When apathy turns to hope

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Last season I wrote about anger turning to apathy. I had had enough.  I think I even stoped caring to a certain extent.  I didn’t look forward to going to games, I didn’t enjoy the wins as much as I should have and the defeats just became expected.

I sat in a half empty stadium and would became obsessed with watching Wenger do nothing. I would have got more enjoyment going to the casino and sticking my ticket money on red or black

I wasn’t one of those who wanted us to lose for the greater good, but I couldn’t argue with that sentiment either if I am honest. The defeats no longer hurt, I didn’t even walk out with any anger in the end, I went because it’s what I’ve always done.

But now, I’m actually really enjoying this. On Saturday when the first goal went in I felt that sense of relief that had been missing for so long. I really wanted to win that game.

Lets be honest, we aren’t watching the type of football where you are scared to take your eyes of the pitch. We aren’t talking about moments of pure class that we will remember forever. But we are talking about the game again. We are talking about the result and on the whole, most of us are fairly optimistic.

Unai inherited a legacy that runs deep. The frailties have been massively exposed this year. We know what needs to be done, we know what we need to address. A good manager gets the best out of his side, Emery is doing that right now. The fact that we are seeing a new and improved Iwobi, Welbeck and Rob Holding is something I’ve waited years for. English youngsters improving and becoming an integral part of our future.  Torreira has been the anchor we have been crying out for. He sprays the ball around and makes people move. He’s not afraid of a long ball up the park to mix things up.

There won’t be many teams who fancy playing us right now.  As it stands, we are the only team in the PL who have won their last 5 league games. An Arsenal who battle it out and win ugly is not want anyone wants at this stage.

A defeat will feel disappointing again, but not expected.  We are gathering that urgency now and making winning, a habit. Many will say ‘but we’ve only played, bar City and Chelsea, average sides’. That’s absolutely true, but beating average sides gets you 3 points.

Watford are a good side, bullies,  who won’t give you any time to play your own game. We aren’t retreating like we did in days gone by. We are battling and no longer easy to get off the ball. When Ozil is sticking his foot in you know there is an aggression back in the side.

It won’t be easy this season, we will get taught a few lessons along the way. But I’m smiling again. I’m watching Match of The Day and I’m looking forward to the press conferences. I’m back in love with The Arsenal.

JD

Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 0 Watford

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Arsenal (0) 2 Watford (0) 0
Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Saturday, 29th September 2018. Kick-off time: 3.00pm

 

(4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerín, Mustafi, Holding, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka; Ramsey, Özil; Aubameyang, Lacazette.
Substitutes: Elneny, Guendouzi, Lichtsteiner, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck, Kolasniac, Leno.
Scorers:Cathcart (o.g.), Özil

Yellow Cards: Mustafi, Torreira
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 60,019

And so a welcome to Hertfordshire’s finest, the last of four home games in the Premiership and a couple of cups too. Amazingly enough, we didn’t play The Hornets in the league until 1982, but since then, despite relegation and promotion issues for them over the years, they have earned a certain reputation for playing open, attacking football, a style that has paid off for them in this campaign, as they currently (at the time of writing) occupy the fourth position in the Premiership.

We started this match slowly and sluggishly, but all this was quickly forgotten when Alexandre Lacazette was desperately unlucky not to have been given a penalty in the fifth minute when he was blatantly tripped by a Watford defender; he valiantly carried on (although to be fair, most strikers in the modern game would have gone to ground) and was unlucky not to have scored from a very difficult angle indeed. Arsenal allowed Watford to make their mark on the game shortly afterwards and for the rest of the half looked disappointing at times, although it should be noted that our bandits (Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) looked dangerous on the break, and when supported by the midfield, looked likely to score. Now the bad thing. In injury time of the first half, our magnificent gardien de but, Petr Cech pulled up with a hamstring injury that will keep him away from his duties for circa three weeks. Woe. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and now is the time that our £19 million summer acquisition Bernd Leno is to come to the aid of the party.

Second half at The Emirates, and as form follows finction, we all know what that means; a kick up the backside and a clip round the ear from Mr. Emery during the break and they all start to play as if their very lives depend on it – only at first it looked like The Hornets were the home team and not us with the amount of good and clear chances that they had during this time. It has to be said that Bernd Leno was very much on his game and prevented Watford from scoring on several occasions. Then Mr. Emery played a superb trump card, and hey, what a card it was, too. Enter young Alex Iwobi and the rejuvenation in the chaps was there for all to see. Ten minutes from time, Alex Iwobi found space for himself over on the right and slipped a low ball to the near post where Hornets’ defender Craig Cathcart diverted it beyond the grasp of his own keeper. Two minutes later, Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette played a superb one-two movement before the Frenchman passed the ball into the area near the far post where the much-maligned Mesut Özil lay in wait like a killer in the sun to administer the final act. Despite one or two late clashes, that was really the end of it all, and we can leave this match with three very important points, and another win on the board.

Okay, here we go, here comes the critique. Not wishing to be hypercritical, but at times it was a very tight match and we appeared to make heavy weather of things, particularly in the first half (surprise, surprise). We lack width and when it comes to playing the top sides (and we all know who they are), they will exploit this weakness in the formation. Arsenal need to play with concentration and vigour throught the whole of the match, and not just the second half, as one day a team will play us knowing that we are below par in the first half, and our punishment will be so bad, not even a half-time talk from Mr. Emery will be able to square that circle. Having said all this, we are looking fitter and there are signs of improvement; after all, this is our seventh win in a row across all competitions, so we are obviously ticking many boxes here. Our next match in the Premiership is an away tie at Fulham next Sunday before the international break, so fingers crossed that the chaps can continue their winning streak. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.

2-0 won doesn’t answer all the questions for Arsenal

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It was like watching an Arsene Wenger side against Sam Allardyce’s Bolton.

Watford are a big, physical, athletic side. They place close to the line, often stepping over what is considered legal. Pull backs, clips, trips and body checks. All behind the referees back to try and gain an advantage.

For once it did not work as Arsenal ran out 2-0 winners.

Since returning to the Premier League, Watford have been a 70 minutes side.

They are physical with a high work rate, but die in the last 20 minutes. They did it against Spurs mid-week, they did it on Saturday against Arsenal, and they will probably do it in the league.

I expect them to continue a fine start to the season – this was just their XX defeat – until about February. At that point they will have enough points to stay up and will collapse in exhaustion, having put so much energy and effort into the first 5 months.

On Saturday, for much of the game, their dirty tactics worked as Anthony Taylor waved away late challenges and off the ball incidents. The fact the referee decided to book Shkdoran Mustafi for asking for a corner, whilst not giving Trot Deeney a justified second yellow for a crude and late challenge summed up what Arsenal were up against.

But like at home against Bolton, we got through. We got the 3 points. We made it 7 wins in a row. And with Chelsea and Liverpool drawing 1-1, we sit fairly pretty in the league.

The game changed in its substitutions. Not the one where Petr Cech went off for Bernd Leno, but the two late ones.

Firstly on came Alex Iwobi for Aaron Ramsey.

The game passed the Welshman by, and not for the first time this season. You can see by that performance, how he struggled to fit in, why Emery, Sven and Raul are now unwilling to make him our second highest paid player. He was ineffective.

Iwobi meanwhile is proving a lot of people wrong this season.

Physically he has it all. He is big, strong and quick. He has silky skills but just needed the confidence and vision to match his size and strength. This season he looks a new player and he changed the game.

Always busy, always direct. It is easy to forget that he only turned 22 at the end of last season.

Danny Welbeck also came on with a fine cameo. He is so good in these situations. Able to both hold the ball up, win headers, and stretch teams. He and Iwobi showed why those who called for Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson to be in the Arsenal first team squad ahead of them are premature.

What Emery has done in his short Arsenal career so far is make the right substitutions depending on the situation.

In recent weeks we have seen Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette pulled off. Saturday it was the turn of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Aaron Ramsey. The Spanish manager is clearly not one for reputation. It is all about winning the game.

One man who can be concerned about his future – alongside Aaron Ramsey – is Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The early goal keeper change meant that only two outfield options could be used to change the game. Emery went for Iwobi and Welbeck ahead of the Armenian.

He might have been coming back from a slight knock (again) but it is hard to see how he fits in with what Emery is trying to do.

Emery does have some decisions to make before next weekends games against Fulham (why is this on at noon on Sunday?)

Aubameyang looks ineffective out wide. Playing him to the side of Lacazette does not work.

Likewise Ozil does not influence the game on the other wing, with Ramsey inside him.

We looked a much better side with Welbeck and Iwobi our wide and Ozil in the middle.

It could be time to make the two ultimate decisions. Ozil or Ramsey; Lacazette or Aubameyang.

It suddenly feels like I am being very negative.

7 wins in a row. With Qarabag and the Fulham, we can make that 9.

The future is bright.

Keenos