I think the equalizer saved Poch his job, but it must still be hanging by a thread. What the hell has happened to Kane?
Agreed. It may be that this bunch need to learn how to win ugly in order to appreciate how good it was to win pretty.
It's pretty awful, but we've not had any luck in terms of going behind early, and the opposition scoring with just about every shot they have.
Teams have become inspired when they play us because they believe they can get a result. That's what we have to stop and a draw although not brilliant is a step in the right direction. If you doubt the inspiration to play beyond their usual standard look at all the cramps our oppositions have suffered in recent games. I still think we will turn this around.
The real worry is that Poch is being reactive rather than proactive, as evidenced by bringing 3ATB out of cold storage in a bid to try and bring the full backs into games Add to that the issue that, while Aurier was brought into the game, it took him the best part of 80 minutes to get a decent cross in - which is pitiful That and our left flank once again ceasing to exist past the halfway line, with Winks being the closest we had to a left winger
We have to give Watford some credit, they are a better team than bottom of the league. They have also had a recent manager change and so are bound to be getting that `new manager bounce` and extra effort from their players. They defended as their lives depended on it, but only created a few half chances on the break as we pushed forward in search of an equalizer. We dominated the game but are lacking that final pass or cross at the moment, which is why it is all the more important we find some quality fullbacks and have our creative players on form or fully committed.
I obviously didn't watch the whole game, so not sure if there were other incidents, but would be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on the Vertonghen challenge on Deulofeu? Personally, I thought it was quite a blatant foul. Couldn't believe, upon review from VAR, the officials thought it wasn't a clear and obvious error to not award that as a penalty. Vertonghen gets nowhere near the ball. People have been lamenting VAR, but for me, VAR isn't the issue. It's how the rules around it have been applied and the way the officials are misusing it. It's not just about today's incidents, but throughout the entire season thus far, there have been a series of decisions that have been highly questionable. The way it's been implemented has caused more confusion and grief than it was intended to. I am hoping (probably naively) that these are just teething problems, as this is the first rollout of VAR in the PL. Ah, who am I kidding...
Typical Gooner commenting on Vertonghen's challenge but failed to see Pereyra's challenge on Danny Rose in the box prior to that! Must be the Wenger in you coming out!
Sorry mate was right in front of me and looked like a total dive...no way was it a penalty...lardass didn't even bother to argue as he trotted back.
Fair shout RCL I was watching it online so you had a better view of it. I just get pissed off with gooners coming on here trying to be impartial when they've clearly got an agenda!
One thing that struck me today is how so many fans target winks. He made 2 mistakes in the second half... gave the ball away in their half and gave the ball away on the edge of our box and he got dogs abuse from fans around me yet Toby, Jan, Rose, Sanchez and Aurier were pretty piss poor throughout and nothing was said... I never get on players backs during games cos it seems pointless to me and counterproductive but I do not understand how the defence ... particularly Rose...all get a free pass yet winks is constantly slaughtered.
For the most part we made it easier for them to defend as we played far too centrally that it made it not only easier for them to stay compact but gave them reason to, although since going wide usually led to Aurier giving them a goal kick or a throw in to waste as much time as they could before bringing the ball into play neither option seemed particularly fruitful It's the thing about the designated lightning rod, once it's decided that Player A is the source of all our problems the one mistake they make gets howled at...while multiple mistakes from their teammates don't The one thing I don't get is how the Twitter/Reddit crowd keep handwringing about us harassing Trippier out the door in the summer as if he was a model professional and not a mistake waiting to happen who never took responsibility for his ****ups, but pretend that the likes of Lamela and Sissoko have been lightning rods and transcended that by not being ****e and then blaming everyone else for it after being sold
