I have a confession to make. I put a bet on us to win or draw. I promise to bet on Liverpool next week.
Just a technicality, but Deeney didn’t ‘miss’ the penalty. However, putting the shot so close to the middle of the goal, especially at the height he tends to place them, is a high-risk strategy. It becomes a guessing game between the taker and the keeper so sometimes the keeper will win; it’s just a shame it had to be yesterday. My preference is for a penalty kick to go ‘hard and low’ towards either corner. Then, even if it’s not right inside the post, the keeper still has a job to get down to it - if he guesses the right way.
Every game we've classed as a 'free hit' has turned out bad this season hasn't it? Chelsea aside we simply don't seem to have it in us to go after a big team to get a positive result or set up accordingly. We either concede early or concede a soft goal at the wrong time. So frustrating. We need to drop Richarlison. Deeney isn't a lone striker. Janmmat and Holebas are rubbish at defending. Prodl is half the player he was. Doucoure is off form. Pereyra is a tackle shirker. Have I missed any cliches?
May have got this wrong but haven't we got 8 points from 9 games against the two Manchesters, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs? That's not so bad!
Yeah you did... Holebas keeps offering fans over the barrier for a game of fisty cuths. But in general yeah I’d say that’s a pretty accurate analysis. So same again at Liverpool then?
I think the measure of Deeney will not be that he missed a pen and gave the home fans something to gloat about, it will be if he bounces back and puts in performances, scores a couple more from open play and tucks away the next pen we are awarded. That is what cojones is/are.
Well that's 2 london teams well and truly put in their places. Now for the scousers. 0-3 Gray hat-trick.
3-0 flattered them. Very even for much of the game. If we'd scored the penalty we would have gone on to draw or win.
Everyone understands the principle. The point being made is that the club offering long term deals to some of these aging average players to cover themselves is the equivalent of a dog guarding a puddle of vomit.
Yep agreed. If it had happened to me, I'd be finished. Hopefully he's made of sterner stuff. He puts a lot of worth in his "brand" and social media presence. This could have the potential to finish all that if he doesnt bounce back strongly. He'll forever be mocked as the man with no cojones otherwise. And who wants to be associated with someone like that?
I don't feel as bad as I usually do the day after a defeat. Arsenal away was always a home win bet - except for daft hornets like me.
The still tells is own story. What a shambolic piece of defending. That's your man Holebas...FFS. Once more he's nowhere near his runner. He should be goal side, running with Aubameyang. He did this several times during the match, just not tracking back with any urgency. He just does not see the danger. It's just far too easy for the opposition.
Auberge is the CF. Holebas is left back. Shouldn't one of the 2 CHs who are staring at the ball, be running with him....goalside ?? In fact every one of the 6 WFC players in the picture is ball-watching, no one is watching where the 3 arse players are running.....
You really don't like Holebas do you, he was far from being our worst player yesterday, in fact he rarely is, but it is nearly always him that you single out for critisism, try picking on someone else for a change it's getting boring
Because they don't score many goals, they were playing away and haven't been in good form lately, their win against Everton apart. Back to yesterday's game, not as enjoyable as some previous encounters, but it was a typical Watford-Arsenal match, competed reasonably well, them just edging it in terms of chances created, but as before undone by superior finishing. That said, it was a poor first goal to concede, and I thought we'd got tighter on set-pieces in recent months, even under Slither - I'm not a Holebas basher but he should have done better with that (and maybe one of our CBs, can't remember which one was closest to it).
He did the same for the aubameyang open goal miss in the first half. Totally left his man. Mapps turned around to him and was like "wtf"? I like him going forward and he is ok at defending when a player is coming at him but he just doesn't seem to like tracking back, which is vital for a team like us vs decent opposition. Every man needs to track back and work their arse off.
Exactly. I had that in mind when I was thinking of other situations where he just switched off. This is a regular thing he does, and it costs us so many avoidable goals. Strikers will run into channels looking for space. If you don't track them then they've got it easy, such as the second Arsenal goal. His involvement in the first goal was also a bit pathetic. Just a half hearted lean into Mustafi, flinching as he did this. He was the closest player, but again on the wrong side of his opponent and made virtually no challenge. I could accept these defensive deficiencies if he was ripping it up at the other end. How many goals has he scored? How many assists? He was taking all the corners and deep free kicks, but only one could have been considered dangerous. We had 9 corners, and 8 of those were just floated high into the Arsenal box and were easily defended. What he consistently gives the side is just not good enough, IMO.
It's clearly Holebas' man. He should be with him. Mapps is facing the ball and has no vision of what's behind him. Prodl is further away facing the ball with Aubameyang only in his peripheral vision, and Janmaat is on the other side of the pitch. Holebas is the only one running in the same direction as Aubameyang, but is nowhere near him. The fault for the first two goals is with Holebas. He just didn't do basic, simple defending and this is why we found ourselves 2-0 down with a mountain to climb. There's no excuses for not challenging or tracking back.
It seems like only yesterday we were losing at home to Yeovil, and now we are losing away to Arsenal, where did it all go so wrong?
I normally agree with you but not here. "Mapps is facing the ball and has no vision of what's behind him" - well that's ok then ! Much as I love Maps to bits, he is out of line with the other defenders, looking at the ball, unaware the CF is behind him, (he's a CH for **** sake). He and Prodl are in no-man's land contributing little. At most it needs only one of them fronting up to the ball, and from their relative positions, that should be Prodl.
Errrm, I think you'll find that was when Troy scored his last goal in open play before the Everton game.
What I really like with this post is that its’s made me google when Arsenal were founded, 1886. Bloody new boys!
This is why we shouldn't talk about football on a football thread anymore. It all gets a bit tribal with everyone championing their favourite player then getting personal about other posters favourites. It's boring as hell. Favourite beer? I live less than 5 minutes from the malt brewery in prestwood. As a result its all about Voyager IPA in my world.
If you have time, take a look at the match from the official site. Just look at Holebas' movement, or lack of it, during Arsenal's attacks. Especially in the first part of the game. It's just dreadful. You don't tend to see this during the match as it all goes so quickly, but in the cold light of day, it's clear he just doesn't track back. So often he's just marking space, nowhere near a player. I think it's some sort of fear he has to get involved, or is just plain lazy, maybe a bit of both. https://www.watfordfc.com/matches/match-review/highlights-arsenal-3-0-watford I've actually transcribed the action here:- 2 mins - Aubamyang clean through after a pass from Ozil, but Karnezis saves well. 7 mins - Arsenal Goal. A standard free kicks finds Mustafi who has a simple header after a weak challenge from Holebas. 11 mins - Great forward pass from Pereyra finds Richarlison. He lays it off to Doucoure and his shot is well saved by Cech 16 mins - A nice move by Arsenal sees Kolasinac fire the ball low across the Watford goal. Once more Holebas switches off and does not track his man. Aubameyang is totally unmarked at the far post but cannot quite stretch enough to force the ball home. A let off for Watford. 18 mins - Iwobi fires a shot over, but had he seen Ozil's run he was totally unmarked, as Holebas did not track his run even though he looked over his shoulder as was aware of the run Ozil was making. 25 mins - Watford should have equalised. A good free kick is fired in by Richarlison and Cech can only parry. Pereyra is first to the ball, and with the goal unguarded he blazes high over the bar, showing a lack of composure. 26 mins- A good one touch move by Arsenal carves open Watford. No one really at fault for this as it was good interplay, but somehow Karnezis keeps out Ozil's shot when it looked like it would be a simple finish. Another big let off for Watford. 40 mins - Watford nearly get lucky as a Kiko cross gets deflected over the Arsenal crossbar with Cech beaten. 45 +1 mins - A good run and cross by Kiko, finds Richarlison and his powerful header brings out a good save from Cech 45 +2 mins - A rare good corner by Holebas is dangerous for Arsenal and Mapps just fails to make a connection as the half time whistle blows. 46 mins - Ball played to Xhaka has a long range shot. Capoue turns his back which allows the ball to travel towards the goal unhampered. Karnezis fumbles, but he just manages to retrieve the ball before it creeps over the line. 47 mins - The ball bounces around the Arsenal box and is lofted forward by Doucoure, this is headed on by Richarlison then falls to Kiko, who fires in a very good shot, but is well blocked by Holding and goes out for a corner. 48 mins - From that corner, Holebas provides his best delivery of the afternoon. Deeney flicks on the ball, but it goes too fast for Mapps to react and head home. 50 mins - A long ball from Capoue finds Kiko, and his first time cross is deflected behind for another corner. 58 mins - A simple move by Arsenal, as the Watford defence switches off, allows them to score their second goal. Holebas fails to track Aubameyang's run once again. He receives the ball and has the simple task of rounding Karnezis and slotting the ball into an empty net. 60 mins - Pereyra receives the ball outside of the Arsenal box and decides to run with it between two Arsenal players. They all converge and Pereyra is fouled. A clear penalty is given. 61 mins - Deeney steps up to take it, but blasts it down the middle and Cech manages to get a hand to it and makes his first ever Premier League penalty save for Arsenal. 70 mins - Richarlison makes a positive run out wide and crosses to Janmaat who chest controls, but slices the ball harmlessly wide. 76 mins - Another forward pass catches Watford's defence flat footed. The ball is crossed in but scrambled clear only to the edge of the box. Aubameyang lays the ball off to Mkhitaryan who calmly side foots the ball into the Watford net for number three. It was a poor goal as Karnezis should have done much better with the shot. 85 mins - Arsenal well on top at this stage and Welbeck brings out a decent save from Karnezis. 90 mins - A Capoue free kick is floated to the back post where Doucoure heads back for Prodl to volley high over the ball.
