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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.

5 hours from Blackburn all for a 0-0

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Following the legends match at the Emirates where I was part of the prawn sandwich brigade, next match was an U21 match away to Coventry City in the Checkatrade Trophy.

This was a good test as it was against Coventry’s first team. We won 3-0 with over 200 Gooners in attendance made it a satisfying evening.

Next stop was a trip to St James’s Park, Newcastle; always a decent place to watch football with the city centre stadium with walking distance of plenty of pubs. For a reason that still makes no sense to me, we were booked on the 6:12am train from Kings Cross meaning that my alarm was set for 3:30am!

What with my other half being away on Saturday night and 10 hours of drinking, this trip was only going one way and it did……

The match was uninspiring but a 2-1 win, but it meant that for the first time in an age, we won two away on the bounce!

Following a heavy head on Sunday, Monday saw me venturing up to Blackburn for an U23 match. There was a bad accident on the M6 which meant diversions and missing the first 13 minutes. On the way home, I counted 18 different sets of road works, therefore arriving home over 5 hours after our departure; the match itself finished 0-0, not a great day all round!

The only thing I took back with me from Blackburn was a stinking cold which was to stop me going to a few youth & academy matches.

Following this seasons Europa League debut with a easy win against Ukrainian side Vorsla Poltava, I saw our U23s thrash Liverpool 4-0 at Borehamwood.

Next up was a 2-0 home win against Everton where the highlight was keeping our first clean sheet of the season followed by a home Carabao Cup versus Brentford, a team we’ve not played in a competitive match since the 1940’s which we won 3-1.

Next up is the last match of a run of 4 home matches against Watford followed by a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. Lots of sun and cheap alcohol, what could possibly go wrong?

JW

Match report: Newcastle United 1 – 2 Arsenal

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Newcastle United (0) 1 Arsenal (0) 2

Premier League

St. James’ Park, Newcastle

Saturday, 15th September 2018. Kick-off time: 3.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal; Guendouzi, Xhaka; Ramsey, Özil; Aubemeyang, Lacazette.

Substitutes: Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Welbeck, Leno.

Scorers: Xhaka, Özil.

Referee: Lee Probert

Attendance: 52,165

After a brief hiatus due to international commitments, it’s good to be back at the day job again; this week, the lads find themselves up the road and near the Tyne at a true cathedral of English football, St. James’ Park, the home of our old adversaries Newcastle United.

There surely cannot be another club in English football that define themselves completely by he who wears the coveted number nine shirt, and to be fair, one can see why; Hughie Gallacher, Jackie Milburn, Wyn Davies, Malcolm MacDonald and Alan Shearer, all players that would comfortably fit into any side, in any era. In fact, Malcolm MacDonald did; he played for us for nigh on three years in the late seventies, scoring 42 goals in 84 appearances, an enviable record for any Arsenal footballer.

The cacphonous atmosphere that greeted the combatants today made the arena seem almost gladatorial in its very construction; and indeed it became so as the sound of Blaydon Races resonated around the stadium creating an atmosphere of both tension and intimidation. As the match got underway with the Barcodes wasting no effort in pressurising the Arsenal defence, it was looking as if it would be surely a matter of time before their work would bring an early reward for them. For one reason or another we got out of jail constantly early on.

Time after time we were found wanting, and it seemed at times that our team collectively had two left feet, with the inability to string a series of passes together becoming evident. In fact, the only thing worth talking about from out point of view in the first half was the wasted chance that Aaron Ramsey criminally squandered; if he had played the ball across the six-yard box instead of missing the target completely, then Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would surely have scored. Ho hum.

Anyway, come the break, cometh the man. Mr. Emery must surely have had a word in one or two players’ ears (and a flea in others) because the change in the chaps became obvious. Just four minutes after the break, Granit Xhaka’s perfectly struck free-kick found the back of the Magpies’ net, and that moment onwards, it was Arsenal’s match to win. The dynamic changed when Lucas Torreira replaced Mattéo Guendouzi in midfield, and our confidence just grew. Little more than ten minutes later, a shot from Alexandre Lacazette rebounded off a defender thus finding the feet of Mesut Özil, and the gimlet-eyed little midfielder wasted no time in scoring a goal, which turned out to be the defining moment of the match. As the back of the net rippled when the ball found its one and only true home, the cheers and applause from our supporters became apparent, and at the same time, fifty thousand Novocastrian hearts fluttered, knowing that for them, today’s game was lost. Despite a late raid by the Magpies which saw them score a goal in injury time, the match (and more importantly) three points went back to Islington, for us, a job well done.

Despite a victory, (the third in a row, it should be said) there are points to ponder. The good thing was that we didn’t pick up any unecessary yellow cards; but on the other hand the defence is still rocky. The full-backs charge up the pitch (a la George Male and Eddie Hapgood, or in recent memory Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn) but in doing so leave the centre-backs exposed. It was heartening to see that when in the second half Shkrodan Mustafi slipped, stumbled and fell leaving a Barcode forward to charge in on our goal, Sokratis came across and neutralised the threat, which shows that an understanding is being cultivated between the two men, which is a very good thing. It’s going to be hard to see how Laurent Koscielny is going to get back into this team if this CB pairing gets stronger, which it should. In midfield, it’s interesting to note that Granit Xhaka plays with more freedom when Lucas Torreira is alongside him; it could be that young Mattéo Guendouzi is not ready yet, and this is the line-iup that works. We’ll see. 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.