“It’s good to come back to winning ways in the Premier League. It was a difficult first half, they pressed us really well, but we stuck to the game plan, and our quality showed in the second half.”- Aaron Ramsey.
Well, someone needs to remind the Welsh Jesus that yesterday’s 3-0 win at Watford means we have won three on the bounce, and five of the last six domestic games, scoring 14 and conceding just four! Well he scored so we’ll let him off the hook with this one. Yesterday’s second half blitz, which saw us score thrice in 12 minutes, meant Arsenal are only the second team to score at Vicarage Road in the league, and the first side to score more than two goals in a single game against Watford. Also, we’ve now scored 11 goals in the last three league games and 15 in our last five games in all competitions… but more importantly, we’ve now kept five clean sheets in nine league games. If only this were the case in the Champions League. Oh well. It’s also interesting to note that we had scored just five goals in our first six league games, but have now scored 11 in our last three; which means our chance conversion rate has improved from one goal from every 15 shots to one goal every 11 shots. But more on that in another post.
THE LINE-UP:
After nine games I think it’s pretty clear we have gotten into some sort of groove in as much as our first XI is concerned. Yesterday’s line-up featured just one change from the starting XI that blitzed United 3-0 last time out, with Mertesacker coming in for Gabriel who apparently was ill this week. Mertesacker might have come in for Gabriel either way though. Giroud’s brace for France in midweek still wasn’t enough to earn him a place in the starting XI as Theo continued to lead the line as has become the norm now. We are beginning to reap the rewards of signing Petr Cech by the way, as the Czech shot-stopper has now kept five clean sheets in nine and has the best save-to-shots percentage in the league (84%).
THE SET-UP:
“To beat Watford you have to be completely committed to the game. We faced a Watford team that was well organized and knew exactly what they wanted to do. They were very physical in the challenge and very strong in the challenges and very direct. These three things together, it took us a while to get on top of that. In the second half, the fatigue coming in, Watford came in less in the challenges and we got the ball quicker in transition and were much more dangerous.”- Arsene Wenger.
This is one which went according to script in a tactical sense. As I opined in my match preview, Watford would likely struggle to create chances and would not trouble our goal as often as other teams would. Indeed they had averaged 13 attempts on goal per game, and had just 8 attempts yesterday, with only one of those on target. And this attempt on target came in the 10th minute, meaning Cech was mainly a spectator for the rest of the game, save for an awkward clearance after a slight mix-up with Mertesacker. I also thought that Watford would attempt to press high up the pitch and try to get in our faces, and they certainly did so in the first half. We never really got out of first gear in the entire first period, and save for some particularly awful finishing from Odion Ighalo we perhaps would have found ourselves one down going into the break. We struggled to create any meaningful chances in the first half, I think Ramsey had two decent chances which he wasted and by half-time he had had four attempts, none of which were on target. His goal yesterday meant he's now scored one goal after 29 attempts since the season began... Which is more than we can say about Cazorla for instance, who is 0/22 after yesterday.
Watford were direct, and extremely physical. Troy Deeney was effective in this regard, throwing himself about and bullying Bellerin and Coquelin in the earlier stages of the game. Every time Gomes got the ball he sought to look for Deeney via long balls, and was successful six times in the first half. This was Watford’s second-most successful passing combination in that first half by the way for those who are interested, and you’ll struggle to find more successful long balls from a goalkeeper to a striker in the league. Mertesacker and Koscielny also struggled a little in dealing with two strikers. Mertesacker didn’t seem as assured as usual at times, and he ended up picking up his first yellow card of the season for it. Koscielny might have topped the charts in terms of tackles (4/4), interceptions (6), clearances (7/8) and headed clearances (4/5), but I counted at least three mistakes he made in the first half, one of which led to a Watford attempt on goal.
Some suggested that Watford would struggle to replicate this intensity in the second half, and this proved to be the case. Watford’s performance levels dropped in almost all parametresmeasurable in the second period:
FIRST HALF:
|
SECOND HALF:
| |
Passes (total)
|
126/172
|
99/133
|
Passes (attacking third)
|
38/64
|
30/52
|
Tackles
|
14/24
|
10/19
|
Interceptions
|
11
|
7
|
Clearances*
|
8/11
|
15/15
|
Fouls committed
|
3
|
8
|
*Clearances normally denote the amount of pressure a team is under. The more clearances a team is forced to make, the more pressure they are under.
Even whereas Gomes was able to find Deeney with six long balls in the first half, he was only able to do so twice in the second half. Watford were unable to sustain the intensity with which they started the game, and Arsenal took full advantage. For instance, while we had eight shots in the second half as compared to nine in the first, our shots accuracy more than doubled in the second period (22%-50%). This also repeated itself when it came to shots within Watford’s penalty box. 13 of our 17 shots came in Watford’s penalty area, seven in the first half and six in the second, but our accuracy tripled from 17% in the first to 57% in the second. We could also look at the number of shots that Watford allowed us to take in the penalty area, which was 6/9 in the first half (67%) but 7/8 in the second (88%). Last parameter now, Arsenal’s number of passes and passing accuracy in the final third, which improved from 67/88 (76%) in the first period to 102/120 in the second (85%).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH:
A truly tricky one for me to call this time round. I noted whoscored.com and goal.com both awarded this to Mesut Ozil, and seeing as he was credited with two assists it’s not hard to see why. The first was rather fortuitous however (I would give it to Cazorla) and seeing as Ozil had a difficult (read anonymous) first half as well, I’ll be giving my man-of-the-match to someone else. Someone whom, I believe, is and has been the most under-rated defender in the league for the past season and this, Nacho Monreal. The solid start he has made to the season has gone largely un-noticed, and yesterday he was spectacular. He will never have the same flash and pizzazz that his counterpart and compatriot Hector Bellerin on the other side, but he is mighty efficient and effective. 2/2 tackles made, 5 interceptions (2nd after Koscielny), 6/7 clearances, 4/4 headed clearances, 5/5 aerial duels won (1st), 89% passing accuracy and two chances created. I do feel for Kieran Gibbs, who’s being kept out of the side by the Spaniard’s stellar form.
Honourable mention to Coquelin whose work on the ball rather than off it has become of utmost importance to the team. He was 4/6 on successful take-ons (tied with Alexis) and is 16/18 on successful take-ons in the league overall. That must turn heads at least. He was also 69/73 on passing yesterday (95% accuracy). And for Giroud as well, for the part he played in two of our three goals. For those who were keen, Ramsey owed his goal in large part to Giroud… when Bellerin drove into the box, Giroud made a diagonal run and took two defenders with him, opening up the space for Ramsey to receive the pass, take a touch and slot home. Top stuff.
Right, Bayern Munich in a must-win clash at the Emirates on Tuesday to look forward to now. Till then!
*Images courtesy of Arsenal Media and the Stats Zone app*
*Quotes courtesy of Arsenal Media*
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