Everton 2-2 Arsenal
(Coleman 19, Naismith 45: Ramsey 83, Giroud 90)
39,490
What in the hell are we playing at? Seven minutes left in our first two games, we're 2-1 and 2-0 up. dominated possession, spent the majority of both games looking pretty damn comfortable. And come away with 2 points instead of 6. What. The actual. Fuck.
There are three glaring concerns here. The first is up front. We are so painfully reliant on Lukaku, even when he doesnt look like he's doing a lot, he is vital to our whole system and making our midfield work. We couldnt take him off when he'd run into the ground last week, and we fell apart when he went off with an injury today. The ball never stayed in Arsenal's half once after he went off, we had absolutely nothing up there to hold that ball up and relieve the pressure. We need another striker before the window shuts. Not because Lukaku is a problem, but we saw the worst of him last season when he took a few knocks and needed a break out of the side, something we couldnt give him until he actually got injured at Liverpool. He struggled from playing every single game. We've played only two games and this is already a huge problem that has played a big part in dropping 4 points. God help us when the Europa League starts next month...
Second is our central defenders, what the hell are they doing? Its as if they've never met each other before, or even played football. I can understand defenders making mistakes, or being done up by a bit of skill from an attacker. But these are basic schoolboy bullshit errors. Last week Distin dissolved into Bambi on ice and let himself get bullied all over the place by a fella who physically cant touch him, while Jagielka couldnt win a header. This week, the pair of them stood still and watched Aaron Ramsey tap one in, and for the second, Jagielka let a cross go way over his head, and Distin was utterly bullied again by Giroud who scored with pretty much a standing header. Absolutely fucking unforgiveable crap. The pair of them need their heads banging together because they've played like fucking amateurs these first two games and cost us 3 out of 4 goals we've conceded.
The third is far more worrying as a whole. Our lack of fitness is alarming. Two games, up until about 70-75 minutes, we've not just dominated, but we've done it with ease. Before that point last week, Leicester had maybe one shot on goal, and today Arsenal were the most beaten of beaten sides. That last 15-20 minutes...we were fucked. We dropped off so much, it was like a complete role reversal, and the opposition spent the rest of the games growing stronger and stronger to the point I was relieved they only equalised so late because we'd have surely lost both games had they gone on any longer than they did. Our poor pre season didnt bother me in terms of results, or even performances. Pre season is just all about fitness. On that note, our pre season looks a fucking abysmal one, I know no team is at their optimum in August, but at the moment, we are looking like a brow beaten side at the end of a very long season. That is very very concerning.
For the majority of today, we were great. Pienaar got injured very early on, a bit of a sickener after such a top performance last week, but in the short term, we got everything right with our changes, as Osman came on, pushing Lukaku out to the wing where he had so much success against Arsenal last season, with Naismith playing through the middle. Not many chances either end, Coleman stupidly presenting Oxlade-Chamberlain with a chance he should have done better with. Made up for it a few minutes later when he gave us the lead, heading in Barry's beautiful far post cross. Mirallas should have made it 2-0 almost immediately, but was too busy diving on the floor looking for a penalty instead of trying to score when one on one. We did get a deserved second though when Lukaku got the better of both Mertesacker and Chambers in his own half before running forward and sliding in Naismith who finished between Szczesny's legs. Naismith looked offside, but having had two equalisers wrongly disallowed in home defeats to Arsenal in recent years, I cant say Im all that sympathetic to Wenger's moaning. Second half wasnt quite so good, but despite Arsenal improving with the introduction of Giroud for the utterly hopeless Alexis Sanchez (who met every stereotype of the fancy dan foreigner who doesnt like the rough stuff) we were still pretty comfortable. But the signs were there, Lukaku had slowed down, and Mirallas had vanished completely (well, other than being offside every time he reappeared...). But then Lukaku went off, and we just could not get the ball away, allowing Arsenal to regain their confidence in possession, coupled with another attacking pair of subs as Wenger was clearly just going for the all or nothing gamble, taking off the awful Wilshere and ineffective Oxlade-Chamberlain for Campbell and Cazorla. And once Jagielka and Distin stood perfectly still and watched a low cross trundle all the way across the penalty area for Ramsey to tap in ahead of Osman and Baines, you just knew what was coming. And Jags and Distin excelled themselves as illustrated above. An absolute sickener of a result that you can accept when you've lost two points through the skill of the opposition. But that really was a case not of two points dropped, but two points absolutely pissed away. As well as we played for much of the game, a hell of a lot more to worry about than be pleased about today.
There are three glaring concerns here. The first is up front. We are so painfully reliant on Lukaku, even when he doesnt look like he's doing a lot, he is vital to our whole system and making our midfield work. We couldnt take him off when he'd run into the ground last week, and we fell apart when he went off with an injury today. The ball never stayed in Arsenal's half once after he went off, we had absolutely nothing up there to hold that ball up and relieve the pressure. We need another striker before the window shuts. Not because Lukaku is a problem, but we saw the worst of him last season when he took a few knocks and needed a break out of the side, something we couldnt give him until he actually got injured at Liverpool. He struggled from playing every single game. We've played only two games and this is already a huge problem that has played a big part in dropping 4 points. God help us when the Europa League starts next month...
Second is our central defenders, what the hell are they doing? Its as if they've never met each other before, or even played football. I can understand defenders making mistakes, or being done up by a bit of skill from an attacker. But these are basic schoolboy bullshit errors. Last week Distin dissolved into Bambi on ice and let himself get bullied all over the place by a fella who physically cant touch him, while Jagielka couldnt win a header. This week, the pair of them stood still and watched Aaron Ramsey tap one in, and for the second, Jagielka let a cross go way over his head, and Distin was utterly bullied again by Giroud who scored with pretty much a standing header. Absolutely fucking unforgiveable crap. The pair of them need their heads banging together because they've played like fucking amateurs these first two games and cost us 3 out of 4 goals we've conceded.
The third is far more worrying as a whole. Our lack of fitness is alarming. Two games, up until about 70-75 minutes, we've not just dominated, but we've done it with ease. Before that point last week, Leicester had maybe one shot on goal, and today Arsenal were the most beaten of beaten sides. That last 15-20 minutes...we were fucked. We dropped off so much, it was like a complete role reversal, and the opposition spent the rest of the games growing stronger and stronger to the point I was relieved they only equalised so late because we'd have surely lost both games had they gone on any longer than they did. Our poor pre season didnt bother me in terms of results, or even performances. Pre season is just all about fitness. On that note, our pre season looks a fucking abysmal one, I know no team is at their optimum in August, but at the moment, we are looking like a brow beaten side at the end of a very long season. That is very very concerning.
For the majority of today, we were great. Pienaar got injured very early on, a bit of a sickener after such a top performance last week, but in the short term, we got everything right with our changes, as Osman came on, pushing Lukaku out to the wing where he had so much success against Arsenal last season, with Naismith playing through the middle. Not many chances either end, Coleman stupidly presenting Oxlade-Chamberlain with a chance he should have done better with. Made up for it a few minutes later when he gave us the lead, heading in Barry's beautiful far post cross. Mirallas should have made it 2-0 almost immediately, but was too busy diving on the floor looking for a penalty instead of trying to score when one on one. We did get a deserved second though when Lukaku got the better of both Mertesacker and Chambers in his own half before running forward and sliding in Naismith who finished between Szczesny's legs. Naismith looked offside, but having had two equalisers wrongly disallowed in home defeats to Arsenal in recent years, I cant say Im all that sympathetic to Wenger's moaning. Second half wasnt quite so good, but despite Arsenal improving with the introduction of Giroud for the utterly hopeless Alexis Sanchez (who met every stereotype of the fancy dan foreigner who doesnt like the rough stuff) we were still pretty comfortable. But the signs were there, Lukaku had slowed down, and Mirallas had vanished completely (well, other than being offside every time he reappeared...). But then Lukaku went off, and we just could not get the ball away, allowing Arsenal to regain their confidence in possession, coupled with another attacking pair of subs as Wenger was clearly just going for the all or nothing gamble, taking off the awful Wilshere and ineffective Oxlade-Chamberlain for Campbell and Cazorla. And once Jagielka and Distin stood perfectly still and watched a low cross trundle all the way across the penalty area for Ramsey to tap in ahead of Osman and Baines, you just knew what was coming. And Jags and Distin excelled themselves as illustrated above. An absolute sickener of a result that you can accept when you've lost two points through the skill of the opposition. But that really was a case not of two points dropped, but two points absolutely pissed away. As well as we played for much of the game, a hell of a lot more to worry about than be pleased about today.
Everton Man of the Match
James McCarthy. He's a fucking machine. Ive never known a player with so much energy and he's made of kevlar. Great player.
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