Granit Xhaka says Arsenal paid the price for a terrible second half performance that saw them running scared of Watford.
The Gunners, despite a disjointed showing, went into the break in a commanding position courtesy of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s brace but the home side pounced on individual errors to deservedly draw level.
After the game, Xhaka was honest enough to admit that his side were lucky to take a point.
“We’re disappointed,” he told Sky Sports. “We paid for the second half today.
“We had a good first half, played very well, played together. We had a good balance between offence and defence, we scored, went two-nil up. We went to the dressing room, everything was good. Everyone was happy.
“After we came out and we played such a bad second half. We paid for this. We have to say we’re happy to take a point.
“Everything [was wrong], from the first second of the second half until the last. We didn’t play our game. We were scared. We know that Watford would push us more than in the first half but in this position, we have to show more character. We have to play, we have to not be scared.
“We didn’t have the character anymore like we did in the first half. We were too scared in the second half. They pushed us more than in the first half, but alright, we knew that, we spoke about it. But you can’t give a performance like this in the second half.”
Having conceded as a result of giving away possession from a goal kick – Sokratis’ pass was intercepted by Gerard Deulofeu allowing Tom Cleverley to score from close range – the Swiss was asked about whether the Gunners would change their policy of playing out from the back.
“We train like this, we work like this. Of course, mistakes are here. It’s not an excuse. Next time we have to do better. We have to analyse the mistakes, the kick-off and after we’ll see. We need to look forward.
“We train like this, it works good. Today, it did not work once. It was not only this situation. We lost the game all second half.”
Please, somebody, anybody, tell him it’d be better not to speak at this point.
I like how seamlessly Xhaka has stepped into Walcott’s shoes for these post-match interviews!
He’s not wrong, though, is he? I think he describes it perfectly.
No mayor mccheese, he doesn’t, he is wrong. What are you talking about?
Er… Were we really very good first half? Apart from the goals I seem to remember us being opened up in the gape between the midfield and defensive line over and over.
Let’s stop with the revisionist bullshit. We didn’t want it enough and we were set up really poorly. Fucking players sauntering around like it’s preseason. Pathetic.
We were terrible all game long, only bailed out by Auba (as usual) and one pass from Özil.
We were scared? Jesus give me strength. That’s our captain ladies and gentlemen
Not my Captain. Not now or ever.
Lame duck captain.
How many more bloody goals we are going to gift!
Very worried we are going to be a mid-table team this term because of our collective and individual horrible defending!
I think it a bit odd that of all the players to dig in on (and if continuing to insist upon sink his Arsenal career) Xhaka is the one for Emery. Spanish Wenger in disguise?
Yep. He’s clueless. Exactly like Wengers last 5 years. Sack him now.
He’s the captain, it’s his job to speak in these situations. He made some bad mistakes, but nothing like the two morons in central defense. Emery needs to be held accountable as well, his subs were awful.
No I’m just talking about this interview. In general emery has nailed his flag to Xhakas post
You were scared??? FFS!!!! You’re a grown man. You’re a highly paid professional. Cut the crap
This one legged CM consistently gift wrap goals to the opposition.
Looks like its Xhakas turn on the post match bullshit talking barrel this week.
Xhaka should examine himself. Can’t run. Bad tackle leads to penalty. Slow and waited too long on the ball. No positional sense in midfield and fail to track back
Emery isn’t suited to this league or this club. He’s had a full season, that’s a shit hot squad of players, the owners got players. I genuinely never criticise anyone at arsenal, but this is pure piss flap tactics.
He only has one tactic and that’s to make it up as he goes along.
Or to simply tell them to run themselves to the ground and everything will sort itself out just fine. Bollocks!
How do I got l upvote more then once?!
I’m not sure how you can say he’s got a good squad of players when they keep making individual mistakes and costing us goals. Criticise Emery when it’s his fault but it wasn’t today.
That doesn’t cut it as an excuse. That’s all it is – an excuse. To give a performance as empty as that was, suggests serious problems with both the coaching and the defending. Alan Smith made a good point in the commentary, when he said Watfords three subs all gave them a boost. Ours had the reverse effect. Very worrying all round.
If they thought they had the right balance in the first half no wonder they capitulated. We were lucky to be 2 up. He’s just dense.
FUCK off Xhaka. Sooner both you and Emery leave our club the better
Hard to find a less likeable player than Xhaka, and as for Emery.. Well, we all know.
Mustafi is still at the club.
I’d stop talking about mustafi if the current defense made goal conceding mistakes every single game of the season bar Newcastle
Oh god they’re just going to roll out this guy for his media trained interview every week now? Theo got dropped for saying something similar.
Looking forward to next season, I guess
As much as I like the honesty, we need to see change on the pitch. The manager has to take it on the chin for this one. Also, how many games do our centre halves have to cost us before we give Chambers a chance?
I wanted Chambers next to Luiz today, Papa has looked way out of sorts in every game this season. It looks like he’s playing his final season for Dortmund again. His passing is horrible and often puts our midfielders into undue pressure and trouble. Chambers might not be great, be he’s a snappy passer and would do a better job then our fake Greek tough guy.
Papa is normal defender he doesn’t do the kind of passing emery wants him to do
Remember when Chambers was the best defender in our only clean sheet so far? Well he’s dropped next game for this clown luiz and we haven’t kept one since.
Yeh, stupid pass out from the goal kick from Emery. Chambers should replace him in the team for the next game 100%.
Then if Chambers does something similar that’s Edu’s fault, right?
Or…
Replace the system that forces players to pass from the back even if they’re not comfortable or it’s at a point in the game when you need to remove the pressure from the back four for a few minutes
The problem seems to be Emery. And a bigger problem is who else could we bring to replace him there’s not many top managers out there available..
I know a tall old French guy, who could do with the pennies
Freddy isn’t that tall.
getting rid of Arsene in the way it happened was criminal – if he was given the resources we ended up using, we’d be much better off…
We’re still cleaning up his mess. No thank you. And actually he got even more recourses to spend than what we did this window. We went huge on guys like xhaka and mustafi.
It wasn’t criminal, it was inevitable. And in the end it was a good farewell to a legend of this club. A legend way past his prime to be perfectly honest
here’s some perspective (and this from a die-hard Arsene fan): but for his hubris and bloody-mindedness in his last few seasons we may well have had Pep in charge right now. We were his first choice… he made that clear. he admired Arsene and the style he had imposed on our play. But Arsene wouldn’t budge and Citeh grabbed him
there’s an italian.. who knows how to defend.
It’s embarrassing to hear players talking like this. “We were scared.” Literally nobody on our top 6 rivals would say such a thing. Defines the squad at the moment perfectly.
No kidding. This is bullshit. Captain my arse. We need to get shot of the Bismarck.
scared of the team at the bottom of the table……
I hope Xhaka does not play next game
Xhaka was horrible, in fact don’t know any player other than maybe Aubameyang that had a good match.
Ozil kept it tidy and made intelligent runs, he also made things happen. He was always calm and played the right pass.
Wager we would have won that game with Ceballos and Ozil still on the field at 94 minutes.
And he gave away so much space when “defending” from the front. I think we really missed lacazette today for that reason.
The sad part is that Xhaka wasn’t the worst player on the pitch today. He made mistakes, no doubt, but he also bailed us out a few times. Emery should be ashamed of himself, this defense is one of the worst I’ve ever seen, collectively and individually. Holding can’t return soon enough, sad thing is, he won’t be enough. He can’t do it all alone.
Fuck off. This man shouldn’t be our captain no matter what, hindsight, foresight, it doesn’t matter.
He is so average, this guy needs to go
I dont get emery. got it right in the first half, second half you could see that their press was going to beat our playing out. took out ceballos when he had saved our bacon a couple of times already(not majorly but the small stuff shouldnt be overlooked) and seemed to tell the boys that 2 was enough. removed all our play makers and stuck on 2 raw kids to see out the game. granted the pen wasnt ideal, and if anyone looked like they needed subbing it was guendouzi and maitland niles, the latter having no replacement until heccy… Read more »
Spot on, every decision he made (again) was wrong. Bringing on 2 kids to see out a 1 goal lead away from home was just plain stupid.
What senior professionals should he have brought on to replace the tiring midfielders then?
They were tired because of this ridiculous 442 diamond, which means they have to cover half of the pitch and the fullbacks.
Chambers can play as a fullback, he used to be a rightback originally.
Xhaka’s fronted the match when no one else did. He didn’t give up 2 goals like each of our CB’s opted to today. You can’t let this view of Xhaka being the source of all our problems cloud your judgement, Emery’s the one who bottled today’s strategy and substitutions. He didn’t manage a 2-0 lead well at all.
Xhaka does not emerge from this game with much credit. Was non-existent without and largely woeful with the ball.
Led Arsenal with 4 tackles, equal on airial duels for Arsenal with 1, and 85% passing accuracy. Gave away 0 goals unlike both our CB’s. Hardly a poor performance.
Useless stats, of course he has high pass completion if most of his passes are under 20 metres or square.
Do the stats mention he passed straight to the opposition and couldn’t control a ball in the box for a clear chance in the last ten minutes? Xhaka is the definition of mediocre, stop defending this pretender.
Fuck me. Happy to take a point?
If this were the first time we’d fucked up at Watford away I would be more forgiving but this happens practically every season. So fed up of it. We have to win games like this.
An astonishing admission, reminds me of when Walcott said similar after a bad day away at Palace and we played with similar quality this afternoon. Put this team under any kind of pressure and it will buckle like a stack of pringles. Shambles.
I was scared just watching! An absolutely crap weekend in the PL is complete… so Xhaka, Sokratis & Luiz all alternate with who is going to gift goals…awful, absolutely awful…
As someone’s already said on here. That trident is like the Bermuda Triangle back there.
I thought we did pretty well considering how frightened our boys were
So they were scared “Watford would push us more”. That really says it all about this team.
Conceding 31 shots to the bottom club is utter garbage. Thank the lucky stars for a striker as ruthless as Auba. Emery totally inept at this level. End of the season and the refusal of his 3rd year option cant come quick enough. We’re going to see a real spanking if this continues. At least Deaney wasnt playing.
No his timely sacking before the Christmas period to lift us into the top four is what we need. Hopefully we’re still in shouting distance by then
If the players were ‘scared’ while protecting 2-0 against Watford, then lets brace ourselves for the rest of the season. Its not going to be pretty.
Our captain, ladies and gentlemen!
He said the quiet part loud.
What!!!?? What the F kinda sh*t is that to say from our Captain? This guy needs to shut his mouth and Emery needs to drop him.
This is the captain saying this. Jeezus. If they’re scared of Watford, bottom of the table, 1 point Watford, shouldn’t we be worried? 5 scared captains of Arsenal, well that’s just great isn’t it? Can Patrick Vieira play still?
The thing is, why were they scared? We’ve seen them go toe to toe against better opposition than this. Emery is a cowardly manager who is scared of everyone, he set’s up defensively against Bournemouth for fucks sake, and he’s spent over a full season telling our players how deadly dangerous every team in the league are. He then sets them up in a formation that doesn’t suit them with tactics that are mostly stupid and I believe he is completely messing with their minds. Somebody needs to tell him to stop shackling our players, to play to our strengths… Read more »
Totally spot on…Best Comment..Summarizes It All No More No Less…That’s The State Of The Team At The Moment…Emery Messing With The Players Head
Xhaka epitomises the mentality of this squad…. but at the same time, i’d rather have these mistakes being made by a partnership of say chambers/holding rather than two veterans in luiz/sokratis. Those mistakes are wasted on them two and provides us no productive ”Information” as Emery quoted in his post match interview as infuriating as that post match interview was. Jesus. Comical.
Correction…you and your lot were shit…we were the ones that were scared.
“Next time we have to do better.” Next time, again? It’s always, “Next time”, after a clown show! You guys are utterly useless. No matter how bad Emery is, you guys should know better than to show such disrespect to the fans. Watford were hungrier and had belief. You guys were no better than a school team (no disrespect to school teams). No drive, no ambition, no intelligence, no guts… And what’s there to be scared of? Your opponents are footballers just like you lot! Don’t be a pro footballer if you can be scared of other pro footballers! Bloody… Read more »
Ask his lot, are they scared getting fat paychecks week after week!! Bloddy shitshow
It’s time to boo this cunt. I fucking hate him so much
Purely on a professional level of course.
I personally hate him – no business at Arsenal. I hope he gets hit by a bus…
Hmm thats a bit much.
Grow up Leon
Gets hit by a bus, but lands on Leon, who acts as a buffer and allowed Granit to walk away with nary a scratch.
Really? You are professionals and are scared? What a self fulfilling prophesy put froth by our new spokesman. We’re scared and we capitulate. That is one of the most pathetic things I have ever heard from an Arsenal player. This game was way too much like the end of the season last year, which I still hold Emery responsible.
As a captain, he has to regroup and decide on the next step. Focus on what to do and stop making excuses.
Imagine Tony Adams or Patrick Vieira coming out after a game and saying we were ‘scared.’
“Xhaka: We were scared”
Adding to that, you were also shite.
Scared? What the fuck? They are paid tens even hundreds of thousands of pounds a week to kick a football. Not patrol the streets of Baghdad waiting to be hit by a sniper or anti personnel mine. I’m sorry but this is the most pathetic thing I have ever heard. If Emery is not gone by Xmas then our season is finished. This is not the mickey mouse french league when you can play out from the back – you are pressed by every team you play and if you have to rely on spanners like Xhaka, Sokratis, Mustafi and… Read more »
This.
Wenger In !!
Saves Deeney having to roll his fat arse out and question our cojones, Xhaka`s admitted it for him, teeny tiny hapless sackless Arsenal were fritghtened by the might bottom of the league Watford. I know Xhaka is barely literate but fucking how stupid do you have to be to say shit lime this?
I know Wenger would barely tinker but we’ve seemingly gone the complete opposite direction with a coach who almost seemingly refuses to do the obvious just to be different for different’s sake.
Xhaka is probably sharing his own fear after the slating he has received from some of the Arsenal Internet fans. Played lads.
Arsenal gave this game to Watford it could have been discussed in the boardroom but what happened was clearly giving Watford points since they had City coming next and they were not going to get anything from them FIFA need to investigate this,,, both goals are gifts
He wasn’t actually terrible today and this is not an Ozil rant… However anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to reintroduce Ozil into the first eleven away from home to the team scrapping at the bottom of the league is deluded. This manager!
When Ozil and Ceballos were taken off it completely fell apart.
I don’t disagree with you, I’m genuinely not slating Ozil.
He was scared? Try being a fan!!! I was terrified!!!
And a proper captain would have got the team going once he realised (from the very moment the second half started) that we were not playing well. No excuse for letting that go on another 45 minutes. If Emery won’t shout and scream then the captain needs to, some of our players needed a slap to wake them up.
Yeah, no cojones. Or no brains?
Fuck Emery.
Fuck Xhaka.
Fuck Sokratis
Fuck Luis.
Fuck playing from the fucking back shit.
And if you’re down with any of the above fuckers, fuck you too!
Not in for this “no desire” bullshit. We’re set up to stand off and not put pressure on our opponents. Everyone but Unai can see the way through this. Pressing isn’t going away. Hopefully Emery is…
FFS shut the f**k up. Pissed off!
At least he is bringing out the truth..
Scared.
Of Watford.
Get in the fucking sea, pal.
It’s a high time Emery left my club,he’s a total scrap of a coach. And for the defense,something serious has to be done about goal leakages for i am getting tired of all these shit going. I shed tears for today’s needless draw,just like a lost to me as the Spurs game was.
Why the fuck would a player be scared in a football match ?
Not captain material after this weakness’s comment. Emery show some heart get rid of him n özil