The warm feelings I had for Watford that were generated by spending so much time at their training ground for the Ultimate Worlds were reinforced by their hospitality towards the Gunners yesterday. Wenger put his slickest passers at the heart of his midfield, and Watford could not deal with Ozil, Xhaka, and Cazorla. They set up Alexis and the two wingers time after time, and at the end of our impressive first half Alexis returned the favor, putting a perfect cross onto Ozil's head as he streaked through on goal. 3-0 and a done deal. The second half was more of a slog. Watford must have been lectured rather severely in their halftime talk, and came out far more determined to make a game of it. And they did, with the help of some substitutions and an enervated Arsenal display. Poor decisionmaking by our three front men resulted in each of them trying an audacious chip at the end of a counter when a pass was on to a better-positioned teammate. A comedy defensive sequence for Arsenal (two successive attempted clearances bounced off defenders back into the six yard box) made the Watford goal possible, and they came close a few more times. But the three points were richly deserved.
I'm very concerned about the Ox. He was poor all game, and should have been substituted earlier. He looks short of stamina and his decisions are as bad as ever. His marvelous ball control skills and ability to take defenders on fooled me into thinking he was a potential number 10, but now he seems a poor choice for a number 7. Shame, really, but this may be his last chance to impress an Arsenal manager. Wenger may never lose faith in one of his boys, but his successor is not going to make this version of AOC a part of his plans.
Theo pleasantly surprised me. His defense is improving and he did everything you'd want from him on offense (except STAY ONSIDE more often). Yeah, he could have passed earlier once or twice, but he put some delicious crosses in that Oxlade-Chamberlain should have been looking for. Walcott is a good number 7, as is Alexis, whose time as frontman is I hope drawing to a close with the arrival of Lucas and return to full fitness of Giroud. Alexis really looked as though he was enjoying himself out there.
Ozil was his usual excellent self. This was Xhaka's best game for us. I liked Cazorla's contribution (but that penalty was not great). This is a midfield that will make EPL bottom half teams look pretty bad. Elneny was good when he came on too. Jack wasn't being Jacky enough except when he was being too Jacky (what a dumb foul); I suspect he will round into form in September, bag some goals in October, and then get injured and be out until February.
The defenders (I include the near-perfect Cech) did their jobs admirably. Monreal seemed to have the hardest time, but I think that was mostly the result of Watford's tactics and AOC's listless defending. Rob Holding seems to have the makings of a very good central defender.
The international break comes at a good time. Once more, Arsene Wenger has left points on the table by resting his Eurostars. No way does Liverpool score four if Koz is in there. But Wenger apparently thinks that points don't count in August. I think that may have been the sixth or seventh opening day loss in the last decade (it seems like it anyway). Having dropped five points in three games, we'll be climbing out of a hole from the start and may never catch the leaders.
I won't argue with the transfers. I don't know these two new guys from La Liga, but am hopeful. Certainly, Xhaka and Holding have improved the team already. Christian Bielek must be wondering if he'll ever get a start now. Per and Koz are still around, Gabriel and Shkodran look like their backups, and Holding could supplant one of them. Then there's Chambers behind him.
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