A Well UNdeserved Point, Arsenal 2 – Everton 2, Post Match Review

I am going to come right out and say it – we got away with one we had absolutely no business getting away with. On the day Everton were simply the better side and outplayed and outhustled Arsenal for most of the match. In fact you would be hard pressed to identify any moment in the first half at least where anything resembling an Arsenal squad had showed up on the pitch.

Everton had a solid game plan from the start, press high and close off any Arsenal passing lanes. Combine that aggression with bad conditions for passing and the combination was lethal on a pass happy team.No, I am not saying the weather was the reason why Arsenal did not win. I am saying it certainly helped Everton carry out their plan a little more effectively. No, all the kudos must rest with David Moyes and his lads for doing exactly what they wanted to against Arsenal.

Dude - Your Killing Me Here!

I don’t want to spend too much time going over play for play, goal for goal but there are a few observations that need to be discussed. When the smallest man on the pitch scores from a free header on a corner – someone has seriously done something wrong. And make no mistake about it – everyone was at fault at some point in the game. But the first goal the defenders let Osman beat them and then in typical Almunia fashion he stayed riveted to one spot on the goal line. Denilson who actually wound up heading the ball into the net really didn’t have much of a play to make.

Everton’s 2nd goal was Arsenal plainly getting beat. Traore had a woeful game ALL DAY. He was consistently beat by Landon Donovan. And he was out of position on nearly every play. His ONLY saving grace were two beautiful crosses that nearly set Arsenal up for winning goals. Other than that the boy who had been playing quite well since Gibbs went down, was one of the major scapegoats for the day’s ineffectiveness.

However, if there is a positive to take away from this match it is two things. 1.) Teams who are successful often times have to dig down to achieve something. Arsenal were outplayed and yet they managed to create scoring chances. They did what you have to do on a day when things don’t go well and that is – shoot the damn ball. Everyone will argue the fact that Arsena;’s two goals were off of deflections. Oh well. So what. Sometimes ugly is what is needed. Sometimes pretty don’t cut it. Denilson put the ball on net and thankfully it hit someone and misdirected and Rosicky did the same. Though Rosicky’s had a better chance of hitting the back of the net than Denilson’s originally did. 2. We played our game in hand and while we could ‘ve used the upward momentum the draw didn’t hurt us either. Had we lost – that would’ve been another story.

So Arsenal take their first draw at the Emirates this season. They are still unbeaten in 8 matches in all competitions. Only Birmingham is better with a 12 game unbeaten run. Still Arsenal are going to seriously need to fix some things if they want to continue.

Manuel Almunia showed every possibly reason why Gooners everywhere want the guy gone. From nearly getting Bacary Sagna killed to taking out Aarmond Traore, he wasn’t woeful – whatever is worse than woeful that describes Almunia. While the defence wasn’t great they still didn’t give many chances to Everton. The problem is the chances Everton got Almunia let in. He clearly doesn’t pay attention to the flow of the game. If he did he would’ve seen the player near Sagna and gone in a different direction rather than dishing it out on the run. He’s lucky that Sagna is a good player and looks at what is going on and he is equally as lucky Sagna isn’t out with a broken foot – from the tackle he received having to slow up and look back to collect Manny’s pitiful attempt for a clearing pass. Finally either he doesn’t understand the role of calling off players (Chelsea Vermaelen OG and running into Traore) or he is too damn stupid to do it. Either way in order to be an effective keeper you need to have command of the players in a and around your penalty box. Almunia  doesn’t have that ability. Say what you will about Fabianski, he does talk to his team alot on the pitch. Yes, he has his own issues but he does a better job of marshalling the forces if you will.

The defence probably had one of its worst performances of the season. They were pressed into making mistakes and did very little right to keep the box clear on set pieces. Traore specifically got found out. Whether it was a mental thing because he knows Clichy is coming back or whether he just didn’t adapt or prepare well enough – Landon Donovan had him in his back pocket all day and on Everton’s second goal his weak tackle resulted in letting Pienaar free enough to be behind the team and have a free run on Almunia.

Rosicky Scores

Overall there are numerous performances to single out as disgraceful, whether it was Traore, Denilson’s inappropriateness at the holding role, Arshavin not showing up until the last 10 minutes., or Eduardo’s contininuing ineffectiveness there was tonnes of blame to go around. Noone from the squad should be happy with the point and if there were a mechanism to do so, the should give two points back to Everton for outplaying them.

A final note – something I am sure the Wenger haters won’t like and will accuse me of drinking the Kool Aid. I do not think the importance of this season is lost on Arsene. All season long he has been doing some un-Arsene like behaviour. I would never expect Arsene to come out and say his team got out played. We know the usual story – we deserved the point, fought hard, yada yada yada. Well yesterday he basically came out and said we did not play our game, they were better than us and I am relieved we got the point. He did use the spirit line but only AFTER his negative comments. If Arsene buys in January it will only add to the speculation that Arsene has changed somehow. He never has signaled an intention to buy anyone, especially in January and by all means every indication is he will this January. Who that will be remains to be seen but I see a more aggressive Arsene than in the past. What that means only time will tell.

But let’s look on the bright side shall we – United and Liverpool both look in worse shape than us. If you didn’t watch United’s match yesterday they were more lucky than us to come away with a point and if not for an OG they would’ve lost their 6th EPL match of the season. As it is we lose no ground on them and since they played we still have a game in hand on the Red Devils. That could be useful come the end of the season.

Next up – 17 January  v Bolton at the Reebok (not the game in hand)