Watford v Arsenal Review byDN
Arsenal finally fielded a fully fit team against Watford yesterday, even if we still didn’t have a recognised centre-forward in the side, but who needs one when we play like that without one!
Ozil and Sanchez both got on the scoresheet and we saw many glimpses of the Arsenal of old, and we still have Giroud plus the new arrivals to come in for the rest of the season. Even Theo Walcott looked to be returning to his old self at long last, and it is he that gave a detailed review of our performance through his eyes, which always give the fans an insight into their mindset.
The England man spoke about the differences from the first two performances after the game: “We played some very good football at but we didn’t really take our chances. Today, we did. It might have been a slightly quieter second half but we all worked tremendously well actually. We’re disappointed with the goal, but overall you’ve got to look at the three points. It was really important just to get the three points today. The performance, to be honest, didn’t really matter. We had a bit of everything today.
“The guys up front and everyone on the pitch all worked tremendously hard. We tend to play our best football when we win it very high up the field and we managed to do that. Especially in the first half, I think some of the football we played was just breathtaking to actually be part of. In the second half we always knew there was going to be a reaction from Watford and the next goal was obviously very important. They managed to get that and the defence will be very disappointed with that, like myself. But like I say, three points – that’s all that matters today.
“Overall you’ve got to look at the whole game itself and 3-1, but it could’ve been a lot more. It really could’ve been, especially in the first half like you say. But we all really worked hard defensively today. Leicester, keeping a clean sheet today, I felt that the whole team worked really hard. We wanted a reaction today, we’ve trained well throughout the whole week and hopefully now everyone can go to the international break and hopefully come back fit.”
So the Gunners have finally got three points in the bag but Walcott is aware that we still have some catching up to do on the teams that started the season at full throttle. “We don’t want to get carried away. It’s only three games in, but it’s a good stepping stone. We’ve got a long way to go yet. We know there’s going to be points won in games everywhere, but like I said, the international break has probably come at a bad time for us really. But I’m sure we will bounce back from it when we come back.”
This first international break after just three games of the season really annoys me. The players are still only getting fully fit, and suddenly they are flying all over the world. Then when they return they suddenly have to play two club games in four days including the high profile visit to Paris to face PSG. Then the pressure really starts and we will need ALL our players fit and well.
At least we have proven we haven’t lost our stylish play,even if it was only against Watford.
Darren