Kevin Whitcher
Ed’s note – I am away with limited internet connection (although to my surprise managed to find a decent stream to catch Saturday’s match live). As I did not expect to even manage that, I asked a couple of regular Gooner writers to cover the piece on Watford v Arsenal for me. Due to a bit of confusion / uncertainty over who could actually provide one, I ended up with two, so am running both. Poor internet connection for most of Sunday means these are being posted on Monday morning, later than usual for which my apologies. First up, Charlie Ashmore’s views on the match, followed by those of David Oudot. Many thanks to both for doing the honours…
Having missed the first two games of the season on a family holiday this was my first taste of live football of the campaign. It is fair to say things have not gone well so far as we headed into our last game of the transfer window (which remains utterly preposterous in its outstaying of its welcome – surely it should close before the season starts). Well, after an excellent start to the summer with the early signing of Xhaka (who looked a terrific player in the Euros) and the early bid for Vardy (whatever your thoughts about him being the right player for us, that we made an early move was a really positive indicator), things had gone flat. That we started the season without having strengthened in the two positions we all knew all summer needed strengthening even without the pre-season injuries seemed like negligence of the first order and the performances and results prior to today did nothing to dispel that feeling.
However it is better to strengthen late than never at all so the news of the two imminent signings was undoubtedly positive even if it was hard to shake off the feeling that with the will to do so they could have been brought in weeks ago and given the chance to acclimatise with the rest of the squad prior to the real business beginning.
Now all we needed was to start the ball rolling on our Premier League season and if we wanted to choose an opponent, Watford would be high up the list given our 100% Premier League record against them.
You can imagine my shock at realising I had gone to the wrong ground as I watched Watford and what looked like Chelsea run out for the start of the game. Honestly, it is bad enough having a horrendous third kit but to wear it at Watford when there is not the slightest hint of a colour clash is ridiculous. We have now played three games and worn all three of our kits when we could and should have worn our 1st kit for every game. Are we really going to sell so many more of these Chelsea shirts for having worn them at Watford?? Trivial I know in the overall scheme of things but it is just another irritating example of just how removed from the traditional game the bloated money driven Premier League has become.
Having seen the impact he made on the game last week it was good news that Ozil was starting though it was a surprise to me at least that Giroud did not start. This meant we started the game again without a recognised striker – for all their pretensions neither Sanchez nor Walcott really convince in the position. I must also add that I am very surprised that I am still watching Walcott in an Arsenal shirt. After ten years of unfulfilled potential surely the time had come this summer to cash in even if it meant us continuing to pay some of his salary.
But no, there he was in the starting line up yet again. And OK, this may have been one of his better contributions but there was still plenty of the things that frustrate me about him on show to make me think we would not miss him if he left.
Following last week’s excellent performance Holding and Koscielny started again and were protected by Xhaka and Cazorla in midfield. While it is fair to say Xhaka was doing most of the protecting, Cazorla did his bit too with one particular tackle outstanding. Our weakness defensively seems so far this season to stem from the flanks where both Monreal and Bellerin are looking shadows of the players they were last year. The reason for this seems pretty clear and that is that with Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain playing wide midfield they are not getting the protection they got last season from the likes of Sanchez, Ramsey and Campbell leaving them exposed as they were repeatedly on Saturday.
Fortunately the centre back pairing was solid again and Xhaka’s covering was also very good – there was one moment in the first half when Koscielny was floored near the half way line as Watford began a break. By the time the ball was played into Koscielny’s now unmarked man, Xhaka had ghosted back to cover for him and nicked the ball away just in time. His poise throughout the game was notable and his passing ability is clearly of the highest order as well over short, medium and long range. I was also impressed with my first live sight of Holding who has enormous potential. His development must not be abused in the way Chambers’ was and hopefully the signing of Mustafi will ensure we do not have to overplay him in his first season as he adjusts to playing at this level.
Further forward the Sanchez experiment continues to be unconvincing and, with Giroud surely now ready to play and the Perez signing about to be confirmed, hopefully it can be confined to the history books. He is far more effective for us playing wide (as witnessed by his cross for Ozil’s header) and his work rate there ensures that his full back has decent cover.
Watford were poor in the first half such that the lack of a recognised striker did not hinder us. The movement from deep was enough to confuse the Watford back three and considering the disparity in size between their defence and our attack it was surprising that all three goals came from balls in from wide – the first a blatant penalty when Sanchez tried to head a cross, the second what looked like a miscued pull back by Sanchez from a Walcott ball across the six yard box and the third a rarity – an Ozil header after a perfectly timed run was rewarded by a perfectly placed cross from Sanchez.
It was of course typically Arsenal that the second half turned into a struggle and a better team than Watford might have made us pay. Playing Sanchez wide will help but, for the same reason that he makes a difference because of his work rate in that position, I am surprised we let Campbell go out on loan for the season.
However hard we made it for ourselves we held on for a badly needed three points (in no small part with thanks to Cech for a number of excellent saves including a stunner to prevent a Koscielny own goal in the first half) and with the new signings about to arrive our season may just have taken off.
The success or otherwise of the season will depend on:
- The ability of Perez/Giroud between them to increase our conversion rate of chances
- Finding the right balance in the centre of midfield – perm any two from Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey (though see below), Xhaka, Elneny, Coquelin
- Getting the balance right in the wide positions – Sanchez on one side – but who on the other? My guess is Ramsey will be asked to continue in that position when fit – certainly for the “big” games.
- And of course, avoiding long term injuries to key players
Get these right and we undoubtedly have the squad to challenge. The question is whether Wenger will or even can get it right. Every reader will have their view on that. I hope he does but recent experience (and in particular his failure to get the team sufficiently motivated and prepared at the crucial time last season when the title was reaching out to us and begging to be grasped) suggests otherwise. Time will tell but at least we are now up and running albeit just in time for it all to grind to a halt so that those who still care about the pitiful national side can watch Big Fat Sam become the latest in a long line of those who have tried and failed to turn swine into pearls.
I was not at Leicester to witness the discord amongst the away fans. That there was none evident at Vicarage Road is indicative of how willing the majority are to get behind a winning team and a club that is seen to be taking steps to improve, albeit belatedly (even if they ultimately believe as I know many reading this do that Wenger is no longer the man to take the club forward). I have said it before and I will say it again – it remains my view that the role of a supporter on match day is to get behind the team come what may. If we do our bit to help the team perform and prevail and they fail to deliver the required effort or performance level then we can criticise. If we do not, then we are surely contributing to the failure. I appreciate that is easy to say after a day which was relatively comfortable and there will be tougher days ahead. I suspect we will negotiate this season on a knife-edge, only ever being one bad performance or result away from unrest, and with that in mind the most crucial factor to be added to my list above will be the ability of our players to cope with the pressure that knife-edge brings with it – will they rise to and above it or will it smother them? The answer will become apparent in the coming weeks and months.
Charlie Ashmore
---------------------------------------
Well, I say that normal service has been resumed, but seeing Mesut Ozil make a 15 yard sprint to deliver a bullet header is beyond anyone’s normality!
However, a win is a win and we are getting back on track, and after the international break we will have the striker and centre half we have been pining for all summer. It’s just a shame that the break is coming right now rather than in a week or two. Yesterday saw our Arsenal performing well and the players performing to their highly-paid levels. We completely outplayed Watford in the first half and took ourselves into a healthy lead, but in conceding a goal straight after the break all Gooners spend 40+ minutes panicking. God, it really IS normal service…
