Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Report: Watford 2-2 Arsenal (inc. goals)

Result: Watford 2-2 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: 15 September 2019
Venue: Vicarage Road

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

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


 

Arsenal squandered a two-goal half time advantage as errors by Sokratis and David Luiz allowed a dominant Watford to grab their first home point of the season in a 2-2 draw.

We appeared to be cruising when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice with our first two efforts on target, however, we pressed the self-destruct button with gusto after the break.

We gifted the Hornets a goal from our own goal-kick, Tom Cleverley scoring after a Sokratis pass was intercepted, before Roberto Pereyra, upended by Luiz with nine minutes remaining, tucked home a penalty.

The home side really should have secured all three points but despite 31 efforts on goal, they couldn’t snatch a win on Quique Sanches Flores’ first game back in charge.

First half

In the absence of the injured Alex Lacazette, Unai Emery opted to select Mesut Ozil for the first time this season. The German sat at the head of a midfield diamond that also included Dani Ceballos playing off the right. Lucas Torreira had to settle for a place on the bench. 

We were utter garbage in the opening 15 minutes. There’s no other way of describing it. Time and again our passes went awry, we dawdled on the ball and we seemed to conscientious object to the idea of making tackles. 

The home side couldn’t believe their luck. Forward they came. Deulofeu set the tone with a curler inside five minutes, Cleverly forced an acrobatic save from Leno five minutes later and Holebas skied over when the goal was gaping. Before the 15 minute mark, the Hornets had mustered five efforts on goal. In contrast, we’d barely been in their half. 

Thankfully, we have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He’s ruthless. In the space of 11 minutes, he swung the game in our favour. Two efforts. Two goals. His fourth and fifth of the season. 

On 21 minutes, Ceballos snapped into a challenge on Hughes on the halfway line, Kolasinac picked up the loose ball, charged towards the box, flicked a pass to Auba who swivelled and fired past Foster at the near post. (1-0). The home crowd were incensed that a foul wasn’t given against Ceballos but despite a VAR check, the goal stood. 

We doubled our lead with a lovely 20-pass move. Ozil brought things to a head with a beauty of a threaded pass that freed Maitland-Niles behind Holebas. The right-back looked up and slid a ball to Auba who tapped into an empty net. (2-0)

The goals took the steam out of Watford but we still caused ourselves a few problems.

First, Guendouzi had a brain fart on the edge of our box that resulted in two efforts from the Hornets. Not long after, Maitland-Niles gave away the ball allowing Deulofeu to go at Luiz – the Brazilian resisted the temptation to have a nibble – and Kolasinac gave away a stupid free-kick going to ground unnecessarily. 

The half closed with a few handbags as Pepe wound up Holebas who ended up getting a shove from Guendouzi. A few other players piled in. Yellows went to the Frenchman and Greek.

Second half

Having been man of the match against Sp*rs, it’s fair to say that Guendouzi did not have his best match here. A suicidal pass across our box – not dissimilar to that played by Ceballos at Anfield – raised pulses. Again Watford failed to capitalise. 

On 54 minutes we finally made it too easy for them to miss. Leno played a three-yard goal kick to Sokratis who tried to find Guendouzi on the edge of the box. His pass was intercepted by Deulofeu, fell to Cleverley and the ex-Manchester United man fired past Leno. It was idiotic. The type of mistake that costs you points. And it did. (2-1)

Sensing blood, Watford went for it. Deulofeu flashed wide. Femenia thrashed over. In response, and much to the annoyance of the travelling Gooners, Emery replaced Ceballos with Joe Willock. The pressure kept mounting. Sarr turned in the box and dragged just past Leno’s post. Substitute Pereyra came similarly close with a backheel. Deulofeu cut in and again had Leno scrabbling.

By the 70-minute mark, we’d not added to our shots on target; just the two that hit the back of the net. Pepe and Auba looked very isolated. Emery switched things up taking off Guendouzi and Ozil and putting on Torreira and Nelson. The latter’s first touch was a low shot that Foster got down to save. Further positivity was provided by a Torreira effort. But that was as good as it got. 

Once again, abject defending proved our undoing. With 10 minutes left Luiz, struggling to cope with Pereyra dribbling at him, stuck out a foot and tripped the Argentine on the edge of the box. Referee Anthony Taylor had no qualms about pointing to the spot; the third conceded in three games, the 10th since the start of last season. Pereyra dusted himself down and tucked home the penalty. (2-2)

Only one team looked like winning the game. And it wasn’t the team in the attractive red shirts. Deulofeu, Cleverley, Janmaat all had chances before Doucoure, deep into stoppage time, had the best of the lot. His shot was low and true but Leno got down to protect the point. The final whistle came as a relief. 

We may have scored two goals but that shouldn’t hide the fact that this was one of the worst performances of Emery’s time in charge. We were awful. Individual mistakes once again cost us the points, but you have to look at the manager and ask, what type of football is this team supposed to be playing. The players don’t seem to have a clue.

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Jijo

No idea what Emery was thinking when he took Ceballos off the field..
And godd… I wish Giroud was still around so that Leno could just kick the ball into the skies and be relieved.! We are making people laugh at us bytrying to play out from the back with the wrong players!

I seriously don’t understand Emery’s game..

Ordnance Dave

EmeryOut. No improvement.

Pooner

Got to say, I think we’re worse…

Pau

It’s all Ozil’s fault. Apparently.

thanasis

It’s all Ozil’s and Xhaka’s fault. Apparently.

Gunnermite

No pls! More like Arsene’s fault I suppose. Arsene don’t do tactics I keep on hearing, well we got ourselves a master tactician.

Dog Poo

What an amazing match…. Amazingly horrendous that is. A bunch of clowns, that’s what they are. The shot count was something like Watford 30 Arsenal 8? Playing like we are a bottom of the table team. That stat there is really alarming. I wonder what is going through Auba’s mind. Poor guy.

Listen fans

I had a feeling from the moment he signed. Emery is not good enough for Arsenal football club. He doesnt look like.he will finish top 4 never mind winning trophies. He.is not Klopp. he is no.where near his level. I would prefer Mikel Arteta in charge.

Kent Gooner

100% On Mikel Arteta. I never wanted Dick Emery in charge of us in the first place

Lanre

Protagonists my arse

Begeegs

I think that the term Propagandistas would be more appropriate.

Bob

The players don’t understand it either. They looked clueless of where they were meant to be or what they should be doing. Can’t help but notice that this is probably due to Emery constantly fucking fiddling with everything, rather than setting up to maximise our strengths and play to them with some actual conviction. The only sort of impression that Emery has managed to instill on this team, in over a year, is that you should for some reason dick around with the ball near your own goal, despite opponent pressure. To what end, I will never know. It’s fine… Read more »

Mayor McCheese

Too right. I have to admit, watching us play that same song and dance routine in front of goal with our hapless players all standing around looking at each other…I was laughing and crying at the same time.

G-Man

The only thing I can think of is that Emery is waiting for his three 1st choice defenders to come back before solidifying the defensive system. I think this because when we went over 20 games unbeaten, he didnt tinker with the starting formation and squad. However, good management means working with what you have. In over 50 games he has proven that he cannot adapt to his personnel. He is as stubborn as Wenger was (maybe more??) when it comes to things like passing from the back. At the same time, players like Xhaka, Luiz and Sokratis lack individual… Read more »

Axedsoul

It’s time. It’s time to raise fingers at Emery. Now, he has become culpable of these nonsensical performances.

Mayor McCheese

But how many fingers, exactly, depends on whether you live in the US or the UK.

It was a terrible, terrible performance, and Emery deserves a large share of the blame, but I’m not quite in the ‘fire him now’ frame of mind. I’d say I’ve got my first up, and my other hand is slowly starting to crank the finger.

ebube

sack him

JFPIV

Ljungberg In!

GoonerJust

Mustafiesque calamity by Socrates dan David showed that Emery was making a mistake not to have a proper investment at the back. Watford’s first turned the game into Barca vs Almeria (we are the Almeria obviously). It shows that no matter how much we spend for midfield and forward, we’ll still be the same old Arsenal with the existing rear guard.
Emery’s substitution plan also questionable, why did he sub Dani and Ozil for youngsters will very little experience in a game like this……

Moses

Look I won’t try & make out Sokratis is top notch or owt, but I felt sorry for him. He looked totally gutted. He should not be being asked to play out like that…that is not his choice…horses for courses its not his fault he’s not Champion.

Goonericon300

My thoughts exactly

Bamzee Blaze

Socrates and Luiz made mistakes but this is all on Emery. His tactics, setup and mentality has been costing us and will continue to cost us until he is sacked. He will win some games here and there but he is not going to get us into top 4, like he failed to last season. The set of players he has with the right coach will get us there…not Emery. Fortune favours the brave but Emery is a coward.

Man Manny

Emery has to leave! This is not knee jerk at all. This guy is bang average. There is more to coaching than rubbish team selection, hopping about the touchline in a bout of hysteria and then make worse substitutions.
When Norwich beat City yesterday, I asked myself: can Emery pull that out this season? The answer, sadly, was a resounding no.
Arsenal is heading nowhere with this coach no matter who we sign!
Rant over.

Adams9802

When he took of Ceballos and Guendouzi we had no energy to get forward. Riess Nelson was terrible when he came on. He lost the ball multiple times and then couldn’t be arsed to run back and defend despite being on the pitch for 15 fucking minutes.

Mintoes

Guendouzi was shit today. Ceballos did nothing either. Willock has to start next game. He’s head and shoulders above everyone else in midfield.

ClockEndRider

Thought Willock was every bit as bad as the rest when he came on

Nketibag

Bollocks. Ceballos was the best player on the pitch before getting hauled off. (WHY?) He never gave the ball away and put in a shift defensively.

Joe

Mintoes Did you even watch the game?

Deano

Mintoes Ceballos was outstanding worked his sack off all the time he was on and put in a good defensive shift.

Goonerink

yeah but he didnt individually win us 3 points did he? so he was shit…….

he will be our best player this season, and personally feel he is worth the 72 were spending more than pepe is showing. though pepe needs time, close controll like DC has works in any league, but pepe needs to learn when defenders engage in the pl. when to push out wide and cut inside with his supporting team mates and how keepers perform over here.

loose_cannon

Im a big fan of Riess, I think he has a lot of talent and potentially a big future. But he looked soft today. That’s the only word I have for it, he looked very very soft.

myrtle

Fluffed that chance at 2-1 aswel.

TheOptimist

Absolutely agree, unfortunately. Many moments I gawped open-jawed at Nelson trotting along while they had a man advantage on an attack. He’s young, he’s a sub, why not sprint a bit!!!

The whole team looked exhausted by the last fifteen minutes and it’s got to be time to see Emery SHOUTING at these lazy, careless players.

Truj

Long balls to Auba…. He was our best player but not a Giroud.

Jarghs

Oh we are awful…

Crash Fistfight

How long have you been saving up that one?

Morten

I have never been so mad!

For one year we have tried to play out from the back like that and it looks dangerous emery time! Is Emery blind? Is he just stupid? Is his salary paid by Levy so they can Get into CL?
There is no improvement!
Emery out!

Gordy

Have to agree and at the moment billions of pounds on Pepe doesn’t look well spent.

Magic City Gooner

We knew what we were in for when Ceballos and Ozil came off and so did Watford. It felt like there was no real threat of getting that 2-goal cushion back from that point on. UE seemed to think two goals would suffice and I’m not sure why.
We weren’t controlling the ball much at that point

Truj

Our game plan is to totally suprise the opponent with no plan at all. Tricky…

Rohit Arora

All emery wants is players to run. Well, they all are running like crazy now but we create 7 chances and concede 31 shots against the bottom most team in the table that had the guts to bring the game to us.

GoonerNJ

For a coach who is supposedly known for his tactical flexibility, Emery seems hell bent on stubbornly clinging to playing out from the back in situations where it isn’t appropriate, both in terms of the opposition and his available players. If this kind of stupidly stubborn rigidity keeps up, I will be joining the EmeryOut contingent.

GunneRon

Emery’s decisions have certainly been baffling…. Adamantly persisting with playing out from the back even though it has undoubtedly contributed to us facing the most shots on goal this season ! Dropping a solid looking Chambers for an error prone Luiz. Continually playing a wildly inconsistent AMN, whose persistent mistakes have gone under the radar, but have certainly cost us a trophy (Europa final) and maybe even top 4 (red card against Leicester) last season. Dropping/Subbing off Ceballos and not even starting Torreira. It’s too early to say if Emery’s not good enough to take us forward as he hasn’t… Read more »

GunneRon

Emery’s decisions have certainly been baffling…. Adamantly persisting with playing out from the back even though it has undoubtedly contributed to us facing the most shots on goal this season ! Dropping a solid looking Chambers for an error prone Luiz. Continually playing a wildly inconsistent AMN, whose persistent mistakes have gone under the radar, but have certainly cost us a trophy (Europa final) and maybe even top 4 (red card against Leicester) last season. Dropping/Subbing off Ceballos and not even starting Torreira. It’s too early to say if Emery’s not good enough to take us forward as he hasn’t… Read more »

Tanned arse

It’s not even the players that are the problem. He seems to have this ideal he wants to play goalkick from the back, fine. But there’s no thought or coaching gone into it. Last year we had 2 CB’s split. Now they split across the 6 yard box and the FB’s replace the CB’s position from last year. A FLAT LINE across the pitch no more than 8 yards from our goal line. What’s the point. It’s the a same passing line.is it to draw opponents to us? Ok fine, but when the opponets do that a cut out all… Read more »

Vivooty

I think we need a target man with height and physical strength…..We don’t have players of that type…..and a player who can win lot of duels….

Axedsoul

Our defense is going to be the death of me. At this point, I’m convinced that we are capable of botching even a 10 goal lead. I was honestly expecting a team that’s rock bottom of the table to take three full points against us.
What, what was the logic behind taking off Ozil and Ceballos will anybody tell me?
Just pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

Jack

Nelson looked so timid when he came on. No idea what the logic in that sub was

Ozzil

I dont see how it can be worse if both luiz and sokratis are dropped in favor of holding and chambers.

Fireman Sam

They said David Luiz would cost us points in many games.

They were right.

Rob67

Tierney, Holding and Bellarin cannot come back a second too soon. But even so, that was a shocker of a second half. Appalling. Watford deserved to win and we were lucky to get one point. With the limited players we have, this idea of playing from the back is madness and every opposing team can see it.

Guendouzi and then Sokratis played suicide balls in their own area. Emery has got change this – and pronto.

GoonerUpNorth

bollocks

dr Strange

To think Tierney, Holding and Bellerin will fix everything is a bit optimistic. Emery can’t coach defence.

Rob67

I agree that he appears as defensively bereft of ideas as Wenger was. But I do think those three will be an upgrade on what we are currently putting out. It will then be up to Emery to get them organised, as a unit. Perhaps he needs to call George Graham ?

Bamzee Blaze

Those guys won’t do much in a terrible setup like Emery’s. They had chances upon chances as if they were Barcelona yet all we got in reaction was that irritating sheepish grin. All hail Emery that turns Watford into fucking Barcelona. It is not about this game, it is signature move in every game.
How in the hell did Watford created over 25 chances at our goal? Any defence will wilt at that incredible amount. Mistakes is definitely bound to happen.

NairoGunner89

Take off two players with the most potential to create something then bring on a winger so that we have 3 pacey forwards and nobody to really supply them.

There is nothing we can say about this team, Emery and his tactics that has not been said.

2nd game in a row his tactics were weird. The mihki sub for the spurs game was a bad decision.

I can not imagine experiencing these emotions anymore this season but we all know it will happen again.

The Spoon

Scored for Roma today, maybe he wasn’t that shit!

myrtle

They had 31 shots.. I am lost for words. We are so poor without the ball it’s embarrassing.

Mayor McCheese

Well, taking off Ozil I guess was because this was his first start of the season. Ceballos, no idea. I think he struggles in quick games like this, particularly away. Not good.

GunneRon

Perhaps not even a Van Dijk could help improve a team who’s defence is continuously put under so much pressure by our risky style of persistently playing out from the back. I’m sick of seeing us doing it time and time again even though it’s plain for all to see it doesn’t work.

bobbyp

I honestly can’t see how we have improved under Emery. When managers like Allardyce and Pardew have taken over sides leaking goals, they have very quickly made those sides much stronger defensively. Watford had so any chances we were lucky to draw, which is pathetic when we were 2-0 up. I would not be disappointed if he was sacked.

Canuck Gooner

Our individual pieces are better than the sum of their parts. That has to be on the manager. Insisting on playing out from the back, constantly starting Xhaka, topped off by getting the subs horribly wrong today. We deserve better.

Goonerink

think xhaka did half decent today. in that he was tasked with picking up kolasinac’s defensive slack and we werent exposed TOO much there..
saying that i do remember Ceballos winning a few balls out wide too.

Dastardlydick

I really wanted to believe in Emery and cut him some slack but watching that horror show it’s getting harder to trust his methods. We were insipid, slack and lacked any dynamism. The warning signs have been coming with this brainless passing out from the back and I would have bet on us conceding because of it. FFS we let Cleverley score his first goal since January. And conceding a penalty is no surprise. We lead the league in errors leading to goals. It humiliating, farcical. What must Auba feel after he’s scored two great goals??
Enough already.

HelderHughes

I don’t want to be defeatist, I really don’t. But we had a chance to move joint second today, overtaking Sp*rs, United and Chelsea, against a team at the bottom of the league. Yes we have injuries. Yes we make ridiculous individual errors. But this transcends that. It’s about our continual inability to produce when we need to. It’s Baku. It’s last seasons run in. We don’t appear to have a manager that can get these players up for games. Maybe it’s the club, maybe it’s the hierarchy, maybe it’s the players. But right now I can’t look any further… Read more »

Maxin In The Shade

Grace period well and truly over. I was willing to overlook last seasons run-in debacle and judge him on this seasons merits (second season, more time with the players, record signing etc) but it seems clear even at this early stage that nothing much has changed.

Why are other sides able to tighten up defensively yet we seem to continually make the same errors? What do they work on at training?!?!

I have no real attachment to Emery either. We have good players that are going to be wasted playing in this set up.

HelderHughes

I know man. I can’t quite believe how badly we are set up so often. First 20 mins always seems to be righting the wrongs that Emery created due to his micro management of our tactics.

yen

But for the two goals, abysmal performance. We allowed 31 shots. Protagonists my ideas. Still zero idea what are we trying to achieve on the pitch under Emery.

yen

Found on Twitter:

“Arsenal have faced 96 shots this season, more than any other side in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 & the Bundesliga. Some effort that.” (oilysailor)

Bob

That is absolutely staggering. Under Wenger we at least tried to keep the ball to limit that, but would get hit from the few shots we did let, but under Emery we are doing both! Letting opponent have a tonne of shots, the possession, and the goals. Tell me where we win with that strategy?

TCGNR

that is seriously mad if true. absolutely mad.

Arsenalista

Wow, I wonder what the stats are in all the divisions in those leagues. Absolutely crazy!

yen

Oh it gets better: 31 is the biggest number of shots Arsenal ever faced in PL to this date.

Adams9802

It’s a good thing Xhaka is so important to us so he can be on the field to protect our fine defense! I look forward to the next presser so Emery can try and blow more smoke up our ass.

Leee

Apparently the 96 shots in 5 opening games is 14 more than Derby County faced in the season they finished with 11 points.

yen

Oops, *protagonists my ass, not ideas, duh.

yen

I just hope – if these performances continue to occur on a weekly basis – that our management is as ruthless as they shown over the summer in the transfer window.

Flash

Childish…

Jarghs

Amateurish

Der32

Unai’s Arsenal is painful to watch. Hope the board start giving him an ultimatum, sort out this crap or go. 28 shots against versus the bottom team of the league. Embarassing. Good players like Auba are bailing Unai out big time so far.

Jai

Words cannot describe how angry I am. Watford, the bottom placed team, had 31 SHOTS ON GOAL!!!! WE HAD 7!!!!

Get this man out of the club. He is not fit to manage us and our new signings will be wasted on him. SACK HIM! We are not going to achieve ANYTHING with Emery!

We are atrocious, how can you not be embarrassed at the number of chances we concede against EVERY SINGLE TEAM WE PLAY

Outrageous. The worst appointment we could have made. Get him out.

Jai

We have spent £140m this summer!! We cannot afford to keep a bang average manager, this club will be doomed for a long time unless we make a quick decision on Emery, because Arsenal are playing the worst football I have ever seen. Lampard has already imprinted a style at Chelsea, WHAT HAS EMERY BEEN DOING SINCE HE’S COME?

Bin him

Flash

Which of the “bang average managers” won 10 trohies in 6 years?

Caligunner

Lol

It’s not how many domestic trophies you win at PSG. It’s how many you don’t win.

Mintoes

Lampard!! Get a fkn grip.

Tony Hall

Arsenal have played far worse football than that today

Mootilated

nope. this was statistically their worst performance in the Premier League. Ever.

Jai

Emery is a shocking manager in defence (despite being pragmatic apparently) and he’s failed to create ANY sort of functioning attack. We only score due to individual brilliance (imagine Emery without Auba?)

Sack Emery. It needs to be done.

Tony Hall

Oh take a fucking chill pill, it’s a game, not life or death

Jai

Mate shut the fuck up, if I feel angry at this it shows I’m a normal fan. Now piss off you old goat

Tony Hall

Well if you feel you have to resort to personal insults that speaks volumes about you doesn’t it

Sultan

True.. not life or death, it’s so much more

Adams9802

I think the worst part of it is the inevitability of it all. We could all see the goal coming as we nearly played them in 3(!) times before. Then of course the coup de grace was a weak but again inevitable Luiz penalty. When did basics go out the window? When did it become good to pass across your own box? When did it become ok to not track back after losing the ball? When did we become so bad we let Tom Cleverly score? Why do we only have one recognized striker fit 5 weeks into the season?… Read more »

Mother

The main issue I take away from this match is that if these players can’t hold onto a 2-0 lead against the team that’s bottom of the table then how can we expect them to get results against better teams. The beginning of this season has been a disastrous continuation from the end of last season and it’s going to get worse.

We are not a better team under Unai Emery.

Mentally Drained Gooner

What the actual fuck?? Nothing has changed.

Arsenalista

It has, we’re going backwards

SB Still

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

Vaibhav

You have to look beyond. Had it been a one off incident it would have been on the players. But this is a recurring theme and it indicates something is fundamentally wrong somewhere. Is it stubbornness of Emery to remain fixated with playing out from the back or players are not confident doing it. Whatever it is, it is more systemic less personnel. I would patiently wait and Let Unai have back four of Bellerin – Sokratis – Holding – Tierney for 5-6 games before forming a definite opinion about Emery out!!

Stephen

I eagerly await the player ratings post.

Mintoes

Yup!

Pakgooner

Wtf was it?? This was one of our seasonal reality checks. Aubameyang is it there to carry this team, he’s just a goal scorer and a very reliable one at that – but the defence has to be more responsible. The man gives the team 2 splendid goals and then the defenders just gift them 2 goals back. 31 shots. Absurd, no communication anywhere. This is against a team that’s in the bottom 3.
Luckily we have an entire back line on the come up.

Henkamp

“We are going to on the field be protagonists”

“We are going to try to impose our game on the opponent”

Bla bla bla

*Go two zero up at Watford become even more disorganized*

In the second half the midfield looked totally disconnected from the attack because they were trying to keep shape and defend.

This season is going to be a long one.

Tony Hall

Auba must be thinking why the fuck do I bother ? Watford, bottom of the league, 2 goals down and our defence still manage to fuck it up …

The Farmer

He certainly had that look as he trudged off aty the end!

Mekus

I noticed and I really took pity on him. I won’t be surprised if he stalls on signing a new contract.

Bamzee Blaze

This is not on our defence, it is on the coach. It is a miracle the defence managed to keep Watford to just two goals from 31 frigging chances. This is on Emery, get that into your head and stop blaming our defence all the time. It is about philosophy and tactics and shape. We had none of that. That is on the coach not the defence. How can we concede 31 chances against the bottom team of the league and U blame the defence?

Guezi

A tale of two half’s. Why play out from the back when you’re 2-0 up. Go long ball. A lot sloppy passes and two errors that cost us three points. Sokratis and Louis. Our substitutions weakened us. Lucky to get a point in the end.

Spanish Gooner

I’d like everybody to think of Emery this way: If he had had the last 18 months of performances at a similar European club, and our manager’s contract was coming to an end next summer, would you be happy signing him as a replacement?

Caligunner

He was already a bust coming from PSG. We shouldn’t have hired him in the first place lol

Jai

Precisely!! I remember being so fucking angry last May when I heard about him

What a fucking ridiculous decision to get him. Arsenal have the pick of most managers in world football due to many factors like location, money, talented squad, etc etc

We fucked it.

Obvious Pete

Are the poo ratings just for transfer speculation?

Voldermort

Buy an error prone defender put him in a error prone defence, what could go wrong.
Diabolical defending yet again. Its beyond embarrassing now.
Emery has made a massive mistake on luiz. We let arguably the better 2 defenders at the club leave..laughable.

yen

From Twitter: “David Luiz has given away two penalties in four PL appearances for Arsenal. Prior to this the defender hadn’t given away one in the PL since October 2011.”

Yes, penalty giveaways aren’t the only errors defender can make, but it’s criminal how our midfield lets the opposition run straight at our defenders. Been like this for years.

Bamzee Blaze

This is solely on Emery and not on the defence and most especially Luiz for that matter. He was by a long stretch our best defender today. How can we concede 31 chances against the bottom team of the league? All this started since Emery came in. Even when Bayern and Barcelona were constantly giving us a hiding almost every time we met, we never conceded 31 frigging chances against them. For a coach who concedes such a ridiculous amount of chances, one would be tempted to think it’s because he’s cavalier in his approach but no, that is not… Read more »

Glocken

We’ve chucked away four points in the last two games & basically didn’t try against Liverpool. Unforgivable.

You can’t defend like this & expect to make to0 four. Our last three conceded goals are two penalties & getting caught playing out from the back.

Can’t lie, I’m starting to loose patience with Emery. He was given an unbalanced squad to start with & had to install some professionalism in a group of players who gave up under Wenger but we should be better than this.

GraeB

We have no full backs, so we sell two and buy an injured one. AMN is hopeless at FB, why punish him further? Play back 3 – preferably not Luiz, Socrates and Mustafi – instead but use DMs who can track and tackle.

We haven’t had a defence for 15 years. It’s embarrassing to see the likes of Watford, Burnley, et al showing us up!

Naija Gunner

Some of our players played as if they were being owed wages

Mekus

AMN on my mind.

Jack

Pepe has been way way way too hyped. He literally did nothing in the second half

Spanish Gooner

Agree it’s very worrying. I don’t think it’s helped by the fact that our entire attacking plan this season seems to be to just kick him/Auba/Lacazette the ball and see what they can do. Nobody thrives in a vacuum

Pooner

Exactly this. All the talk of our defense being awful or Pepe not impressing, but they and our attack are constantly fighting to fill the void filled by for our chaotic or non-existent midfield. No cohesion whatsoever.

Vaibhav

And add subbing of Ceballos, Ozil and Guendouzi. How on earth Emery can see we are controlling the midfield. We were barely functional yet he subbed all three!!

Naija Gunner

I don’t know who recommended that wasteful boy for Arsenal?

Bob

Whilst that’s true, you want your new signings to come into a stable team, so they can settle in and produce. Instead he’s coming into this shit show, where players that have been here for years have no idea what the manager wants from them and our longest serving player has been mostly frozen out.

He will settle, but it will unfortunately take time as it stands. At the very least, he isn’t the one culpable for this result.

myrtle

Who is our longest serving player? I literally don’t know any more.

Olave

It’s Emi Martinez but I assume he thinks it’s Ozil because the I somehow doubt Martinez is going to turn that defence around

bob

I stand corrected, it is Emi! At this point, if he wants to have a crack at being our new defensive coach I’d be all up for it! ?

GoonerDane

Emi Martinez?

Mick Malthouse

We are going backwards.

A Fleeting Glimpse

The team look completely lost with manager changing formation every week. Pray he is gone at end of season as we have a decent squad and a few additions would make a very good squad.

Grumbleduke

What a mess at the back we are still. Individual Errors is going to be the highest scorer against us this season.

GraeB

Chelski fans laughing their heads off at us signing Calamity Sideshow Bob – but then so is everyone else! Guendouzi relying on one performance. Emery relying on? Auba and Laca!

Three Steps Sideways

We brought all of that on ourselves, and once again, it is bloody disappointing.

0232333

Willock Nelson and niles can f..koff to un23 league they aren’t ready for arsenal’s first. Emery’s way of coaching is shocking. , he should be fired!!

Spanish Gooner

Of all the players to highlight today, I don’t think any of those would come near the top of my list

Guns Up

I don’t know, Nelson looked completely out of his depth and the worst player on the field, to me.

loose_cannon

Nelson (and to a lesser extent Willock) looked very very lightweight. They’re talented but that’s not enough in this league, could be a make or break experience for them.

AMN I make allowances for because he’s not a natural defender and to top it off Emery has the bright idea of playing a diamond, meaning he gets no cover on the flanks. Bizarre.

Samu

Niles can sit right at the top of my list….SHOCKING! but Pepe is a close second considering he’s not helping him at all (under Emery instruction I’m sure). Take Guendouzi and Xhaka who’s the most un-athletic player in the league and throw on nelson and Wilock who couldn’t even track back after being on the pitch for 10-15 minutes because they either were too tired of knackered? incredibly poor tactics and shape and its not the first game we look like we’ve set up to commit suicide. Today was a stain and i worry if we don’t start the right… Read more »

Mintoes

That’s absolute fkn bullshit. Willock is easily ahead of MIA Ozil and contributed more in 30 mins today than guendouzi and Ceballos…

Moses

Its not really about the individuals though…at least that performance wasn’t…

0232333

yeah becuase of that needless over dribble when he should have pass the ball to Aubameyang. Ozil and fabregas were the king of assist because they make difficult thing look easy, but willock made a simple situation look difficult.

FMT

I think at this point, we can all agree that Emery HAS NOT MADE US A BETTER TEAM! We are really poor and shapeless now!
#Emeryout

Karmafrench

Unai is to blame. Yes sokratis was stupid but two times before that we almost gave them a goal. Why didnt he tell them To stop ? When something doesnt work you try something else ffs. And again sokratis and luiz gave à goal. How many time more before we try Chambers ?
I can accept to watch a boring non-creative arsenal if at the end we won, but those shitty performance are starting to get me angry. We were lucky to draw.
Auba wont save our ass every game.

Jeremy

Sack Emery now please.

leftrightleftrightleft

31 shots allowed.. you’ve gotta be kidding me.

Nketibag

Against bottom of the league.. you couldn’t make it up

momozemio

Shame all over the pitch… thanks Leno for the last save during stoppage time, nothing positive to say apart from this one… gutted tonight 🙁

Mintoes

Leno’s ridiculous tippy tappy “passing out from the back” is killing us! He needs to fkn hoof it when the opposition are pressing that high up the park. It’s not rocket science!

Jijo

It’s probably the manager who is asking him to do that shit every single game! May be there is some horrible scary punishment if they don’t do that circus!!!

It looks stupid and it is stupid!!

Nick

It’s a waste of my time witnessing that. I’m better than that. You’re better than that. I’ve supported the club for 27 years and how I feel is every Arsenal player in the second half and the manager can go and fuck himself. Not interested in being associated with you, you fucking children

Chuffy

Pretty shocking how we just capitulated. We can blame Emery for appalling substitutions, but also his lack of reaction to the onslaught is the biggest concern. I think Emery is struggling. Sokratis is rash, Luiz is rash. Together they’re nearly a disaster. We need a back 4 of Bellerin, Holding, Chambers and Tierney when all fit. These 4 are a disaster. Plus, i’m not blaming Xhaka here, but his lack of mobility and recovery pace means a free run at the back 4. Another thing, does the coach tell his team to keep backing off, instead of tackling, because we… Read more »

ballz

On what basis would you keep Emery on for the rest of the season? What exactly has he done to deserve having the rest of the season? It’s been 2 transfer seasons and 140m spent just this last transfer. Why would you give him the rest of the season?

Chuffy

MY opinion is not that he should, but the board will not fire him. No chance, listen to what Josh Kroenke said. SO like it or not Emery will last the season and if we don’t improve he’ll get sacked.

Steinn

The question is, would Arteta be willing to take on the job now?

kas

Or maybe EDU should be tapping up his old pal PV4 along with Freddie as asst.
Oh & bring Eddie back from Leeds with a promise of more games.

Champion

What the actual fuck. Don’t know whether to blame manager, players, or both. The lack of midfield pressure in the second half was appalling. The team does not look equipped to handle a tough away game. This was not a tough away game and we couldn’t even handle it. So disappointed and I can’t help but feel extremely negative about the season.

TCGNR

I’m trying to remember when I’ve watched Arsenal play more terribly than this. Up 2-0 against the last place team, with 3rd place in your sights, and then that. It was embarrassing. This has to be on Emery, and not just tactically, but psychologically our guys never look like they think they can win. What a nightmare day.

BlackieChan

Maitland Niles is finished at right back. Play Mustafi until Bellerin is back. Nelson also looked really out of his depth, I don’t think he’s ready for PL

However I think the biggest mistake was taking off Ozil Ceballos AND guendoozi all at once. They were the heartbeat of our team and it all fell apart after.

Arsenalista

New coach needed, I hate to say this but I would take Mourinho, he has good defensive organization and with the attackers we have we could still do something good this season. I like Emery but this is just one of a number of games where he has completely got it wrong. He is just an average coach. We have to take some kind of action, we have all the ingredients there for a really good team.

Pooner

Get that plane fuelled up and the banner unravelled…!

Chris

I wish there was a laughy face button rather than just the thumbs up and thumbs down. Tickled me that did

Bertieme

We gave them so much space, we looked pedestrian in the first half though our two goals were lovely. In the second we made a poor team look world class. They played through the midfield, ran down the channels and outplayed us. After a full year of watching him I am really not sure what Emery wants, it is so disjointed, and today seemed even worse to be dominated by a team as mediocre as Watford.

Magazine_Gap

Shambolic performance, and Emery failed miserably today. This narrow, flank-less football that gifts the opposition width, possession, goals and fumbles in attack, is now truly bizarre, simply because he keeps repeating it (which, in turn means he thinks it’s a good idea.. when it clearly isn’t). The Club must review his tenure by November if performances are not considerably better than the total shit show we had to endure today. Emery has dropped enough dough to be able to put away the likes of Watford when 0-2 up. It’s on him now, more than ever. We have to wait and… Read more »

Tony Hall

Reality check needed …

Luiz is no better than Mustafi and just as error prone

Until such a time as Bellerin, Tierney and Holding are back in the first team playing each week our defence is actually worse than what it was before the transfer window because we have lost Nacho and Kos and replaced them with sideshow Bob. So expect more defensive howlers that cost us points until then.

Adams9802

I honestly don’t know where to start. If its not one thing its another. We have a team that is capab;e of calamity at the drop of a hat. This is not helped by Emery looking like a clueless fuck. If things don’t pick up by December I think we must consider sacking him, at the very least we must consider lining up our new manager for next season. He’s the new tinkerman, tinkering us into 5th

Deano

Seething getting 2 hard worked and good goals to only concede 2 utterly pathetic goals is just becoming to much to stomach.

I have never seen anyone cannon the ball home from 70yards, but I have seen plenty of goals from fifteen bloody yards. Sick of seeing stupid mistakes.

Sid

All my life I’ve loved football. I’ll watch any game that’s on doesn’t matter what division, level or country. If people are kicking that round leather stuff about I’m watching it. And in al my life I have never seen a football team make as many comedic errors like Arsenal. It’s time after time after time foolishness it’s become a culture.
Did Unai ask Pepe not to track back in this game? He gave AMN fuck all support all game. Poor guy was being battered by Deulofeu. Joke!!

Naija Gunner

Pepe was shit, Xhaxa was shit, ozil was just Ozil, willock was not in the game Nelson not ready for a game of this tempo and the manager made the worst error of removing the two of our few good players today

Alex

Ceballos was very poor today but some fans won’t admit it.

Mintoes

Totally agree. Ceballos did nothing.