Friday, October 4, 2024

Ozil & Ceballos start: Watford v Arsenal team enws

Arsenal take on training ground neighbours Watford in our first game back after an interminably dull Interlull.

Following yesterday’s wins by Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Sp*rs, three points is a must. Here’s the team that Unai Emery has selected.

Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac, Ceballos, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ozil, Aubameyang, Pepe

Subs: Martinez, Chambers, Torreira, Willock, Nelson, Saka, Martinelli

Watford: Foster, Holebas, Dawson, Kabasele, Femenia, Capoue, Doucoure, Deulofeu, Cleverley, Hughes, Gray

Subs: Gomes, Janmaat, Mariappa, Chalobah, Sarr, Foulquier, Pereyra

Follow the game on the Arseblog live blog

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Glory Hunter

4-3-2-1
It seems

Man

Good luck fullbacks, you’re on your own

Lettra

Underrated comment.

That’s said.
I’m all for an attacking line up.

Berlingoon

Rather think it’s a 4-3-2-1 with either Özil or Ceballos on the left and the other one as number 10.

Berlingoon

4-2-3-1 i meant -.-

Nketibag

I’m so, so sick of this Xhaka Guendouzi midfield. With those two and a similar CB pairing, there is just no where near enough variety in the core of the team.

kaius

Sadly, it looks like Xhaka will get more games until Torreira is fit enough to play 90mins on a regular basis.

It’s a bit unfair because Lucas tires his body out with all the running chasing and blocking. But Xhaka, who plays the game at strolling pace, is always fit

coyg

Ozil on the left? or Ceballos?

bob

Finally we see them in the same team together, with Auba and Pepe too!

I imagine there will be some fluidity in the formation regarding these two, and see Ozil and Ceballos switching frequently, however they start, as Ozil finds space.

If Watford sit back and defend we could pick them apart with these two magicians 🙂

Ashish Mann

3 at the back ? Xhaka in defence?

Maniac

I think it’s a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond again, with Xhaka as the sitting midfielder.

BergkamptoWright

4 at the back with Xhaka assisting Watford

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

No surprise that’s the zip code of Davella, Kentucky

CHIBS

Kindly explain this joke

Man Manny

Three points and nothing more.
Let’s go guys.
An Ozil masterclass with two assists…he has a point to prove.

Billy Bob

Disappointed not to see chambers, torreira or nelson in the starting line-up ☹️

shaka

that sub bench is so carling cup …its like a step back in time.

Martin

An excellent bench with experience and some exciting youngsters

Ilari

Auba, Pepe, Ceballos, Özil – I like this, good enws.

Anonymarse

Yes interesting combination. Bit of a surprise.

Big Mad Andy

I’m glad someone got a reference in. It is good enws.

Ordnance Dave

Cabellos left wing? Ozil central attacker? Diamond? None of the above?

myrtle

Ozil in goal

Badaab

No Deeney… where will Watford find their cojones?

Jack4343

That is an interesting lineup. COYG!

Hurensohn

Ozil or Cabelos on the left wing? … or 2 up top. Could even be a diamond again.

Hurensohn

Ceballos* ffs

myrtle

Awkward..

kaius

Ceballos? How disappointing.

We should’ve signed Cerberus, the multi-headed guard dog of Hell

Amusa

Where is Welbeck?

Anonymarse

He left. Pay attention.

Adrian

He meant for Watford

Anonymarse

lol yes i know

Shmokin'em

@anon hahaha heed

Abhi

If ozil is of any quality tonight, that lineup is coursing with danger to the opposition. Especially with auba up front. and pepe with his running, and ozil and dani with their interplay and passing, wreaking havoc behind him.

Kentmonkey

No Welbz for them

Neil

Why is Torreira on the bench?

Red-Sky

only 11 players are allowed.

Paul Roberts

The benches at Vicarage Road are shorter than the standard length so…

Torrterrier

I really want to keep supporting Emery but I am finding it increasingly hard with his disappointing team selections. Depending on the formation Nelson deserves his chance ahead of Ozil, and either Willock or Torreira should be starting ahead of Xhaka. I don’t understand why Ozil deserves his place, and after the first few games Xhaka certainly does not deserve his. Having said that, this team should be good enough to beat Watford, but I think everybody wants to see young and exciting players, and there would be no reason to think with willock, Nelson and/or Torreira in the team… Read more »

Ballz

Ozil is a very important player for us. He creates by far the most chances on the team. He needs minutes in order to form partnerships with our other attackers.

Nelson will get his chances. He’s still very young and we have plenty of games to play this season.
I would have also liked to see Willock start, but he’s in a similar situation as Nelson.

Rich

There’s no easy wins, particularly away from home. I’m no Ozil fan, but going for experience after 1/6 available points, seems sensible. Everyone is always quick to pick apart selections, but none of us know if Torreira for example is carrying a knock? When Laca has been benched and subbed this season there’s been people kicking off, but it turns out his ankle is playing up after the knock he got against Barca. I like our young players, but expecting consistency from Willock, Nelson, Saka, Martinelli is unrealistic, they’ve got next to no top level experience between them. Letting go… Read more »

shaka

Should have played Nelson instead of Doozi….and a Xhaka – Ceballos pivot …

The problem is that Doozi cant play on the wing, cant play as DM and cant play as AM …so its a bit tough to fit him in the side and create a functioning formation…. he is usually given the role of a floating midfielder ..with xhaka or torreira covering for his defensive errors, as well as to progress play. However, since our primary purpose as a club is to Develop Doozi … this cant be helped.

Ballz

I still can’t for the life of me understanding why Emery insists on using Xhaka as the holding midfielder! Even when he plays him alongside Torreira, he plays Xhaka as the DM.

None of Xhaka’s strengths fit the DM position. Just move him a bit further up the pitch. He can get dispossessed and the team can recover, he can make a bad tackle and it won’t result into a penalty or dangerous free kick.

His little mistakes are amplified in the DM role because they happen closer to the goal.

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

It’s pretty simple really. He’s the only CM we have over 23 and 6 foot tall.

Jargo89

Guendouzi???

myrtle

Fun fact. Guen is 1.8m, or 5ft 11. Whereas Xhaka is 1.85m, or 6ft 1

shaka

geeee….. havent you watched the last season….Doozi is a defensive liability…even in the spurs game, when he was pushed up, then only did he look like making any impact. He is shit defensively…as is Torreira due to his height. The only DM material we actually have is Chambers and AMN

Ballz

Then play him as a CM and not a DM. I’m not saying he shouldn’t play, just that the position he’s played in and the responsibilities he’s given make it seem like he’s a worse player than he actually is.

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

I completely agree ballz

laudgunner

Ozil make me proud today!! COYG

GoonerTex

Ozil starts away from home

lessthanthesumoftheirparts

Don’t worry, it’s the nearest away game of the season! He’ll be back in bed by 8.

Paul Roberts

I think his house is closer to Watford than the Emirates so…

Fergal

Delighted! Finally going for it hard away from home ?

Wagaba Isaac

Gunners ooooooye

Wagaba Isaac

0-7

Emyrates

Think it’s more a diamond like formation with ozil floating into a 3 at top effectively making it 433. I base this knowledge on having played fifa since fifa 10.before that I played pes and arsenal were called London Is Red.

Hustle6

Come on ozil. Be amazing.

Thierry Bergkamp

Considering who is available, I’m happy with that barring Xhaka, who I’d have preferred to seeTorreira in for

Dom47

Effing diamond. Effing xhaka. Emery sure knows how to suck all life out of supporting arsenal, already. If we lose today, he must be under fire.

BigArse

I’m going with 6-3 Victory for The Arsenal here. Holy shit, this could be wild. COYG!

shaka

ozil as false 9….what a time to be alive.

Lesster

Men our fullbacks are so bad…..

Paul Roberts

Hector will have a battle on his hands – AMN is way ahead of him in all but defending and he’s getting better at that.

NMArsenal

Yet they r the one who provided the assists. They are not perfect but they doing decent.

Paul Roberts

He’s being sarcastic mate

Flavoured Rice

My God, do we look drab and hopeless against this very poor Watford team. Thank goodness Wenger signed Auba or I shudder to think what horrors would await us under Emery and his bland, directionless football.

Honestly, I hope I’m not the only but can’t anybody see we are actually regressing and not progressing under Emery. Have our expectations and standards dropped so low that this tasteless, limp football is now acceptable for AFC?

Cacho

Haha, Cholevas? More like hole-ass. I hope Pepe nutmegs him into oblivion.

KingKolo

As I’ve said before I’ve got a sneaky suspicion Emery is just scared of playing kids. I know he’s picked Guendouzi but why has Willock been dropped? What exactly has he done wrong?

Flavoured Rice

I rest my case. That goal we just conceded sums up perfectly our BRAINDEAD brand of football under Unai Emery. When are the fans gonna say enough is enough ?

We’re an embarrassment

Ballz

Emery is a hack!! He’s completely useless as a manager and I’d say his instructions to the team are responsible for many of our losses!!
Absolutely clueless!!

mrugunner

spot on word! BRAINDEAD!

Kartik Iyer

It’s unbelievable, the level of stupidity this team operates at. Lost for words…so fucking angry with this performance today. Just disgusting!!!

Public Elneny

Not ready to be fully Emery out yet, but I do hope Raul is sounding out Allegri

Bob

If our board are not looking for potential new coaches now, with Emery in the end of his 2 year deal, and with basically nothing to show for it, then they would be negligent in their responsibilities. They have shown him faith in the transfer window and he is coaching like he hasn’t a clue, and that’s definitely translating to the players.

James

Emery out. Absolute joke of a manager.

Billy Bob

Let’s be honest here Luiz is not a good defender and chambers should be on ahead of him!!!

Make Arsenal Great Again

In November last year, I said on this very platform that Emery is not the right guy for this job. Everyone called me crazy.

The passing from the back nonsense is daftest strategy I’ve seen in a long time. It makes absolutely no sense and he keeps doing it.

Well, I rest my case.

FanniboyWelbz

Thats last year bro if we were playing well you wouldnt be saying this

FanniboyWelbz

Im just saying that a lot couldve happened in a year

Leon

Emery has got to go.
Pepe has been a shit signing for the money and Luiz has been a fucking disaster – the man is either a fucking retard or is being paid by Chelsea to fuck the season up.
Emery just fuck off….

Tribe

Yes, an ambitious team should sack it’s manager even before the press conference after a debacle like this. A team with high aspirations to be dominated and pressed from the bottom table team is absolutely unacceptable.

Bob

Whilst I agree with the sentiment on Emery, I think you’re being a bit harsh on the signings. Luiz and Pepe have just come in a few games ago, and people expect them to fix everything. Emery has had a year to at least do *something* but instead we have nothing to show for his time here. At least Luiz had a decent game, the pen aside, that is to say the issues he is having is to do with absolutely zero coaching of our defensive block. And Pepe will adjust, just give him time. The team should be able… Read more »

Leon

2-0 up
Then the idiot defence hands the incentive back to a deflated opposition
This is the worst Arsenal team in decades – the team of morrow, selley, merson and jensen was better than this sack of shit.
Pepe is simply Gervinho Mk 2
And Luiz is a fucking idiot.

FanniboyWelbz

No bro. Give pepe time. He had no real service. Its the game plan the manager put out and our defensive errors that cost us the game

Leon

Sorry but no.
Pepe was decent in a mickey mouse one team league but here he is average at best hence why no one except us and Napoli were after him
I don’t blame him.
I blame the idiot who paid 50 million too much for him…

FanniboyWelbz

I understand the frustration but it just seems its going to take him a little longer to settle. When Henry signed it took him some time. I say have some patience in Pepe. The good and the goals will come. Weve already seen flashes of brilliance from hin

Buteo

Bench the two morons and give Chambers and Holding a go. Can’t do worse…
Oh and quit the idiotic playing out from the back nonsens!

Monkey Joe

#EmeryOut

PEA14

Emery ask the defence to played out from the back, not play it to opponents. So it’s the defense fault rather than the manager.

mrugunner

it comes to a point where it’s not individual defensive mistakes. it is the approach that we take. and everyone sees that we cant play from the back. emery has to take the blame.

mrugunner

and people thought lampard was stupid to let luiz go.

Wilsheres Middle Finger

Ohboy do we need Holding to come back good.

mrugunner

as i said before, holding back wont make a difference. emery/his defensive coach doesnt have a clue how to defend.

laudgunner

We have no style of football. Emery has better players than Wenger yet!!!!. Seriously Emery out!!

ballz

Emery has had a better squad in his 2 seasons at arsenal than Wenger had in the last 6-7 years of his tenure

PEA14

We have a Bermuda triangle in Xhaka, luiz and Papas that will make wins disappear

Tribe

First it was Mustafi, partly Xhaka, now Luiz and Papa. Who is next in line? And how much time until the line stops and see that we haven’t brought in a decent manager? A manager that can ignite a team spirit, not a manager that will spend hours and days watching video tapes.

PEA14

Is giving away the penalty the managers fault?
Then why is abu goal not the manager’s credit then?
Give credit when it’s due and not push every downfall to the manager. His defense player let him down today, in particular Papas and Luiz

Tribe

PEA14 as i said above (guess you haven’t read, but nevermind) a club of this stature and with high ambitions cannot act like this. Errors sometimes are normal and happen. But this kind of dominance by bottom table team is unacceptable. If you say, for example, City lost to Norwich yesterday, then I’ll counter like this> see the stats of the game> and then ask yourself how many slip ups teams like them have during a season.

PEA14

Let’s just be plain honest, which world class manager can we actually attract and who wishes to join us with a limited budget and non-CL. Apart from Arteta named, there’s basically no other managers keen to join us during that period

And if we have not given both goals today and win the match, who’s gonna talk about the stats or dominance. Stats (aka 75% ball possession) doesn’t means much nowadays. But points do. And we dropped 2 points today

Tribe

Why this course man? Why it has to be a world class manager? Was Pochettino world class when he joined Spurs? How many of us have heard of him before? And he is not the only one. How about Simeone (as an example, not as a potential Arsenal manager)? Was he this good before Athletico? How about Eddie Howe? Should I go on? I think not. We need a manager that knows clearly what he wants to achieve. We need a manager that can inject a fighting spirit. A spirit to raise the players when they are losing. Wenger had… Read more »

Jeremy

Can someone sack Dracula please. He is utterly useless

Leon

Emery is a fucking spanner with sideshow bob playing in our defence.
Arsenal are a joke….
Ruined my evening

SB Still

Our attack especially Auba puts us in a comfortable position, our defence particularly Sokratis and Luiz cost us 2 points!

ballz

at some point, you have to stop blaming individuals and realize that it’s the whole fucking gameplan and coaching that needs to change. The entire second half, we were shit! The whole team! Watford had more than 20 shots and we only had 4. Emery has been unconvincing his entire tenure at Arsenal. He hasn’t improved us in any way!

mrugunner

at some point, you have to stop blaming individuals and realize that it’s the whole fucking gameplan

Totally!

Magic City Gooner

This team currently has two creative influencers and removing both of them was a crippling decision. I understand Guendouzi was on a yellow, but the second sub looked like UE deciding, “eh, let’s just try to hold on for dear life at 2-1 with 25 minutes left and the home team soaring with momentum. What can go wrong?” From that point, there was no remedy to counter any further mishaps. There was no one to organize the transition to attack and we had to rely on a phenomenal save from Leno just to get a damn draw. It’s hard to… Read more »

Leon

6th place looms already in September.
I don’t mind as long as Emery is gone.
His signings thus far have been rubbish.
Pepe may have been great playing in the french league but to me he looks like a do nkey.
And Luiz and Sokratis.
I would never willingly wish to see players get seriously injured but if either of these two were to suffer a season ending injury I would imagine our fortunes would change for the better I would not be that upset….

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