Watford v Arsenal review – Patience pays Gunners in gold

For quite a long time of this Premier League away game, Arsenal and all our talented and creative players were held at bay and matched by the hard working, determined and well drilled home side. Watford went into this game with the joint best defensive record in the league and having only conceded one, from the penalty spot, at Vicarage Road so it was not totally unexpected.

But the Gunners kept pressing and probing without doing our old gung ho thing and leaving ourselves open at the back. It was just past the hour mark when we finally broke through, Alexis Sanchez scoring a 10th goal in six games after a lovely passing move saw Ozil break through on goal.

Maybe the ref would have given a penalty for the tackle on Ozil but the Chilean took the decision away. Then the Hornets’ hard work seemed to catch up with them a bit and Arsenal went for the throat, adding two more in the next 12 minutes to move back above Man United on goal difference into second place.

Giroud scored the second after a great cut back from Ozil and then Ramsey finally broke his duck for the season after great work down the right by Hector Bellerin. Getting the Welshman off the mark and keeping up the heavy scoring could turn out to be just as important as the three points.

Tags Alexis Giroud Ramsey

82 Comments

    1. He came to us from sunny spain Sanchez Sanchez…he hate them scums from down the lane Sanchez Sanchez….he chose to come to London town and turn them f**cking scousers down ALEXIS Sanchez number 17!!

      Come on gunners!!!!!!!

      1. where would we be without alexis?
        where would liverpool be lol

        brendan must watch the highlights an curse alexis gf like….that h*e- shes ruined everything

        1. i hate rodgers for what he did to us with suarez. sanchez is a good pay back. i wish wenger couldve held on to our good players the way rodgers “protected” suarez.

    1. We’ve become good at grinding out results all of a sudden. In the Premier League at least. We have the joint lowest goals conceded so far this season.

      1. cech has given us a couple of points already. in previous years, the martial attack would have yielded a goal and MU couldve drawn. difference to last nov/dec: cech , coq and walcott. also good that giroud is fighting back.

  1. Ramsey needs to be benched and Chambo needs to start ASAP.
    Ramsey loses too many balls and his shooting is bad.

    1. Couldn’t agree more…Ramsey is not near his best. And yet he is starting every week.ox needs to start more often

      1. lets start ox versus bayern. give him the full 90, and depend on ramsey for everton.
        i’d also put arteta and flam both in CDM and give coq a rest or at least 45min.
        my heart says to field our strongest versus bayern, my brain says “as long as we dont get demolished, just do the minimum”.
        i’d start walcott at bayern and giroud next sat at everton.

    2. Sorry did you watch the game? Ramsey did fluff many shots, but he got in those positions because of his great movement, and his touch and turns today were brilliant and he linked the play really well, if you can’t see it, i’m happy that Arsene play rambo over chambo
      look i really like champ too, but he’s the one who loses too many balls, if he can better his link-up play and decision making he can start over ramsey but till then ramsey starts!

      1. LOL suggest you learn to count … Turn on your TiVo and count the number of fluffed balls and misplaced passes from Ramsey … Even the goal was fluffed …. We won cos 2 of our three world class forward minded players delivered .. Santi a bit off today … And kos and coq provide stability at back but If we play Walcott Ramsey and mert against the krauts we will take a spanking … Was Gabriel jet lagged? I don’t understand he needs to play every game to build up partnerships … And play Walcott or ox on the wing it’s ridiculous the only player putting in crosses is bellerin

    3. Hahaha.. Thats the same old statement, whenever Ramsey has a mare we say “The OX has to start”. But we have been saying this for the past 2-3 seasons, Wenger keeps giving him that chances but he always bottles it. He will look amazing as a substitute but once he starts we might as well be playing with 10 men, he does fck all when he starts..

    4. it seems u have just started following arsenal ox is the player who most often loses the ball in dangerous areas Monaco west ham and few more games I remember clearly the problem is not losing the ball every creative player can’t have 100% take on the problem lies that ox don’t track back but Ramsey does also among our offensive players Rambo has the highest % of tackles won I.e he is a good tackler u r still not getting the plot Ramsey provides balance and protection to midfield which ox can and will provide but not now season is long ox will get enough chances to prove himself I hope he eventually does that

      1. really hope ox can smell the way things are going. to be selected, he must up his defensive game, firstly, and also take shots. today he couldve taken one but passed instead.

    5. Did you watch Ox when he started against Olympiakos, or the game against Lithuania.
      It’s the Ox who gives away the ball too often especially in dangerous areas.
      That’s why AW uses him as a 2nd half sub. By the time he came on the Watford players were knackered
      COYG A fighting win – 3 goals 3 points and another clean sheet. We’ve conceded fewest goals in EPL

  2. Deeney Exhausted……….. Ighalo Neutralized……….. Quintez sanchez flores Left in the cold……. Watford exterminated!

  3. It was great to see all our players who scored on international duty during the week, was on the board again! Alexis, ramsey, giroud! Coyg!

    1. You mean it’s great to see how all our players who scored today also scored on International duty. We had others ..Theo Campbell Cazorla Oxlade.

  4. Good win!

    Looked like it was going to be one of those tough games but then who else than alexis to score the first goal.

    Coyg

    1. No way should OG start ahead of Theo. Theo should start but on the right of OG.
      OG on set pieces is such a weapon. He had a commanding header today. The modern game is sometimes played in the air and Theo doesn’t offer that. Theo doesn’t even bother trying attack goal kicks while OG will fight for them and like today on a long kick from Cech controls and regains possession.
      I believe Ramsey can play in a more central role and that means shared time with Santi.

      1. luckily we need 2 strikers: one for tue and a different one for next sat vs everton.
        they can both have their chance (until we get knocked out of CL)

  5. Played like we didn’t know what we were doing in the first half which is normally what we do after the international break.

    Brilliant second half. Sanchez and Ramsey’s work ethics and Ozil and Cazorla’s extra input really made a difference. And good to see Ramsey finally bag a goal.

    1. also good to see ozil battling with players a bit more to get the ball back. he’s improved under wenger (even tho while OG was playing at CF, we werent playing the fast break style that best suits ozil). hope theo can bounce back.

    1. in copa america, alexis went up against messi, higuain, lavezzi and triumphed. he’s playing better than i’ve ever seen him play. fingers crossed he doesn’t get inju*.

  6. Listen Baby Please!

    Positives
    1. Great away form continues
    2. Alexis scoring continues
    3. Giroud scoring is great but even better is that this will put pressure on Walcott to improve. Competition will help Walcott
    4. Aaron Ramsey has finally scored
    5. Defense is solid.

    1. and far fewer injuries since we got our new med staff. also like that many different players are scoring (and ozil, cazorla and theo also scored during international break so they have the taste too).

  7. Shoutout to Coquelin, Koscielny, Cech, and Monreal. So consistent which is what we need back there.

    Hector played well too and got the assist after a great run. Love seeing him improve game by game.

  8. this is the kind of win which is equally important as win against manu as all our rivals won today even chelski won courtesy brad guzan this shows the mental toughness which we r getting it could have easily been 1-0 at half time but players kept calm and in the end 3 pta came home.Now about match this game shows exactly the importance of having a player like giroud u just see the impact of giroud against bottom half teams so both giroud and wallcott are necessary depending on opponenets also ozil had a very good game glad that Rambo scores now come on u Bavarians just please home supporters please make arsenal a fortress like Highbury rest our players will se interesting times ahead

  9. We raise the bar in the 2nd half…..Six goals in our last two games in the league. Delighted!……………….Welldone to the lads.

    Bellerin is gonna be a world class RB soon…..He is still improving remember..

    Monreal is soooo under rated.. Dude has really improved drastically. He played CB at times last season. that really helped him more defensively.

    Up next Bayern Munich…..Arsenal All The Way!

    1. not to you Uzi Ozil but to the point u raised about monreal, that he improved his game massively because of the patch where he played as a cb, i know many here had a reason to criticize wenger for not buying a cb then but many here also bashed the prof that he wouldn’t know whom to play where… look u haters before teaching wenger on tactics just think a bit more about it.. wenger knows one or two things about developping players.. (Alexis became a beast under the prof, he was great before to, but now much much more) how did that turn out? monreal went on to become one the top 3 left backs in the league and we got gabriel in the january window would you have liked some other cb? i like how it turned out and wouldn’t have it any other way

    2. what a point Uzi Wenger told at the AGM
      ‘WE R VERY PLEASED WITH OUR PURCHASES BUT EQUALLY PLEASED WITH EMERGENCE OF COQUELIN AND BELLERIN BUT THEY DONT GET ENOUGH CREDIT’
      I think that coq belle and nacho don’t get the credit for what they are doing since Jan 2015 its time we appreciate them little more

    3. admin please allow Hafiz comments also we need every supporters behind the team against Bayern time to repair the damage in europe
      coyg show those Bavarians how game is played

  10. I have to admit watford was indeed stubborn and had their chances! But we should determination and fight,the reward 3goals and 3 hardfought points! Coyg!

  11. Impressive team performance.. Impressive Ozil, thumbs up to him for going to the top of assist chart. (correct me if am wrong) two assist today, Sanchez’s goal was counted as an assist from Ozil. Nice goal Giroud.
    Ramsey? *sighs* fair play though, but i said it before and i got thumb downs when i said he’s gonna waste lots of our balls cause he’s always talking bout scoring.
    Bellerin? I dont care what any of you think but he’s World class for someone his age.
    Hoping for a draw in the Manchester derby

  12. I never saw a player that passes the ball while he is going down infront of goal
    He didin’t force the penalty or shoot he put the ball on a gold plate to alexis what a player

  13. Ramsey was far below average.

    he gives away the ball carelessly.

    he lacks imagination

    he is too slow.

    he tries so many unecsssary moves.

    what da …….

    he should be on the bench for a championship side.

    anyway it isn’t his fault.

    When the place of proper reasoning is being substituted for quantised delusions

    what do u expect?

    1. Ramsey scored and should had another if the referee played our advantage instead of stopping the gamec and bringing it back for a free kick. He also missed a good chance so he could have had a hatrick. What more can be do?

  14. lol… Piers Morgan be like “i would swap the Ox for what’shisname…
    you know who that is?
    whatshisname got pregnant on the pitch

  15. Super ozil,duracell,power bnk,power house sanchez,finally won the game,most of the credit wl wnt to our defenders for keeping themselves consistent nd composed,had it been they becme exposed at a time that our mdflders nd attckers become reluctant,wtfrd cld hv conceeded unequalize goal.,bt stl is a great team work frm ol the players.up up gunners kwankwasiyya.!!

  16. how many of u agree that in holding the ball and getting them out of tight space very few can come close to little Spanish magician he is like Picasso of painting knowing precise details of art

  17. Winning at any cost was essential it wasn’t our best performance but the win was just as important as the utd one. Once again the class of out trio S.O.S outshone all the rest, thier on a different level amazing individual performances from all 3.

    To the ramsey n Ox debate yes it’s true at times ox can look like a world beater but too many times he bottles it or makes very poor decisions so subs bench is just about right for him. But let’s get one thing straight that does not mean ramsey is a class act etc etc far from it he is bang average and yes wenger is purely playing him becuase of his work rate nothing else, the guy is clumsy, dilly dallys on the ball too often slowing things down if it wasn’t for the excellent bellerin the right hand side would be non existent. I can also sense someone saying “Hector n ramsey compliment each other” etc rubbish ox unfortunately due to his defensive deficiencies is letting himself down sort that out and he has a chance.

    My personal choice when fit would be a front three of sanchez walcott and Danny boy yep welbeck (attack n defend)

    Onto tuesday don’t really care about result it’s too far gone now let’s be realistic and purely concentrate on a good premier league run.

    1. i’d like to see front3 of sanchez, walcott and bellerin (jeez: that sounds VERY fast).
      plus it’d give debuchy a chance to get his mood sorted out.

  18. With this Arsenal victory today over Watford, the Gunners have overcome their mental block of not putting away 3 consecutives Barclays Premier League wins.

  19. Listen baby please

    As impressive as we were, City was even more impressive winning 5-1 without Aguero and Silva

    They made good signings with De Bruyne, Sterling. Bony played really well. Fantastic player to have as a backup CF.

    United looking good. Chelsea and Costa are improving

    We need Giroud, Oxlade, Walcott, Ramsey to all step up their game. They are playing well but need them to play even better.

    I have no concerns about Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, our defense and Cech.

    1. What you see may be true and are perhaps warranted when transfer season again arrives but………..

      Arsenal can only worry about Arsenal. Arsenal can only control Arsenal’s game and Arsenal can only play with the player’s they have.

      If Arsenal is playing well we should celebrate that because that is what we can do as Arsenal fans.

    2. You are right – City is a fantastic team right now. But I would not put so much stock in the 5 goal performance vs. Bournemouth. Remember Arsenal scored 5 against a much better Leicester squad. I am not worried about one 5 goal performance but City are VERY good as their overall results have shown.

      1. wish the fixtures had us playing MC soon. as it is , we dont play them until dec. but may be ok if by then we’re out of CL so ALL of our players will be focused only on BPL.

  20. Somebdy was comentng that alexis should be rested when we face watford! Hope he has seen hw wrong he was!

  21. Interesting to see the different views, both good and bad, of Ramsey’s performance. The reality is BOTH are true.

    Ramsey’s energy, movement and ability to find good positions, both offensively and defensively, was absolutely outstanding.

    On the other hand, I kept throwing my arms up in frustration when he would continually dink around with the ball in dangerous positions even though he had several clear passing options that would have propelled Arsenal forward or out of danger. This was part of his problem back in 2012 when he was playing horribly.

    Both are true. Parts of Ramsey’s game are excellent. Other parts are frustrating to watch.

  22. Arsenal win= Good weekend.

    Na na na na….. Girrrrouuudddddddd hahaha I love the supporters song for him and Santi Cazorla

  23. They call him Alexis______I call him GOAL MACHINE
    They call him Ozil_____but he is KING OF ASSIST
    His name Bellerin, they said he is Right Back____but he’s RIGHT SIDE PLAY MAKER.
    They call it Arsenal_____but its actually BEST TEAM.
    #COYG

  24. Love when we do that 15 minute spell of magic! Worth the hour wait, nice, patient and convincing win. #COYG

    1. like a boxer, we should start putting away teams in 1st 30mins. then its game over and we can give players like ox, arteta, flam etc a bit of a run. you could see today we were trying to do the same as we did versus MU. kudos to watford for a very good 1st defensive half.

      1. i think its also important to realize that when we go all out in 1st 30mins and dont get anything that we shouldnt despair. it knackers the other team out. and they will inevitably hang off us in the 2nd half. i bet we’ll see this pattern more and more. also important is the impact cech is having. by not letting that 1 goal in now and then, he gives no mental respite to the other team, no emotional energy for them.

  25. I think it’s a little unfair to single Ox out as giving away the ball, I thought they were all giving the ball away in dangerous situations very easily in the last half of the first half.. even Sanchez, but maybe he was tired. Relieved that we won, and Watford looked to have put too much effort into the first half, I was beginning to fear a 0-0 draw, but once we got the first goal, they had to change tactics.

    Had to have a laugh at the commentator mentioning Kronke at the match like he really cared… he doesn’t give a stuff, it was only a cheap day out as he was in the country for the AGM.

    1. You are exactly right. Ox gave the ball away ONLY when he was just on the pitch and not quite up to match pace.

      Otherwise, he performed well and had no more poor touches than any other player.

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