It’s the hard way – but we win again by Konstantin
Another win on the trot ladies and gentlemen! It wasn’t easy again but there’s a repeating pattern here. We’re struggling, but we nick it in the end. I’d like for games to be a little bit more calm as we’re living on the edge.
But when the results keep coming, we can’t complain. I can’t remember the last time we won so many games in a row. True it’s against lesser opposition and I am not convinced that playing like this will get us points against the likes of Liverpool, but progress is evident.
This game was one of spells. We had a familiar Wenger spell where we were all over their box and in typical last season like fashion, we allowed some chances, that a better team might have scored, but we kept being positive.
The substitutions changed the game. I can’t enjoy enough the fact that we finally have a manager who can make the right subs and he can do them before minute 70! Iwobi and Welbeck stretched Watford and once Ozil moved in the middle, it was so much better.
You have to big up Iwobi and the improvement he’s had this season. You also have to give it to Emery for the improvements some players made. Cech is another one of those, but sadly he got injured and I was worried, but Leno made some excellent saves that allowed us to win the game and keep another clean sheet.
It’s worrying that our keepers have to make so many saves each game, but what I really like is how Emery emphasized in his press conference that we need to work on controlling the game and defending better even though we won. This is something we were completely ignoring under Wenger and I’ve also been labeled negative quite a few times for pointing this out.
Going back to the players though, Holding was fantastic. The boy is knocking on the door of Mustafi and it’ll be interesting to see young Rob paired with Sokratis. Although the defense still looks shaky, I think we’ve been decent with defensive headers. Something which was a major problem of the past and here Mustafi actually does well.
To be fair, another defender who I’ve been vastly critical of who did well today was Bellerin. I’m starting to see more confidence from him and actual tackles. Far too often I think Hector was just afraid to get close enough to opposition players, but if recent performances aren’t a fluke, we’re heading in the right direction.
There is one player that leads by example at Arsenal at the moment and that is Lacazette. His fighting spirit and desire should set a benchmark at the club. True, he missed a sitter, but his desire created that chance. True, an own goal opened the score, but Alex was there inviting Iwobi to cross and fortune favoured him. Minutes later he supplied Mesut to a goal. And he wasn’t first choice when Emery took over so he had to fight for his place and it was Aubameyang who got subbed. His hard work on the pitch was rewarded!
Excellent stuff. And our fixture list introduces more games that are winnable on paper. And you can see that the consecutive wins we have, have given us some confidence. We won a lot of those at home though and we now face 2 away trips where we have to show the necessary desire and grit to get the results.
Next up is a trip to Azerbaijan and I know a lot of people disregard the Europa League, but I want to us to win it. Any kind of trophy we could get our hands on is one we must try to win, to install a winning mentality. Right now, for the first time in quite a while a little sense of excitement and optimism is trying to break through inside me. But we must be patient.
Rebuilding the squad is a process that will not happen in a day. Neither is rebuilding the fans trust and support. Winning games though is definitely the way to go about this. That’s all I got for you today and I wish you all an amazing week in front of you!
Konstantin