Another away game - this time at a relegation candidate. It might be tricky.
One thing is for sure. The defence needs to get back to the basics and cut out the silly mistakes - if they can do this we should be just fine.
Watford play an expansive game for a relegation battler and they could be a bit aggressive too. But they dont score much and hopefully they dont start with us.
I see us naming an unchanged side for this fixture;
Lehmmann
Hoyte - Toure - Djorou - Clichy
Hleb - Gilberto - Cesc - Rosicky
RvP - Adebayor
With subs: Almunia, Senderos, Flamini, Baptista, Walcott.
This seems like enough ammo to get ALL three points - as long as we can cut the defensive lapses.
Anyways, hoping for a nice boxing day victory with three points wrapped up in a nice fancy box!
Go Gunners!!!
Seasons greetings to you all!
26 Responses to “Watford”
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December 26th, 2006 at 12:45 am
Except for Bolton, our defeats have all come at relegation candidates - Man City, West Ham and Fulham. There is no way we can take this game lightly. Watford’s goal scoring record (or the lack of it) suggests that if we keep a clean sheet, we should win. Don’t want a repeat of the 0-1 losses at Man City and Fulham. Any kind of win will do for me.
December 26th, 2006 at 1:48 am
In the description to tomorrow’s result, I hope that the term “the score was way too many to not enough” is used. Let’s get another rout that we can take over to Saturday and then into the New Year!
December 26th, 2006 at 8:54 am
I would imagine AND HOPE we start today, with SQUAD ROTATION needed for the many games in the short period of time mode.
Baptista should play today… as should… nah… I won’t even say it!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I’m looking for 3 points. Don’t care how.
I’ll go with… One-Nil to the Arsenal.
December 26th, 2006 at 10:27 am
A good start to Boxing Day… with Reading giving everyone a reason for Joy…
ASSLEY COLE banking one into his own net off Michael Essien… and Reading hold on to draw 2-2 with Chelski!
Now we have United rotating their squad, Ronaldo and Saha start on their bench in their home match v. Wigan… would LOVE to see them drop points as well, but don’t hold your breath.
We just gotta WIN, and let everyone else worry about themselves.
Carry on.
December 26th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Thankfully, Arsenal won. However, not one player covered himself with glory today. Wenger was clearly sending a message to Djourou when he pulled him at the half. Also, the play of Hoyte, Hleb and Rosicky was astonishingly poor. Arsenal did not look like a Champions League team with alot of poor passes, lapses of concentration on defense and offense, and several shots that should have been goals but were misdirected. However, a win is a win is a win. So let’s hope we play better at Sheffield United.
December 26th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Hard fought 2-1 win for the boys. Not the prettiest of games but that is what u expect against Watford. Tough to play passing football when the ball was in the air most of the time. For those Sendoros doubters, well I thot he handled the physical aspects of the game very well and strengthen the defence when he came on for Djourou. He may not be as fast as Djourou but is more suitable for such rough and tumble game. Toure looked uncomfortable for parts of the game - must be the pressure of handling too many high balls. Adebayor was kept somewhat quiet by the muscular Shittu in the first half but had more space in the second half when he played deeper. If not for the brilliance of Foster, our boys could have won this game by at least 3 goals. Foster shud be a transfer target this summer if Watford goes down and Lehmann decides to move on. Hoyte needs to build up his confidence and bring the ball up like Clichy and Eboue. He is too static when he receives the ball and does not try to make space for himself to setup others. Helb did not have a good game while Rosicky did well with a shot at goal. Despite coming on with 10 mins left, Baptista almost scored a goal and held up well against the physical challenges from Watford. Walcott didn’t do much but enough to setup RvP for the winning goal with a great pass out of defence. Another trademark goal from RvP making him the current top scorer for Arsenal.
Next up away to Sheffield United and hopefully another 3 points against another relegation candidate.
December 26th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
happy with the win…..only 3 points matters really. great winner by RvP - but that defender must have been idiotic not to know he would move it to his left foot…lol.
our defense was so shaky AGAIN….luckily we got away with it.
December 26th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Doesn’t Foster belong to ManU? It’s hard to believe that ManU will let him go at all, much less to Arsenal.
December 26th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
U are right. I forgot about that.
December 26th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
defence still shambles, same problem again individually all good (except tourre who continues to have a terrible streak!). though a bit better in second half with addition of sendy…who made a “robust” comeback.
i wonder vot message AW is tryin to get across to djorou??
great assist frm walcott but lil else
excellent goal frm vanP but everyman and his dog knew vot he was gonna do, tht defender definitely never saw any tapes of vanP!
baptista looked good while he was thr
poor ade looked dead beat…doubt we’ll see him start the next game
December 26th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Yes… we all LOVE the Arsenal style and flair.
We love to watch it. The casual fan loves to watch us play the beautiful game…
but…
THERE ARE NO ADDITIONAL POINTS FOR STYLE.
There are NO STYLE POINTS at all.
Yes, we didn’t play well or pretty today, but we got 3 points on the road.
THRILLED with that.
December 26th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
I think you’ll find Djourou wasn’t pulled by Wenger, he pulled a hamstring.
December 26th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Abysmal, but at least we won. I just wish someone had told me we would play this bad so I didn’t have to watch it. That pile of shite performance has to be in the top three of the all-time worst performances under Wenger’s reign.
I wouldn’t even say Watford played well, they were crap too, how else could they lose to such a dire Arsenal team?
Watching that shambolic defending was more akin to going to the circus than a football match - a bunch of clowns. Hoyte, Toure, Djourou, Clichy, all pathetically inept. Hleb was abysmal, Rosicky dirge - the whole team gave the ball away with every other touch. Hoyte is the worst player I have EVER seen pull on an Arsenal shirt, completely out of his depth in the Premiership. I would swap any Watford defender for him.
If we play anything resembling that against Sheff Utd on Saturday, we’ll lose - that’s guaranteed.
Still, at least Van Persie threw us a gem stone - for that I am grateful.
December 26th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
still slinging all that positivity Danny.
WE WON.
Thats all that really matters.
December 26th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
I agree that the three points is what ultimately matters but, make no mistake, this was a poorly played game by Arsenal and would have resulted in defeat against virtually any other club in the Premiership. Arsenal’s defense is frightening at the moment.
December 26th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
This is pretty much how I saw the game as well. Toure has been a tad shaky the past two games in fact (the PK give-away to Blackburn). Someone suggested that its because he’s having to cover for the mistakes of others. I would like to believe that is the reason and not a drop in form. Our defense still sacres me.
Senderos did very well today. Djourou had a poor game today and was replaced by Senderos. The public line is hamstring injury but let’s see if he’s actually out for 3 weeks ala Ljungberg (a genuine injury). I believe Wenger uses ‘creative license’ with injury stories to avoid flaying poorly performing players in public. According to ANR, Henry’s been “benched” twice this year but all we’ve ever heard was that he was “injured”. We do know that he’s been playing like shite. You have to read between the lines with Wenger sometimes.
For 82 min, Watford played well enough to deserve a draw. My MOTM: Gilberto not only scored a goal but prevented a sure Ashley Young goal after a Djourou mistake in the opening 20 minutes.
Overall, Arsenal were not as crisp as they were with Blackburn. I credit Watford for that. But hey, two down and two to go. At least we are not Charlton’s first game under Pardew (Manchester United are you reading this). I’m sure Pardew won’t be doing any ‘up yours’ celebrations if Charlton do manage a goal. Will there be a handshake?
December 26th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Oh well.
We’ve played our fair share of VERY GOOD games, only to draw because we couldn’t finish or the keeper stood on his head against us.
So… it all evens out in the course of a season for the most part.
December 26th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
We ‘deserved’ to win this game and isn’t it ironic that our Dutch CF scored the winner. Mourinho stated that his team didn’t “deserve” to win at Wigan following a similar winning strike from their Dutch winger. My point being that this is the type win Arsenal needs to have if we are going anywhere. This is the type of game we were either drawing or losing a few weeks ago. To get this win two days after a physical Blackburn game is a great accomplishment. I do credit Watford’s play for making this more difficult than it normally should have been. Our players were clearly tired. They did not take people on when they had one on one opportunities. Our counter attack was awol when we won the ball back/if we won the ball back off of CKs. Our defense scares Arsenal supporters more than the opposition.
Eboue either has an ‘ankle injury’ or he’s being benched to reorganize the attitude he’s shown of late. So Hoyte is what we get. You can have Jay DeMerritt on ‘your’ Arsenal team but he was the defender beaten by Henry for a goal in the 3-0 home win and he was the defender who was beaten like a rented mule by RVP today.
December 26th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
As usual you’re missing the point. The point is that this is a season of transition and I for one am disappointed that the team should have taken as massive a step backwards as this.
I felt things were going reasonably well up to and including the Blackburn game, a few really poor games - but that was to be expected with such a young team. I didn’t, and don’t, expect Arsenal to win sod all this year - unlike some - but I do want to see some sort of progress. Today’s performance was not progress, it was horrific.
For me it’s not really about the points, it’s the bigger picture - is this team, Wenger’s third generation, ever going to become a title winner? I don’t care about dirge such as Senderos, Hoyte, etc. - they’ll be gone in 2 years or nowhere near the first team, for me it’s about Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Clichy - these are the future, and today they didn’t deserve to play for Arsenal. It’s like they don’t care or can’t be arsed. They didn’t play as if they cared about their future, winning titles, building something - they played like they’d just got out of bed after a night on the beers.
It’s only one game though, although the Wigan match a few weeks ago wasn’t much better - but the Sheff Utd match will be very interesting after this debacle.
December 26th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
OFF TOPIC:
Apparently Adebayor has a thigh injury and may not play against Sheffield.
Is this the time of ‘the beast’. Saturday’s formation and lineup will be most interesting.
If Djourou really has a hamstring injury then Senderos needs to continue to play as well as he did in the second half today. Will Wenger have a reserve CB on the bench for Saturday? Too bad Connolly has been loaned out.
December 26th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
The reality is we need points by hook or by crook. The big picture is its about the MONEY. CL=revenue. A top 4 position ensures the continue presence of those extra 20,000 fans=ticket revenues. A top 4 position signifies a strong brand name in the soccer world market (ie. “we are a big club”)=revenue from the marketing of that brand. Revenue=stadium debt repayment and a transfer budget.
December 26th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Senderos played well? What game were you watching? He was a clown. If he wasn’t wrestling people to the ground in the penalty box (as usual) he was smashing the ball 60 feet into the air like an oaf. The bloke’s clueless and will never make it at Arsenal. He hasn’t even the confidence to make a 5 yard forward pass, he has to go left or right. Still, he was better than Hoyte at least - I wouldn’t pick him for my Sunday 5-A side team.
December 26th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
For this weekend’s game against Sheffield Utd, I like to see players like Adebayor and Toure rested for one game. And start Eboue if he is fit. Here is my lineup:
Lehmann
Eboue Sendoros Djourou Clichy
Helb Gilberto Rosicky Flamini
RvP Baptista
For the second half if things are going well, bring on
- Lauren for Eboue
- Walcott for Helb or Rosicky
- Ali for RvP
Have Cesc on the bench just in case.
December 27th, 2006 at 12:55 am
It was one of the funniest own goals I have ever seen. And nothing to do with the fact that a certain ex-Arsenal player was involved.
December 27th, 2006 at 1:02 am
RvP just can’t shoot with his right foot. Any defender should know that.
How soon before everyone figures it out?
December 27th, 2006 at 1:25 am
Whoa, DannyT. That’s a bit strong saying any Watford defender for Hoyte. I agree he’s poor but some of those Watford clowns are stright garbage.
Hleb seemed to have zero intrest in playing today. It was almost as if he were hoping or waiting to be subbed out. Wenger waited too long to bring on Walcott but we still got the three points. That’s because Watford don’t deserve to be in this league. Anyone else and we may have lost today.