Everton v Arsenal. 23rd Aug at 17.30.

[davek]

When he was played on the right by Moyes. As in a right winger. Not even a right-sided forward.

He's been doing it for a long time now when he's played centrally with Lukaku. It's no fluke. He's a very hard-working, ball-winning, tidy player who's deadly in the box.

He's a great squad player. Great business picking him up for free.

He's contributing now yes. Let's hope he continues with that.

I'm not accepting he's something more than what I se with my own eyes though.

 

[marty mcfly]

Really?

I dont remember him picking the player of the season award up.

He's had a very decent bit of form in that period. Which, by the way, I think we were owed seeing as he looked like an ale house player for his first 18 months with us.

He played out on the wing Davek. Even I'm admitting we might have been wrong about him.

 

[davek]

The past 8 months, certainly. Who has been better? You do know the past 8 months doesn't equate to the whole of last season? Simple maths lad, keep up. 18 months? Bit of an exaggeration, he was recovering from a serious injury. Not the brightest are you?

Coleman has easily been our best player through the whole of last season. You think Naismith was more influential than say McCarthy in that time period too?

Not a chance.

 

[ilikecheese]

He wasn;t exclusively played by Moyes out wide...and even when he did he drifted inside all the time anyway. He never actually did the wide role at all.

I think all of the fuming you've done on here has clouded your memory mate.

 

[paulbefc]

probably, i think it's fair to say martinez has wenger's number. all 3 games between them in the league arsenal vs everton we've been the better team and could have possibly had 3 wins. 2 wins and a draw definitely should it be now.

maybe we'll be closer to them this season than i originally though and maybe they'll be battling it out for 4th instead of for the title - with the quality of their squad - it would be very embarassing for them.

Agreed.

Their wage bill is astronomical. 2.5 x ours. 3rd highest in the league.

I think unless they get a top class striker, we've proved we're more than a match for them.

 

[Mrk]

Absolutely gutted.

Really unprofessional performance in the second half, think Martinez got it wrong too.

 

[marty mcfly]

Well I am sorry lad but thats what people were eluding to during that time

People were saying that those performances would carry on into the proper games and they haven't, That just a fact, We have played well in the last two games, We all know why we have failed to win both

We do. Pre-season.

We aren't ready but sure there's no more point in arguing about it. As you said at least the performances up to when we look knackered is better than pre season and we lasted a bit longer this game.

 

[Bobby P]

could/should have had two penalties, and the tit wilshere should have been sent off. Two feet studs up and late thats a red all day

Penalties, fouls and cards are often given subjectively by the referee that's why we see such differences between the ways referees officiate games. As a result I'm willing to concede Lukaku's "foul" on Mertesacker, however, offsides, particularly in this case, are often black or white meaning the player is either onside or offside, there is no grey area which can be left to the subjectiveness of the officials unless they incident is ridiculously close and impossible for the naked eye to determine but in this case Naismith was 100% offside.

 

[ilikecheese]

LOL @ people still voting

 

[CahillsCornerFlag]

So, to summarise today:

Something about glass containers?

 

[toffeejack]

Agreed.

Their wage bill is astronomical. 1.5 x ours. 3rd highest in the league.

I think unless they get a top class striker, we've proved we're more than a match for them.

their back 5 and midfield two of arteta and wilshere (with flamini as backup for some reason) is just too suspectable. thought mertesacker and koscielney were good last season and debuchy is decent, but he's not as good as sagna. gibbs is okay at LB, but nothing special.

a team like city will run havoc in the middle like we did today and then have the strikers to score with ease like they did last season. chambers is good, but for the future, possibly could have done with buying an experienced CB for that money - but there's nothing wrong with looking towards the future.

can't base it all on just 3 games mind you. - they looked the real deal in charity shield.

 

[LinekersLegs]

Leaving Rom on when he was clearly injured wasn't one of Martinez's best ideas. Not only did he add little to our attack in the 2nd half but he couldn't do anything for defence either which meant Coleman & Mcarthy had to work overtime to make up for him and they ended up exhausted. Hope the injury to Rom isn't serious.

We really need another striker.

But we've played a lot worse at the start of seasons than this, at least when we are fresh we play some lovely football.

 

[meagher94]

We didn't tear them apart for 70 minutes imo.

Last April is tearing them apart. We took our chances and showed good game management for 60 odd minutes.

If Chamberlain had taken his chance before we scored it would have been a completely a different game.

Last week's result is much worse than this week's though as leicester are a team we should be beating and arsenal are a team that bearing a miracle will finish above us again

This is true to be fair, it's just more the manner in which we've lost today. I'd be annoyed if we blew a 2-0 goal with 6 or so minutes left against Real Madrid never mind Arsenal.

But yeah, we need to be aiming above Liverpool, Utd and Spurs rather than Arsenal, as they're almost certain to get top 4.

 

[marty mcfly]

He wasn;t exclusively played by Moyes out wide...and even when he did he drifted inside all the time anyway. He never actually did the wide role at all.

We also play a style that suits him more plus it generally takes a while for a player to get up to speed after joining a new club. What matters is now and he's 2 in 2 plus putting in MOM performances.

And Barkley's injured - He's the best we have and could get so it's time to get behind him.

 

[Bobby P]

If you're happy with how Arsenal played until the 70th, then you're as bad a kopite for being blinkered.

Yous were terrible. Just admit it. Because it'll hurt more when you get turned over by Chelsea's etc again.

70th? Like I've said in various other posts in this thread we were not that bad nor were you guys that good you simply capitalized on our left side falling asleep and a poor decision by the linesman for your 2 goals, did you do anything else besides score those 2 goals?

I'd argue that we asserted ourselves on the game immediately after half time with the first half being a bit of an end to end affair, we lacked the final ball when we got into the final third.