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[Ratings & goals] Watford 2-2 Arsenal: Sokratis & Luiz shambolic for woeful Gunners

By mac14 on September 15, 2019

Arsenal produced a second half collapse to throw away two valuable points with more individual errors costing us during a 2-2 draw with Watford this evening.

We started slowly but managed to grab the opening goal against the run of play as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired home on the turn in the 21st minute after being teed-up by Sead Kolasinac.

Arsenal took control and doubled their lead ten minutes later when Mesut Ozil released Ainsley Maitland-Niles with a superb pass and the right-back squared for Aubameyang to make it 2-0.

However, we shot ourselves in the foot to gift Watford a way back into the game just after the break. Sokratis saw his sloppy pass out from the back intercepted and Tom Cleverley fired home for 1-2 in the 53rd minute.

In true Arsenal style, we then gave away another penalty when David Luiz fouled Cleverley. Roberto Pereyra converted to make it 2-2 in the 81st minute and we had to hold on to take a point from a game that was in the bag at half-time.

Here are my ratings:

Leno 5.5/10 | Made a couple of decent saves and was left badly exposed by his team as he faced a staggering 31 shots from Watford. Handling looked suspect at times.

Maitland-Niles 6/10 | Grabbed an assist for the second goal and was always a threat going forward. Wasn’t our worst defender but was given plenty of problems by Gerard Deulofeu.

Sokratis 4/10 | What on earth was he thinking?! Shocking pass out from the back gifted Watford a way back into the game at 2-0. It was a crucial goal and ended up costing us two points.

Luiz 5/10 | Another error from the Brazilian as his clumsy challenge gave away the penalty for 2-2. Shame as he was playing okay until that point but he’s far too error prone – like the rest of the Arsenal defence. Time for Chambers and Holding?

Kolasinac 6/10 | Set up the opening goal but struggled defensively as he was targetted by Watford. Was given no protection to be fair.

Ceballos 6/10 | Crucial challenge to win possession in the build up to the opener and worked hard. Wasn’t as influential as we’d have expected going forward. Subbed in the 60th minute.

Guendouzi 5/10 | Sloppy play on the edge of his box twice gifted Watford chances. Needs to cut that out of his game. Worst performance of the season from him but we should expect the odd blip from the youngster. Subbed

Xhaka 6.5/10 | An improvement on his horror-show against Tottenham as he was far more disciplined today. However, his lack of pace and agility is still a big problem for Arsenal.

Ozil 6.5/10 | Superb through-ball created the second goal and was good when he was on the ball. Still showed he’s rusty which is to be expected but reasonable return from the German. Subbed.

Aubameyang 8/10 | Where would we be without him? Lovely turn and finish to break the deadlock and made no mistake to make it 2-0 with a tap in. His goals aside he also worked hard tracking back today. His poor hold-up play is a problem with Lacazette out of the team but his goals are crucial for us.

Pepe 5/10 | Frustrating display in all honesty. Struggled to make any real impact when well positioned but showed glimpses of his potential at times. It’s going to take some time to settle so hopefully we start to see the best of him soon.

Subs:

Willock 6/10 | A couple of decent runs but should have passed to Aubameyang late on when he was well positioned on the break.

Torreira 6/10 | At least he made effort to get back into position and protect the defence.

Nelson 5/10 | Got into some promising positions but was far too easily knocked off the ball or made the wrong decision.

This was another worrying performance from Arsenal. We were fortunate to be 2-0 up but instead of seeing out the game, we gifted Watford two cheap goals with more individual errors. We’ll go nowhere until the players cut out the basic mistakes. To make matters worse, the league’s bottom team created a staggering 31 shots against us today, which is embarrassing to say the least.

Unai Emery has failed to improve this side in 16 months and he really needs to get his philosophy stamped on the team – whatever that is. A few more performances like this on and the pressure will be on.

Here are the goals: