AndyC
Player Valuation: £70m
After the Lord Mayors showing from Jekyll and Hyde Everton as Gunners cruise to victory.
It’s taken just a week for Everton to show Fahrad Moshiri both sides of their fragile personality – for whereas last week against Chelsea was commitment, desire and passion, this week’s performance against Arsenal was quite frankly off-the-clock shocking.
Mo Besic replaced the suspended Gareth Barry and a first minute right wing raid by Seamus gave hope for an enterprising game. But inside a further five minutes, the defensive nightmares that have plagued the team at Goodison all season reared their ugly heads again and again, and it really was no surprise when Welbeck strolled through the back line while his team-mates played tic-tac-toe before finding him to slide home the opening goal.
Arsenal had been dumped out of the FA Cup by Watford and put to the Champions League sword by Barcelona, but they were fully focused on the job in hand and hungry to ease the pressure on their manager. Everton in contrast had been euphoric in victory over Chelsea but seemingly unable to carry on the relief that manager Martinez must have felt this past week.
With the Blues unable to make any headway and with far too many passes going astray, Arsenal settled into their customary smooth passing game and it has to be noted that this was not even a full-strength Gunners team – Walcott, Giroud to name but two of their bench. The visitors though were comfortable on the ball and in Ozil and Sanchez, they had players with vision, pace and incision all too ready to hurt Everton almost at will.
A last ditch challenge by Jags saved further blushes before a rare Everton attack saw a speculative effort from Mo Besic saved by Ospina. Sanchez went unpunished by ref Mark Clattenberg for what looked a clear dive before a quick break saw the lead doubled as Iwobi raced away from a labouring Everton midfield and defence to drive a low shot past Joel Robles on 41 minutes.
And it could have been worse still before the break as Iwobi narrowly shot wide after another knife-through-hot-butter attack sliced the Everton rearguard to shreds.
Half time saw the Drifters perform two of their famous songs on the pitch and unlike Everton, they were in perfect harmony with each other and got a warm ovation as they left the pitch.
John Stones replaced Mo Besic for the second half as Martinez went with a back three hoping the fullbacks would ‘bomb on’ and give the side some more offensive capability. In all honesty, the change made little or no difference as Everton continued to struggle, and at times look shambolic such was the lack of cohesion.
An accidental collision between Rom and Ospina saw the Arsenal goalie need treatment and looking like he had possible mobility problems, surely Everton would look to capitalise by throwing more men forward and more crosses into the box to pressure the visitors - they didn't or more correctly, weren't allowed to. Arguably the best Everton move of the match saw Tom Cleverley rifle in a 20-yard shot, but Koscielny made a comfortable block.
Ross Barkley, for whom little had gone right all match, was replaced by Gerard Deulofeu on 72 minutes, while Arsenal sent Giroud and Gibbs on for Welbeck and Ozil respectively. Gerard looked eager to provide some width, pace, devilment and crosses for Rom and with Seamus raiding down the right too, there was a smidgen of hope for something positive.
Instead, it was Arsenal who netted again with a header from a corner, but thankfully Mark Clattenberg had already blown for an infringement to save more defensive blushes. Arsene Wenger brought Chambers on for Iwobi and Romelu Lukaku finally had an effort on target inside the last five minutes, but his header went straight at Ospina who had not been troubled since the collision. Everton survived another late threat when Chambers beat Jags to feed Giroud only for the Frenchman to see his shot hit the side netting.
All in all, this was as lack-lustre a showing at Goodison this season as there has been this season and after the euphoria of new investment and reaching a Wembley semi-final, it brought everyone back to earth with a crashing thud.
What on earth is going wrong is the $64,000 question and it’s a question that needs to be answered and quickly !!!!!!!!!!
For sure the manager will come under even greater scrutiny and rightly so, but so too must the players. It’s they who cross the white line and picking a man of the match today is barely justifiable.
Actually, I’m voting for Mark Clattenberg.
Despite the inevitable chorus of boos when he was announced, he refereed the game well, let the game flow, was clear in his decision making and showed common sense when having a quiet word with Seamus late on when he was clearly letting frustration get the better of him. Many a ref would have shown Seamus a yellow card, but Mark Clattenberg didn’t and fair play to him.
It’s taken just a week for Everton to show Fahrad Moshiri both sides of their fragile personality – for whereas last week against Chelsea was commitment, desire and passion, this week’s performance against Arsenal was quite frankly off-the-clock shocking.
Mo Besic replaced the suspended Gareth Barry and a first minute right wing raid by Seamus gave hope for an enterprising game. But inside a further five minutes, the defensive nightmares that have plagued the team at Goodison all season reared their ugly heads again and again, and it really was no surprise when Welbeck strolled through the back line while his team-mates played tic-tac-toe before finding him to slide home the opening goal.
Arsenal had been dumped out of the FA Cup by Watford and put to the Champions League sword by Barcelona, but they were fully focused on the job in hand and hungry to ease the pressure on their manager. Everton in contrast had been euphoric in victory over Chelsea but seemingly unable to carry on the relief that manager Martinez must have felt this past week.
With the Blues unable to make any headway and with far too many passes going astray, Arsenal settled into their customary smooth passing game and it has to be noted that this was not even a full-strength Gunners team – Walcott, Giroud to name but two of their bench. The visitors though were comfortable on the ball and in Ozil and Sanchez, they had players with vision, pace and incision all too ready to hurt Everton almost at will.
A last ditch challenge by Jags saved further blushes before a rare Everton attack saw a speculative effort from Mo Besic saved by Ospina. Sanchez went unpunished by ref Mark Clattenberg for what looked a clear dive before a quick break saw the lead doubled as Iwobi raced away from a labouring Everton midfield and defence to drive a low shot past Joel Robles on 41 minutes.
And it could have been worse still before the break as Iwobi narrowly shot wide after another knife-through-hot-butter attack sliced the Everton rearguard to shreds.
Half time saw the Drifters perform two of their famous songs on the pitch and unlike Everton, they were in perfect harmony with each other and got a warm ovation as they left the pitch.
John Stones replaced Mo Besic for the second half as Martinez went with a back three hoping the fullbacks would ‘bomb on’ and give the side some more offensive capability. In all honesty, the change made little or no difference as Everton continued to struggle, and at times look shambolic such was the lack of cohesion.
An accidental collision between Rom and Ospina saw the Arsenal goalie need treatment and looking like he had possible mobility problems, surely Everton would look to capitalise by throwing more men forward and more crosses into the box to pressure the visitors - they didn't or more correctly, weren't allowed to. Arguably the best Everton move of the match saw Tom Cleverley rifle in a 20-yard shot, but Koscielny made a comfortable block.
Ross Barkley, for whom little had gone right all match, was replaced by Gerard Deulofeu on 72 minutes, while Arsenal sent Giroud and Gibbs on for Welbeck and Ozil respectively. Gerard looked eager to provide some width, pace, devilment and crosses for Rom and with Seamus raiding down the right too, there was a smidgen of hope for something positive.
Instead, it was Arsenal who netted again with a header from a corner, but thankfully Mark Clattenberg had already blown for an infringement to save more defensive blushes. Arsene Wenger brought Chambers on for Iwobi and Romelu Lukaku finally had an effort on target inside the last five minutes, but his header went straight at Ospina who had not been troubled since the collision. Everton survived another late threat when Chambers beat Jags to feed Giroud only for the Frenchman to see his shot hit the side netting.
All in all, this was as lack-lustre a showing at Goodison this season as there has been this season and after the euphoria of new investment and reaching a Wembley semi-final, it brought everyone back to earth with a crashing thud.
What on earth is going wrong is the $64,000 question and it’s a question that needs to be answered and quickly !!!!!!!!!!
For sure the manager will come under even greater scrutiny and rightly so, but so too must the players. It’s they who cross the white line and picking a man of the match today is barely justifiable.
Actually, I’m voting for Mark Clattenberg.
Despite the inevitable chorus of boos when he was announced, he refereed the game well, let the game flow, was clear in his decision making and showed common sense when having a quiet word with Seamus late on when he was clearly letting frustration get the better of him. Many a ref would have shown Seamus a yellow card, but Mark Clattenberg didn’t and fair play to him.
