Arsenal 0-0 Everton. 16th April @ 19.45.

[The Hibbert Agenda]

Pienaar should have scored early on, and Barkley's effort could easily have gone in.

Barkley's would have been a wonder though, that's what I mean.

Agreed though, Pienaar's should have been a goal. Vic could have done better with his too. And Mirallas at the end. We can accuse our players in that case of maybe not being clinical enough, but aside for 1 very good chance super early in the game and 2 other half chances, it was tough to even get into those positions. I'm not bemoaning our wastefulness because I think the absence of goals in those positions were down to the players limitations in executing difficult finishes (once again, except pienaar).

 

[icburns]

If Giroud was half as good as he is handsome he'd be better than Messi.

He's no Vellios, like.

 

[Bungle]

4) The look on the linesman's face when Vic went mad at him for awarding Arsenal the throw-in was one of the greatest things I've seen in a long time. Please tell me someone has a screenshot or a gif of it- the man was (rightfully) fearing for his life

Haha that was great, he looked like he was about to rip the linesman in half, can't remember the linesman's face but I remember he put his hands up as if to say "please spare me Vic, I'm sorry".

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Arsenal let themselves down tonight. A right bunch of fannies constantly looking to go down too easy and in the ear of the ref. Snidey tactics, I wouldn't be happy if Everton turned out like that.

Totally agree.

In a weird way I took it as a compliment that they were resorting to that kind of snide behaviour, particularly in the opening 20 minutes or so, as they were being bossed on their own turf & they obviously couldn't cope with it.

Wenger is a classless helmet.

 

[Tree13]

In isolation that was a really good performance and a good result.
Arsenal played excellently, and despite that we defended resolutely but without parking the bus, we still tried (in vain) to get the result.

My conclusions:

1) Good on Moyes for going for it. He had Heitinga, Neville and Hitz available on the bench, and 6 months ago you know they would have started instead of Barkley if Osman were injured. No use saying what if but maybe he should have been equally as proactive in our games vs Reading, Norwich, etc.

2) Barkley had a good game. He is clearly inexperienced, his decision-making in my opinion is quite poor. But this will improve only through more game-time. Hopefully we've crossed this threshold and he'll be appearing regularly.

3) Vic put in a good shift but just couldn't deal with being double-marked and having so much attention on him. I don't think he reverted to his old sulky self, I just think he was up against opponents that had his number yesterday. On the trajectory he's on he'll be able to deal with this better in time, but yesterday he simply wasn't good enough. Not a criticism of him, Jelavic would not have done anywhere near as well.

4) The look on the linesman's face when Vic went mad at him for awarding Arsenal the throw-in was one of the greatest things I've seen in a long time. Please tell me someone has a screenshot or a gif of it- the man was (rightfully) fearing for his life

5) Our defense has been fantastic recently. Funny to think we couldn't keep clean sheets at all this season. can't put my finger on why that would have been. this is how Everton defences work.

6) Pienaar was not at his best. We definitely need more options on the wings for next season. Oviedo? dunno.

7) Baines' set pieces last night were poor considering how they would have been our best chances to score. I know they helped us get our win vs QPR, but I don't think he beat the first man once last night.

8) I just don't see how we could have gotten the result last night aside for a bit of luck. Arsenal's defending and pressing nullified our general attacking play. Aside for deflected goals, or maybe an Arsenal player slipping, I don't think any of our players (with the exception of Pienaar) could have changed this by 'upping their game'- most of the players were already at this level.

9) 7 losses in 51, 5 more games to play. Let's get 15 points.

Agree with all the above, particularly the bits I've put in bold. It's infuriating to think that we can play this well against moneybags teams with subs who cost more than our starting 11 combined, yet we get rolled over by the likes of Norwich and Reading. The sh1te draws pre-Christmas have come back to haunt us too: QPR in October, Fulham and Norwich in November, Stoke in December. That's six games against mediocre teams, from which we took just FOUR points. Not to mention the horrendous officiating in the Newcastle draw and the Derby.

Re Baines, he looks as if he's been carrying a knock ever since the FA Cup win against Cheltenham in January - remember the state his shins were in when he came off and had ice put on both legs? I think he's played every minute of every game since then.

Fellaini looked an absolute beast back in CM, and it's no coincidence that we played better, more attractive football with him playing box to box. I'd leave him there and give Barkley a run in the no.10 position.

Coleman was awesome, Mirallas was a constant threat, Gibbo looked more assured with Felli next to him. All round a good performance and a good result. It was also an entertaining game to watch!

 

[Loz]

After a night to sleep on it, I stick with my previous opinions really.

Decent point

Ref was pretty rubbish, but did us a favour to not send Gibbo off

Barkley should start against Sunderland

Jelavic should not play again until he bucks his ideas up and is prepared to put a shift in. "Jogging" after the ball the way he does is not acceptable

Great performance by Seamus

Jags should be a 1st choice England CB

Felli did a lot of good work in the middle

We'll need to win 4 out of the last 5 and draw the other to make CL in my opnion

Well said Mikey, I agree entirely with your conclusions. I think that Pienaar looked a little tired though yesterday and I think that maybe Oviedo needs a run in the side. If we can accommodate them in the same side, I see the pace of Oviedo, Coleman and Mirallas genuinely terrifying defenders.

 

[Philw]

Barkley's would have been a wonder though, that's what I mean.

Agreed though, Pienaar's should have been a goal. Vic could have done better with his too. And Mirallas at the end. We can accuse our players in that case of maybe not being clinical enough, but aside for 1 very good chance super early in the game and 2 other half chances, it was tough to even get into those positions. I'm not bemoaning our wastefulness because I think the absence of goals in those positions were down to the players limitations in executing difficult finishes (once again, except pienaar).

It would have been a very good goal, but that's why fans are clamouring for him to get more time, 'cos he has the ability to do something like that, something out of the ordinary. Tbh I was a little disappointed to see him being subbed at the end. Thought Moyes might have taken Pienaar off maybe, but can understand it so not too bothered.

 

[The Hibbert Agenda]

As for the halftime tunnel scuffle courtesy of Jack Delicate-Intricate-Playmaker Wilshere, I think its hilarious how much teams have lost any appreciation of good physical football.
Please if its just bias blinding me tell me so, but we are not destructive like Stoke are we? I mean we can be, but we're not that awful are we?
Either way, same thing happened few seasons ago when Arsenal exploded in frustration at half time and Fabregas had the audacity to openly accuse Everton of bribing the referee. Ass.

 

[The Hibbert Agenda]

Also, LOVE Moyes' comments postmatch:

Re Tunnel Fight-
"Did you see the incident? I didn't either - and I know somebody who says that quite a lot.

"I wasn't nervous (about Gibson being sent off) because I thought we made it a right good game."

"I've been here when it's been quiet, but we got the crowd going - Everton got the crowd going, but just because you make tackles, not every one is a foul and not every one means you have to kick it out of play."

 

[Steve Wigan]

Yep. Vic was outplayed tonight. Maertesacker could have had MOTM easily.

Vic didn't get his usual service because we had a tough fight to get space in the midfield area...Arsenal closed us down very quickly causing us to misplace lots of passes. The best pass Vic got was from Barkley and he might have scored. Jags was MOM for me, Coleman had a great game, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned Distin...superb, the standout being catching up with Walcott and tackling completely cleanly in the box. For 35/6 he's VERY quick.

 

[MartSlinger]

Last night was living proof why Arsenal will never win the Premier League again. Scared to get physical. The team that went unbeaten for a whole season would laugh in faces of this team and tell them to get a ****ing grip.

 

[Tree13]

As for the halftime tunnel scuffle courtesy of Jack Delicate-Intricate-Playmaker Wilshere, I think its hilarious how much teams have lost any appreciation of good physical football.
Please if its just bias blinding me tell me so, but we are not destructive like Stoke are we? I mean we can be, but we're not that awful are we?

I wouldn't listen to anything Wilshere has to say. He is nothing more than a young Joey Barton in terms of his attitude towards opposition players. How he can commit as many fouls as he does and then have the cheek to roll around on the floor feigning injury whenever he is tackled absolutely astounds me. He is a snide of the highest order and it's already overtaken his footballing talent.

As for any comparison with Stoke; several non-evertonian friends of mine hold the belief that Felli is a "dirty" player, but that's as far as it goes. And most of them applauded his approach to dealing with Shawcross, so make of that what you will.

 

[Khalekan]

Perhaps I should have said "Arsenal as a team carry the characteristics of their manager, technically gifted but ultimately no longer winners but whiners"

Yes, that works better.

 

[ijjysmith]

Last night was living proof why Arsenal will never win the Premier League again. Scared to get physical. The team that went unbeaten for a whole season would laugh in faces of this team and tell them to get a ****ing grip.

Vieira would snap Wilshire in half wouldn't he?!

 

[Blue Cheese]

I thought we played really well up until we went into panic mode towards the end but that's nothing. Coleman and Barkley played well, Jags was a beast. Happy with a hard earned point even if we needed more, thought we could hold our hands up and say we gave it a go.