Pleased Tom Cleverley got the winner. Despite some others getting deserved praise, Cleverley could be argued our best player this season.
I didn’t go due to family commitments but had it on 5 Live... I think I never had so much fear flowing through me as the literal one v one save and then that finger tip save from the tight angle... Gomez really earns his shirt last night. What a performance and shift put in last night by the lads. ❤️ Nice to see Arsenal fans winging again, oh and I think it was a penalty Arsen Winger there was slight contact he never got the ball. To everyone who went thank you and another great tactical game from Silva.
Tight 1st half but you can’t go gun ho against teams like Arsenal it’s all about staying in the game. Only negative is our marking at corners which is where they scored from. Typical he hasn’t scored a league goal since 2013. However 2nd half we got in their faces more. Deeney coming on really lifted us. All of a sudden the ball was sticking up there and we started to push them back. Also their subs helped us. They took of all their pace which meant the defence could push up 10yards. All leading to us battering them the last 15 mins. So pleased for Cleverly to get the winner, such a unsung hero since he joined. However they all put a shift in and another great team performance. You can just see the spirit and determination from this group and as fans we should be loving it, and are. One small point I mentioned before we only really had one international in our squad where as they have loads. Really think our freshness was also a key factor. Also Koschelny going off was also key he mops up for all the mistakes the others have made. Great times to be a watford fan let’s enjoy it, see where it takes us and not forget where we were... PS the steward near me was a gooner, cheering and clapping Arsenal..did feel good to give it large when we scored. Seriously they are for crowd safety not a free ticket to watch their team and wind up the home crowd.
Well, I think it does. 60 minutes today without scoring but 10 players putting in a good performance. Weak link replaced and we win.
Strange how the highlights made it look like Arsenal had the best of the play and don’t agree with my memory of the game but the chat afterwards was more Watford positive.... In the first half we didn’t take risks but matched Arsenal and were naive to concede just before half time from a corner. In the second half we were more positive, attacking more as the half wore on. In the last twenty minutes after Deeney came on we really cranked up the pressure on Arsenal, searching for goals. This worked perfectly but this isn’t shown in the highlights.[/QUOTE] I was going to say just what you have about the MOTD highlights; as anyone watching would think that it was all Arsenal and that we were just lucky to get the win. Even MOTD's own stats showed we had more shots than Arsenal, but we did not get to see many of them, whereas I think we saw practically every gooners shot. Never mind though, WE STILL WON
You do know Deeney said on tv that Silva was not happy at half time and had a go at the players? So you having a go at people on here who felt the same as Silva makes you look a bit of an idiot really doesn't it
The stewards were crap yesterday, there was a fight in the Rookery early in the first half with an Arsenal fan throwing punches at a Watford fan and the dim-witted traffic cone just stood there and didn't get involved. Law unto themselves. Superb result, showing great fight to beat an on paper superior team. Thought their goal was incredibly soft to concede but the character we showed to get back into it was unbelievable. I just love this club.
Fecking hell were you on the Meow Meow last night? By the way genius, it was BT Sport not Sky....just minor details like that won't make you look like a kn0b but I guess that ship has sailed.
Yep, right in front of me. Then they let them back in at the other end of the row! When we all spotted it and started shouting, only then did they take them out again. Who knows where they ended up.
So, I feel like I was watching a different game in the first half to what some of the replies on here had been. It wasn't up to our usual standard, but we created chances other than just hoofing it up for Mertersacker to sweep up. 2 or 3 good runs in the first half down the left hand channel, should've resulted in either a goal or a shot on target, but they exposed our right equally for the first twenty minutes, before I think Silva told Pererya and Mapps to get tighter to Kiko for support. Wasn't disastrous but a change was needed. Push in the back, clip of the knee running at full pelt, it was a penalty, but you'd feel annoyed if given against you. Giroud totally got what he deserved. Not sure who the tackle was on, I think with Doucs, but he went in with way too much venom and force that seemed like he was out to at least land a heavy blow on someone, somehow our lad came out on top, unscathed and with the ball, while Giroud eventually got up and couldn't run anymore holding his leg. Good. ******. And then what a set up and finish for the last half an hour. Once we'd settled after the switch, I don't care what anyone says, we dominated them for that last third of the game, and fully deserved the win; they were terrified of losing the game and we saw the fear. Topped off by nobody more deserving than Clevs to smash in the winner. Absolute scenes. Arsenal as a club and fan base can be summed up by Xhaka's whole expression at the end, standing watching the ball ping around, think they're too good to go and do the dirty work and disrupt TC, but end up on their arse. Another late goal, another come from behind job. What an evening lads.
I think people underestimate Gray. I said it a few weeks ago but I think he, or that type of striker tires the defence out and that then allows a fresh Deeney to come on to finish them off. If we play starting Deeney it is less effective because they have to do less running. With Gray they can't go to gung ho because all it takes is one through ball. We can't do 2 at the top but if we did, in theory Deeney and Gray would be perfect. Think criticism of Grays skill is fair though, so my defence of him is more about his role.
Was Silva's opinion as well. Maybe drop him a line, he'll care as much as everyone on here about what you think. Don't drink and post m8.
Good atmosphere at the game yesterday culminating in a crescendo for the last 10-15 mins. A fine example of how when the team puts in passion and desire and plays well it make the fans sing, even us lot down the far end of the SEJ. Could hear the Rookery all game and joined in as the noise surged along the stand. The Gurners were pretty quiet especially so the last 10 mins. After they scored, there was a round of ‘you only come to see the Arsenal’ ............yawn.But there was also a couple of strange ones, firstly, when we were obviously a bit quite the Gurners treated us to ‘is this the Emarites? Is this the Emarites?’ Followed by the obligatory ‘shhhhhh’. Perhaps a bit of self-depreciating humour from life’s ‘winners’? Then there was a chant for Jack Wiltshire, yes the injury prone fag breath Freddy and future of English futbul that couldn’t get into Muff’s team last season. I wondered if he was on the pitch and I’d missed him but no, surely they have better players than him to sing about? Anyway, enough about them, great result, I’m still well chuffed and one last thing, Gomes’ celebration............ Up the ‘orns!
I felt that 1-0 flattered them and that we were always in the game. We controlled long periods of the first half, but without the penetration we needed to score, but it looked like rope a dope tactics and so it proved. I was whatsapping my brother throughout and we are two of the most negative posters on here normally, but both of us felt that we would get at least a point out of the game even when behind. And he was watching a stream whilst I was sitting in the family stand. No idea where the hysteria about our first half performance comes from. I'm sure Silva did lay into them at half time, but I'm also sure his game plan was to frustrate them, keep within touching distance and then create more as the game wore on and so it proved.
Much has rightly been made of our ability for scoring late goals this season. But there are two other things that I think are very significant too.. We've already taken 5 points from losing positions. Came from behind to draw against Liverpool and Brom, and now a win yesterday. Heads don't drop this season. And the discipline. Last season we seemed to average about 4 yellow cards a match. Yesterday we had just 1, and none at all the previous game. This is something Silva has really approved this season, and I think we will reap the benefits in November and December when we're not getting players suspended for acruing 5 yellows. People aren't getting booked either for petulance or disputing decisions. And hats off to Britos for a near faultless display yesterday, in his first game back after THAT tackle. Even the on-field injury situation seems to be improving, touch wood. The last two matches nobody's limped off early, disrupting our side and planned use of later substitutions. (just a pity injuries now seem to be happening during training instead).
I think people are typing prematch comments to troll arsenal lurkers and then really committing to them. We really need to be beating the likes of arsenal at home.
Sometimes teams will win or lose in spite of the head coach. They will just fluke it or they will just give blood and guts despite being set up wrong. Yesterday Silva had a clear game plan against a team, which despite injuries still contained enough talent on paper to wipe the floor with us. Critics of the first half need to remember it's a 90 minute game. Silva's tactics kept us in it and saw us come out on top over the 90 - deservedly in my opinion. Plus he has managed to get the commitment and desire levels 100% higher than last season. His stock rose Significantly last night and I hope we get at least 2 years out of him, because he will be on the radar of bigger clubs now in the summer
Isn't that the first time we've won a top flight game after being behind at half time for hundreds of years? Remember some stat during the West Brom game.
Words also echoed by Deeney on his tv interview. Shows how much his teammates respect the hard work he does.
Liked for use of the phrase rope a dope tactics and the fact that you have a brother posting on here. Assuming this is a real life poster and not an alias, guessing who it is will make for a nice sub plot to future match day postings. Of course I may well be the only one on here who doesn’t know already but that won’t spoil my fun! Also, agree with you about the first half postings from members on here. Silva aimed to keep it tight and close enough to open up the game in the second half.
It's going to be a horrible summer, with the vultures circling for Silva and several players. We need Richie to get an injury in the last match of the season that keeps him out until September
Well surprisingly I still have a voice this morning. Must say I was surprised at the negative outpouring of the first half performance and formation. Thought the game flowed well and conmented to my friend around half hour in that “for a game with almost much no goal mouth action this is pretty good”. As for starting 343 I thought it was a brave and actually good thing. Arsenal are renowned for not having much width and often look to thread the eye of a needle looking for a goal so adding an additional CB seemed to not be a bad idea. Also, poker style, you should always mix your play up from time to time. Sometimes it won’t work but you can be sure that Chelsea will not know just how we’ll set up next week. Keep em guessing. Gray was a bit lost but did position himself on two occasions in the first half to get in behind the defence and a sharper Pereya would have found him. The fact we have that nice direct option to go to with Deeney again keeps the opposition guessing as to what we will do next. Also, it’s been 8 games! Just what do some people on here expect? Bloody 8 games!!! I think this team is just getting going. My original prediction of a 9th place finish may yet be wide of the mark. We have a positive manager who was more than willing to risk a point in search of all 3, a squad capable of bringing off the bench two ever presents from last season and a kid in Richarlison who is already getting the “John Barnes treatement” from opponents. We will have to weather some inevitable paper talk in the coming weeks/months linking Silva, Richarlison, Decoure, hell most of the team, with moves but maybe our performance this year may just convince most of them to stay.
Staring defeat in the face going into injury time at West Brom with two hard games against top six sides in Arsenal and Chelsea to follow one could be thinking we were looking at losing three in a row! But no we are Silvas Watford a different proposition from the last two years and we go to Chelsea without fear and trepidation! COYH
There's celebrating a goal. And then there's falling over the seat in front to hug everyone within a 5 metre radius. That was Leicester-esque! Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
It was indeed ZZ! Dismal by the stewards regarding the Arse fans in The Rookery. The lady in front of me said she saw them loitering in the food area and watched them go back in seconds later. Yesterday had the feel of the GT heyday with regard to our will to win and energy. Mr IBB has left his padded cell and is taking solids again! Special mention to Irene,matriach of the three generation clan behind me. Two minutes before the winner she said "we'll score in a minute".
