@arse_or_brain sets the afternoon up nicely
We have all seen our back-up lads do extremely well at the start of the season and we all know they would be needed in the Premier league at times this season. With the international break taking its toll on already tired legs, wild emotions and injuring some of players that looked fully fit, then this could be the time those players on the edge to step into the spotlight, take centre stage and take the plaudits for the quality we all know they have.
The Hornets have done well away from home and this is the best start to a season for a long time but their home record so far has been poor, even though they have played top teams. Conversely our away form has looked poor on paper until you look a little closer and realise although we weren’t on top form at Stoke we were still very unlucky and against chelski gave possibly our best performance of the season.
JACK IS BACK and with most of the squad dusting down the international cobwebs this could be his re-coronation as young King and saviour of English football, even though Arsene has said he wants to be cautious with him. Talking of returning players Per could be back in and obviously his height could be vital and his experience calming for those around him.
I would suggest we need a fast start so in the later part of the game when the miles start to tell we can control the tempo and reduce the need to run at full pelt except on the counter of which we need to make more use of and make correct decisions at critical times. Our counter attacks are one of our poorest areas and if we get that right the goals ‘for’ column could be greatly inflated and teams would be finished off earlier.
Enjoy yourself wherever your watching P.A.s COYG.
Positively Arsenal 
eduardo792
If the team had taken a three goal lead and we played like that, we all would have taken it.
Execution at key moments are the finer points at this level , that is where the team failed in this game, in the big moments.
LikeLike
their second goal as well was a foul on petr cech. but watford deserve their victory. they were the better side, more agresive. we hd our chances, the best was ozil’s. but we created very little becaise iwobi refuse to take the innitiative from xhaka and elneny. they were both flat and the game was crying out for ramsey. i hope iwobi realises that he needed to do more than sticking to order if you wants to make a name himself.
LikeLike
Pretty damn gutted.
Did much less anticipating than normal thanks to break and busy weak; 3 top players out of 11; well below best but better than them first half; breakthrough, looked dangerous in remainder of first half.
Missed start of second; rejoined not long before Ozil missing golden chance; ref gifts them pen after pathetic pen-hunting; horrible watch after that.
LikeLike
After the horrendous penalty de is ion, you could see the home team get another one.
Özil’s miss killed us.
LikeLike
I’ll keep hoping in league for a while yet, but City and perhaps Utd may establish unassailable lead in no time.
So they should, or at least be better, really, given their big financial advantage. With that and, apparently, yet another year of ref bullshit, it’ll be hoping for Cl qual, good football, player development and joy in cups.
VAR next year, maybe, hopefully, and that should make things at least a little better.
At present, my watching is informed by the strong belief one of those bullshit pens could materialise at any moment, real pens for us likely to be ignored, etc.
LikeLike
last season after we lost at home to Watford, Theo Walcott said
“they wanted it more, and its not good enough”
he lost his starting place for the rest of the season.
today after we lost away to Watford, Per Mertsacker said
“they wanted it more, and its not good enough”
a sad indictment of our players when lesser opponents can beat us, cos “they wanted it more”,
LikeLike
When we are bad, we are very very bad.
Not helped by another soft pen against us
LikeLike
wwwb, yes the story is in the detail, sadly the finer points were once again passed up by us, and the performance was oh so flat, our extra quality to coin a phrase, seen us be the better team and lead in the first half, despite a very flat performance, but what was a flat performance in first half, turned into a substandard performance in the second half. Awful decision for the penalty, but we also made several defensive mistakes in the build up to it. Iwobi and Ozil chances had to see one taken, but we are not clinical this season, in fact its a long time since we were, I have no idea why.
When you look at their winner, there is a double doubt, Deeney looked offside, but why in hells name did Per go with him, all the rest of defense were ten yards further forward, and then Deeney may have fouled per or cech, but where was Kolasinac, why was Xhaka just stood there watching Cleverly slam in the winner,
that goal once again showed our players “it will be alright, someone else will get it, or the ball will fall our way” attitude, far too many of these kind of performances against the lesser teams,
shotta wrote a fine article about how important it is to beat the lesser teams, sadly far too often it seems our players think they can get a win against these teams without bothering their arse, and then act surprised when it comes back to bite them in the arse.
our youth coaches like to tell our kids that “talent alone is not enough if you want to play for Arsenal”, the youths must be very confused when they watch the first team on days like today, when so many first team players seem to be relying on talent alone.
LikeLike
i think stats apart for those who like it, i think elneny though was poor today, played better than xhaka. granit to me is almost clueless when not playing beside ramsey. several times during the game he refused to accept passes from elneny. instead directing him to give the ball to other players. elneny never does that. and a very good midfield player always make themselves available for passes especially from defenders. if we had ramsey today, we would have won and everyone would have been pointing to the stats of xhaka.
LikeLike
wenger after game comments, from football.london – sorry but comments are in reverse order
Is the first game after an international break always difficult?
It is yes, but if you look at the game today, a bit more killer instinct in front of goal and we would have won the game. That’s where we are guilty.
After that the decision on the penalty we can’t have an impact on. Not everybody is at the same level physically for sure, I feel despite that we should have won the game.
Can you explain the final substitution – what happened?
I wanted to take Iwobi off but they told me that Koscielny had to come off because of his calf.
So when I wanted to bring Jack on, it was our last sub and Koscielny could not carry on so I had to change him and bring a centre-back on.
That’s what happened.
On Manchester City’s lead in the title race
It will be difficult of course I think at the moment we are not looking too much at City, we are looking at ourselves.
We have to bounce back from that disappointment today because we look like we can make results when we play our game, like we did in the first half. But we need to be at that level for 90 minutes.
On whether the FA panel should look at the penalty (if it was a dive)
I don’t want to interfere too much with the referee and the decisions. I just want the right decisions to be made in the game.
More on the penalty decision
I don’t see any preconceived idea. The decision is wrong, that’s it. It was a moment in the game absolutely important for Watford. No penalty, no goal.
Was the penalty the decisive moment in the game?
It’s not the only major fact of the game. We played very well in the first half, I’m not happy with the second half.
We missed many chances to win the game. After that at 1-1 there was no need to panic. The second goal we can only look at ourselves. We should have won the game, that is where we are guilty.
On Welbeck and Koscielny
Welbeck – Hamstring. I don’t really know because everyone is shocked – it looks muscular. Koscielny is a muscular problem.
On the penalty
It was no penalty. It was a creation from the referee and that’s it.
LikeLike
Well that topped off an absolutely shit week of football. Even my distractions are heartbreaking these days. 2017 blows.
Everyone blaming Ozil like no one else missed a single shot. It’s really an agenda now (not that it wasn’t before) and I believe they will succeed in driving him out. I honestly don’t think Ozil can deal with being hated and blamed the way Ramsey and Giroud can. I hope I’m wrong.
Oh, and Watford are cheaters and I hate Troy Deeny with a white hot passion. Arrogant bastard acts like he’s somebody. You play for Watford you c***t.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think blaming our players for that loss is a bit unfair. Up until that ridiculous penalty, Watford had nothing, we had them contained and our game plan was on point, but of course that changed once the pen went in and all momentum shifted their way. The missed chances were bad but part of the game, cheating isn’t and the one person put in place to stop it just rewards instead.
We were once again victims of poor officiating by the same official that cost us the Stoke game. Even if the Watford player gets banned for diving which he should, how does that then help us?
We have been robbed of 6 points in broad day light by the same ref. How can we sincerely compete for the title with such refs, and am almost certain this is not the last time we are coming face to face with this ****.
Now watch the entire media focus solely on Ozil’s missed chance and hide the shambolic ref and his role in our defeat.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah and after reading the comments, I think I’ll give this place a miss for a while as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
good post Jeri Moses (can’t use like function me, but that’s a like)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Except for that last one. Thumbs up to you Jeri.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Arsenal’s away record in the league in 2017 is sorry reading.
14 games
4 wins
2 draws
8 losses
19 goals scored
27 goals conceded
LikeLike
Sometimes I come on here and I wonder, I really do.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The post match will be up at 10.00 – in the interim reflect, breathe and try to get a few hours sleep.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And as you drop off, as you release that intense evening long psychic grip on the grief of Vicarage Road spare a faint thought, a whisp of consciousness, and mutter under your breath;
Thank Gawd I’m not a Chelsea fan
LikeLiked by 2 people
odd thing, we’ve had 4 away games in BPL this season, and Swabrick was Ref for two of them, and not only that, but he has erred big time on penalty calls in both games.
LikeLike
did I miss it, or has the FA actually banned anyone yet this season under the new dive rule, we are now 8 round of games in, there has been lots of dives, I can’t remember any ban handed out yet for a dive.
Will the watford lad be the first, I know it won’t get us the points back, but that is not the reason for the rule, its meant to deter players diving, so the sooner the better we see players who dive banned. I feel the same if its an AFC player.
LikeLike
If you spotted it wasn’t a penalty at first sight today eddy then you’re a better man than me gunga din
LikeLike
The disappointing decision at the Britannia I thought was the lino flagging Lacazettes excellent equalizer a millimetre offside – or am I mixing my experience of victimhood?
LikeLike
at stoke we had 3 much clearer penalty calls not given by this ref, and no anicol from my first viewing, on a poor stream it looked a penalty, but once I seen a clear replay it was a clear dive, and as you know the Ref is meant to be certain its penalty before they can give one, so once again I find it odd that 3 clear penalties we should have been given, this ref could not be certain on, but that today he was.
LikeLike
Prob is Anicoll, they’re very happy to give ‘maybe that was a penalty’ or ‘was that a penalty?’ against us, but reluctant to give the same or stronger for us, over at least a decade.
This in a sport where they have to know players are constantly looking to pull those stunts of running alongside someone, initiating contact, then falling, etc.
Think it was ten years once when they managed to decide ‘no’ over every single ‘was that a pen?’ against Utd at Old Trafford.
We and they could write down before the games began there whether they would say yes or no should the situation occur.
In Stoke game he may be referring to absolute certain pen on Bellerin first half, or the two in second half which, unlike today’s, were fouls (two players grabbing Welbeck as he was shooting; someone diving in and making contact on bellerin again in final moments)
LikeLike
on the offside call, well all I can say is that swabrick must have had a different linesman today for the watford winner, or else Deeney would have been called offside, surely, would he not.
LikeLike
yes Rich, its odd that so many refs are so uncertain when it comes to penalties for us, but so certain when its against us, its almost as if there are different standards being used.
Maybe its cos Arsenal are known for being one of those clubs that use the dark arts, dive and cheat at every turn. It seems at least that is the view of the PGMOL when it comes to AFC.
LikeLike
Think this ref was also present , and incorrect during the West Brom defeat last season, when , like Stoke and today, we didn’t play well, but didn’t get much help either. He seems to becoming the pgmol said ref of choice for our away games.
We were poor, as we can be during physical, and maybe mental injury hit autumn interlull, but a refereeing decision ultimately changed the game.
But, that aside, and there is always the chance of one offs, but our recent record against Watford is not really excusable, can do better, a lot better, as I am sure they will starting next game
LikeLike
I am not aware of any players retrospectively banned for diving this season, I hope this one is a first, but I suspect it won’t be applied too rigorously, after all, they might want to protect an England player or two rather partial to diving
LikeLike
their second goal wasnt offside but a foul on cech. the first was not a penalty but i doubt the player will be suspended because it wasnt a case of clear dive. the Person that should be suspended is the referee. but that also wont happen.
anyway we should have killed the game. we had one glorious chance and a few others.
i dont agree watford wanted it more. we just had wrong combination in the middle. i hope this is the last time i see that pairing against pl teams. xhaka and elneny are too similer. i’m not saying this because we lost. actually we could have won. if wenger doesnt trust jack, he should get rid of him. we need a replacement for ramsey.
LikeLike
Arsenal are the only team players are confident of being openly crirtical of ,this the second time Deeney has called the team bottlers or lacking balls. I don’t hear this about any other team. He is not the first,it’s bad enough that retired players but current players have been enboldend.
LikeLike
In truth I am suprised when a penalty is not given against Arsenal no matter what type of contact there has been.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Err Rich as recently as the West Brom game we, if you recall it was Mustafi, got away with a stone penalty when he swept Rodriguez’ s legs away – did the referee not see it, see it and as the striker got up allow the game to go on or just decide there was no penalty ?
As Arsene said “I’ve see em given David”
LikeLike
I’m with you Anicoll, that with the aid of technology, cameras can show different angles of ‘incidents’ and even then there can be an element doubt about what happened.
The penalty against Bellerin in real time looked correct. Seeing it from a different angle later I was outraged that it showed the ref got it wrong – blah, blah.
I think you said some time ago something that seemed to originate fromThe Times. If that is so, you will know that there is piece of software, (Video), used by the PGMO that is used to train/test linesmen and made available for readers.
I tried it at various levels of difficulty and out of the 15 tests I managed to pass 13, but as these decisions are time sensitive I will have to admit I was ‘guessing’ whether the clip shown was ‘offside’ or not.
They show the same clip slowed down, with guide lines, to demonstrate whether the reader was right or not. Hence the score in my case was 13/15.
I suspect if more bloggers had a go on this software they may realise how difficult it is to arrive at the right decision – and that is sitting on my own, in the quiet of my room – not in front of many thousands of angry fans.
Anyway, taking a step back from the penalty decision, it cannot be argued that Belli made a right cock up being involved in giving the ball back to the Watford player, after initially winning it back from him, and having to chase him into the penalty area and we now what happened then.
just saying.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jeri Moses
I agree it was a ‘ridiculous penalty’ and ‘Watford had nothing’ , but we have all watched games with Arsenal where the ref is looking to allow the other team back in it.
If we know that, other teams know it Arsenal players must know it also.
The team needs to execute in the big moments , it did not in this game.
The team has to take that chance out of the ref’s hands.
Until the team does that under this management ,the team will not win the Premier League.
LikeLiked by 1 person
New post up
LikeLike
anicoll, my impression, built over last decade of Riley time, is that refs find it easy to give pens against us, difficult to give them for us.
That doesn’t mean we’ll never get pens or never get away with one. What it does mean is that even though we have many more good claims for us than the opposition, as every attacking high quality team everywhere does over long periods of time, we regularly end up with a minus score for pens over a season.
Won’t dig for the stats again but out main rivals are 20 or 30 better off for pens in riley time than us, while we have stats similar to Stoke or Sunderland.
I’ve absorbed all that and know how vulnerable we are now to a Vardy, Dembele, Richarlison, little bournemouth shit running fast at our players in the box, searching for contact and falling over.
Thought it had happened again in cup final so it was like a glorious miracle/ reprieve for me when ref did right thing then.
There’s probably a few more I’ve missed from last couple of seasons. Meanwhile, I suppose we are conditioned, by manager and referees, not to even try those, but if we did a booking is far more likely than a pen.
LikeLike