Arsenal: Another pre-season defensive calamity as fans fume after Mohamed Elneny’s error vs Warford

Arsenal may have beaten Watford 4-1 in their behind closed doors friendly at London Colney, but yet some fans still couldn’t hide their frustration following another mistake defensively.

The Gunners emphatically beat Watford, who are preparing for life back in the Premier League, on Wednesday afternoon thanks to goals from Eddie Nketiah, Alexandre Lacazette, Kieran Tierney and Miguel Azeez.

But after Nketiah put Arsenal 1-0 ahead with a brilliant finish, Mikel Arteta’s men gifted Watford a route back into the game after sloppy play from Mohamed Elneny.

Arsenal tried to play out from the back with Bernd Leno playing a short ball to Elneny in the penalty area, but the Egyptian was tackled after trying to dribble his way out of trouble – which subsequently led to Watford’s equaliser through Philip Zinckernagel.

Some Arsenal fans immediately took to Twitter to express their anger at the latest mistake from their side after playing out from the back.

One frustrated Arsenal supporter simply said on social medai: ‘Ah yes same old arsenal smh.’

Another fan fumed: ‘How can we be taken seriously when we have players like elneny still repping us.’

‘Time and time again, we get caught up. If that’s not working, we need to adopt a new game plan tbh,’ another social media user said.

And finally, one Arsenal supporter admitted he is not ready for the ‘imminent torture’ of the new season.

‘Trying cutbacks just yards away from the goal. Even them Makelele didn’t dare. Much as I want football to start again, the thought of this imminent torture silently kills me!’

Arsenal were plagued by defensive errors last season under Arteta – gifting goals to the opposition – which contributed to their lowly eighth-placed finish in the Premier League.

And it has frustratingly been a recurring theme in pre-season so far too, following errors in the defeat at Hibs and draw against Rangers at Ibrox.

Against Hibs, young debutant goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo completely missed his kick as the ball bounced towards him following a tricky back pass, allowing Martin Boyle to tap home into an empty net.

And just days later at Ibrox, weak defending from two corners led to both of Rangers’ goals in a 2-2 draw.

Arteta will be desperate that these sloppy defensive mistakes are cut out before the 2021-22 Premier League season gets underway against newly-promoted Brentford on August 13.

But for now, Arteta will have been pleased after his stars got more minutes under their belts against Watford on Wednesday afternoon.

Nketiah put the Gunners ahead with a delightful finish after cutting in from the left before Watford’s equaliser.

But Arsenal cruised to victory in the second half, with Lacazette putting his side back in front from the penalty spot.

Tierney then smashed home Arsenal’s third from close range before highly-rated youngster Azeez put the icing on the cake with a fantastic left-footed curled effort into the corner.

Source: m.allfootballapp.com