mavropanos, meaning we switch to a 3-4-3 with Iwobi and Mkhitaryan playing as wingbacks. This is immediately the period of the match when Watford are most dangerous, attacking the space behind Mkhitaryan. So then they decide they actually want to play 4 at the back again and sub AMN on for Ramsey, so they're basically back to where they started??? Like the last two subs they made were just trying to fix the tactical issues their first sub caused. It was so bizarre. I'm not impressed by this team at all--obviously, it needs serious investment . But it also feels like it's being consistently hamstrung by Emery's tactical decisions, not enhanced. Doesn't help that our finishing luck is drying up also. And for the love of god what does Mkhitaryan bring to this team? He's a blackhole offensively. Can anyone remind me the last time he had an impact on any match?
Just kinda watched it. Actually mostly just the exciting first 20 mins and then kinda tuned out the middle a bit while working, then watched the nervy last 15 mins more closely. Not sure if this has been said already but lady luck was very much on our side: Foster's sloppy judgment, Deeney being Deeney and the ref having none of it, the woodwork being the keeper's best friend, etc. All we take from this match is 3 points. Period. I'm pretty sure teams like City, Pool & Spurs would've put Watford to the sword, scoring a few more goals to make it safe. But not us! Our abilities are a full rung down from the top. We are maybe just good enough to finish 4th, maybe 3rd in our dreams, but either of those will be punching above our weight. No way are we EPL contenders. Do I honestly see us able to get to Europa Cup Final and then win it? Not so much. But if I'm wrong about that last thing, it's gonna have to include some significant good fortune like today, and some significant winning ugly. Onward. p.s. Mavropanos! Where the hell did they find him??? I honestly didn't notice anything much he did today, but then again you know how closely I watched. Was he a net positive?? Did he come off because of his fitness or quality? (I'm thankful Sokratis can play in Napoli... he just better keep his damn cool)
This match aged me. Given a gift by Foster, and then at the point Fat Deeney is sent off, it should've been a glorified rondo session with another goal or two thrown in. Instead we struggled to string more than three passes together and allowed Watford several really good chances. Just like Andrew said on the podcast this morning, I spent the entire last 10 minutes envisioning all the ways Watford was going to equalize. Huge relief to be wrong. And good grief, that was the worst performance I've ever seen from Mkhitaryan in an Arsenal shirt. Prior to this match, I was really hoping to see a performance that would somewhat allay my fears about our form away from the Emirates. This match had the opposite effect.
For most of the season I would agree that Emery's away tactics have been overly defensively oriented, but I'm not sure about that in this context, to me, he appears to have been rotating players before the game against Napoli, Ozil played half a game, Ramsey played two thirds of a game, Lacazette was rested, the two wing backs were rested. If he starts a similar lineup v Napoli, I will agree with your analysis, but if he reverts to the lineup that played the against Napoli at home, then this may have been nothing more than player rotation.
can you correct me if i am wrong, please? i'd like to know if i drew the correct conclusion. it looked to me like it was not necessarily an intended "elbow in the face" but there was intent on contact in a "let him know you're there" manner. but, as you mentioned, torreira being the height-challenged human he is, has his face where deeney's elbow would have hit (most) other players' chest. feels like an . . . . acceptable(ish?) red given the contact was elbow-face but one that would generally not be given because it would have been chest height and, at most, would have been a foul if the (receiving) player sold it sufficiently?
Ramsey did a great job of standing next to the striker when we needed a midfielder to link up to the attack. Just like he's done for 7 years