With The Management in situ, blue skies overhead, as well as the ability to share some of the amber nectar before the game after a month off it, Arsenal duly delivered exactly what was needed on Sunday lunchtime with a serving of delicious three-pointage.
It doesn’t really matter that it was closer than we would have liked. You don’t complain about a delicious meal being late when it arrives late (well maybe you do, but that’s more than likely to get any money off your meal rather than anything else) and tell them to take it back. You feast on it. Our footballing meal yesterday wasn’t the tastiest, but it certainly hit the spot and as I sit here this morning typing, all I can feel is the satisfaction that a 2-0 win against a good Everton side brings.
The Toffees set themselves up well. They’re poor league position belies their actual quality and in the first half I suspect they even had more possession and more of the ball in our half than we did in theirs. I have to be honest and say I expected Everton to look leggy and sluggish after their Europa League triumph, but they popped the ball around well throughout the game.
Martinez’s game plan appeared to be to use the strength of his full backs going forward, to which we had to find an answer and you have to say that by not conceding, we had that answer. The defensive reshuffle of Gibbs keeping his slot and Gabriel stepping in for Per looked decent enough, although I do wonder if Gibbs was acutely aware of a break being on, because it didn’t feel like he got forward as much as he has done in recent games. That was more obvious to me in the second half, as Gibbs plays on my side when we’re attacking the North Bank, but he seemed a little reserved. That’s not so much a bad thing I suppose, because we’ve lambasted our defenders for their poor positional play and ability to be too easily caught on the break in the past.
Gabriel had one sticky moment in the first half where he allowed for the ball to bounce rather than Row-Z it, but perhaps that was his La Liga self forgetting where he was and the amount of time you get in the Premier League, so we can forgive him that particular transgression. Anyway, he steadied himself well thereafter, making a good last-ditch tackle when it looked like Koscienly was beaten by Lukaku and through on goal. He’s a ‘no nonsense’ defender that will only get better and he’s certainly got more pace than Per, which I’m sure will give peace of mind to Kos that he has somebody else who can challenge attackers in a foot race.
I was also surprised to see Ospina start in goal, as I thought after Wednesday’s indifferent performance he would be losing his place to Wojciech, but I think Szczesny has a bit of a problem now. If Ospina can’t be deposed after a slightly poor game in between the sticks, can he be deposed at all? Unless he picks up an injury, I think Wojciech will see out this season on the bench. Ospina did a good cover job as a sweeper and made a couple of really good saves yesterday too, one in particular which was a fingertipper which would have bought the game level. I still remain to be entirely convinced by him as a long-term option, but he’s doing ok at the moment.
We struggled for fluency at times and half of me wonders how much that was down to Evertone playing well and the other half being down to us looking nervous after the Monaco game. The Ox was both hero and villain on Wednesday with the late show and, whilst he worked a couple of good positions in the first half, he like a few of the players was a little off I felt. His replacement was Rosicky and if the guy doesn’t get a starting spot on Wednesday night I’ll be shocked. He was full of energy, ran his socks off for 15 or so minutes – admittedly everyone else would have been tiring from that time – but got the second goal in injury time, which secured the points and gave us a good seven minutes of injury time which was less stressful than it could have been. Thankfully.
Let’s also be thankful that Ollie G was on the scoresheet too, eh? I did have fears that he’s the sort of player that will let a performance like last Wednesday’s get to him, so he more than anyone else needed to respond with a performance and ideally a goal, which is what he got and we can all be thankful. He’ll take confidence from that and hopefully bag plenty more between now and the end of the season.
Francis Coquelin had a good game too. He was feisty in the tackle and got the reward his game deserved; our adulation and no, not the broken nose! I hope he’s ok for Wednesday because he’s now an important defensive cog in our team.
The only concern Arsène might have is whether he should give Alexis some time on the bench. He was carrying us at the beginning of the season but has gone off the rails slightly of late. He must be knackered because he’s run himself ragged all season and whilst you can’t tell he’s tired through his effort levels, it’s other things like misplaced passes, or running in to blind alleys, that suggest to me that he needs to be given some time to recharge and refresh. Perhaps the QPR game this week offers that opportunity for the manager to rotate.
That’s all I’ve got for today. It was a tough encounter against a good Everton team who created a couple of chances, but unlike us, didn’t take them. Which is the perfect way to respond to the Monaco debacle.
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