Arsenal – Everton Match Thread

When West Brom play I will be sitting in front of my TV singing

Oh Vela , Vela,
He's our Mexican superstar,
He's better than Cantona,
Oh Vela , Vela...

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2...

if u watch (and listen) this highlight of saha's goal, u'll notice how one of the commentators is a fan of everton (n hence some biased comments throughout the game, like defending the ref)

he saids "louis saha scoring for us.. Everton!"

As anyone who watches a lot of football has noticed, the impact of thousands of fans cheering/shouting abuse can have a profound aspect on a player's performance - just like we saw in this game in the 2nd half when Everton started panicking quite a bit and Arsenal pushed on once the crowd really got wounded up (mostly due to the referee I guess). Really is a shame the season tickets are so expensive so that many hardcore working class fans can't attend - I mean I'm not saying the crowd should be as lunatic as say Celtic's psychopaths but the atmosphere could really use a boost.

As for the game itself, it was truly touching when Koscielny scored. I don't think I've ever seen a man that happy, you could really see how much it meant for the whole team when they created the totally heterosexual manpile. Even Arshavin jumped on! (albeit last, but then again I wouldn't wanna be in there either before the likes of Eboue have made their move...)

This win and the one before demonstrated to those who constantly come on here as Arsenal fans with a list of NEGATIVES .
Those fans who call for Koscielnys neck every single game saying how inferior he is.
Those who call Kocielny SHIT over and over.
Those who rank Bacary Sagna below Maicon, Lahm, etc etc. now you see what an integral part of both offense and defense Sagna is.
Those who say Arshavin does not care!
Those who constantly BASH Wenger.
This win was For you.
DID you hear that?
This win was for you.
There is more to come.

Well this will be a brief, untrained, and unprofessional recap. But you get what you pay for, right?
One thing I’ll say before getting into the play-by-play, is that both teams seemed to play dirtier than I hoped. There were tons of unnecessary clips, pulls, and complaints to the ref. This one wasn’t a model for sportsmanship.
We were invisible for the first 13 minutes or so, which was weird. But then I finally started thinking we’d take control, and then a brutal offside non-call gave Saha a goal. I’m not sure I can fault our players for it. We played the offside trap well, Kos didn’t know exactly what was behind him (so I don’t think it was hit fault for putting out a foot to try to stop the pass), and Wojo couldn’t do anything about it.
I hoped we’d get one before half, but I don’t recall too many great threats the rest of the way. We also seemed to get a couple of bad calls against us even after the offside non-call. I think once, Walcott would have been released to run to a long ball, and was taken down, but nothing was whistled.
We threatened a little more at the start of the second, and I kept wondering when Rosicky would be subbed off. And then I recall thinking when Arshavin went on, “OK, prove me wrong here. Even if I have to hear it from Perry.” And AA did improve our threats from the very start. After his well-taken goal, I thought we were about 50/50 to win the game. And then wonder of all wonders, we scored off a corner kick. It was somewhat gifted, in that Everton defended the corner as we’ve often defended set pieces in the past. But we’ll take it. After the dog pile celebration, I was hoping the players remembered they still had plenty of time to kill off. But I don’t think Everton threatened too severely at the end, and once we took the lead, it certainly felt like we wouldn’t give it up.
So a huge 3 points to keep pace with Man Utd. If we’d lost ground today, it may well have been all over. But we showed them we’re not going away quietly into the night, or something.
OK, here’s my stab at ratings. One caveat though: Since I wasn’t planning on doing this, I didn’t keep really close mental tabs on each player. So I’m winging it here.
Wojo - 7. I can’t blame him for the goal. But his weak point is still distribution. He had an odd, looping, sideways pass at one point that was nearly intercepted.
Sagna - 8. MOTM. OK, this one raises eyebrows. It’s a dilemma in giving out MOTM. Is it the guy who did everything right? Or the guy who most directly changed the outcome of the game? I’m going with the former. It seemed to me Sagna was always in the right spot at both ends, and I don’t remember a single play he made that I questioned.
Clichy - 7. I don’t recall any real mistakes. Actually, other than the goal that never should have been allowed, I don’t think our defense was a trouble spot today. Clichy did have a break towards goal at the end, and gave away that chance.
Kos - 7.5. As already mentioned, if Everton had defended better, Kos wouldn’t get that goal. But it was still well-taken. There was also another sequence in the first half where Wojo came out to stop a shot, and the deflected ball fell to an Everton player outside the box. It was an otherwise open net, except Kos deflected it away. So that was cool.
Djourou - 7. Well he was certainly willing to give up his body today, huh? He got beaten once by Fellaini, but seemed pretty solid other than that.
Wilshere - 6. I really wish he’d cut out some of the unnecessary stuff. Getting carded so early isn’t a good thing. But he did create some other chances, and wasn’t too bad overall.
Song - 6. I hope the injury isn’t long-term. Also, can anyone tell me when Ramsey returns? I was wondering that earlier anyway. Song seemed to be having an average game before going off at the half.
Walcott - 7. He seemed threatening, and drew several fouls. One of which led to the RvP free kick, which led to the corner, which created the goal. He was one of our better attacking players for most of the game, in my humble view.
Cesc - 6. Maybe I’m rating him a tad lower because I expect more. But there wasn’t that final finishing or perfect pass from him, and he missed badly on a couple of shots.
Rosicky - 4.5. Mostly invisible, except when he was giving the ball away. Martin and others were right before the game, in that we should have started someone else.
RvP - 5.5. The corner kick at the end was nice, and he forced a nice save from Howard on the free kick right before the corner. But he also wasted a few free kicks, and never really threatened the goal. It was subpar compared to how he’s been lately.
Subs:
Diaby - 6. Not too bad at the “Song role.” But he missed badly on a header and a left-footed shot as well. Was it wrong of me to think to myself after the header, “Well, he’s better at heading into his own net”?
Bendtner - 6.5. I loved the effort on the bicycle kick, but I don’t remember much else of note.
Arshavin - 8. I’ll have to give him his due on this one. The goal was calmly taken. (Was his lack of celebration because he knew we needed one more, or because he doesn’t really care?) Anyway, he created a couple other chances, and seemed to do a decent amount of running.

OK, fire away at my ratings. But remember what I’m getting paid for this…

good comment about MOTM, I ve always said it was the game changer in this case Arsha, but you got a solid point, by the man who plays right and makes no mistakes. Tough call now

I won't give you any grief, we can all celebrate Arshavin's timely goal. I know that everyone who has been downing him will come around when he gets back into form, I just won't ever turn my back on him :}

Yeah!! its apparently a two-men club but I stand by him as well !

RvP deserves more. He worked his ass off all game and apart from putting in a goal, he did everything well. What do we expect from him to call this a "sub-par" performance? Psycho hattricks every game? He got an assist with that wonderful corner and made Everton's defense shit themselves on more than one occasion. He showed heart... the rest of the team showed heart. Thats how teams like ManUtd steal wins in dying minutes.

could not agree more with you on Sagna putting aside my bias, he showed why he is so vital to our game. It's all the intangibles and tangibles that he executed perfectly.
I am worried though about the knock he took to the head with a prior concussion.

Arshavin didn't celebrate because he knows the importance of getting all three points from here on out to keep pace with Manchester United. I think he's been very professional through all the abuse, and he's finally picking up his form again.

OK, if you want to look at the glass as half full. I guess I don't care too much what his internal thoughts are, as long as his performance is what we want it to be.

I d say to look at his face in next posts Sairax pic celebrating KOs, is he in pain or celebrating because now we got the 3?
I vote for that the man cares, naive me, but its pure feeling dude!

Do ppl need to celebrate?
=/

I see there are quite a few Arshavin lovers here but I will never be a fan of this player until he becomes more efficient ie hit the target more often (this time it was harder not to hit the net), don't lose the ball in every 2 possessions and run like the rest of the team. Look at RVP he's constantly harrassing the defenders and make their life difficult, Arshavin is more like I put my head down and not looking at what's happening on the field and I will start running again once I get the ball...

May not have been pretty, hopefully not any serious injuries, but a win is a win, and we need to keep it going.

ok, my intyernet was slow, and then I realized qw equalized, I loooooove ARSHA!!!! (Yahoo rated him as 9.1 or something around that), and starting to looooove Kos!!!

Just didnt want to jinx it by getting all excited.

I'll volunteer to do a brief report and player ratings, if y'all need something to chew on until the Ax does a proper review tonight. Just let me know. I was able to watch all of it, since I'm still sick and since everything shuts down in Texas when it snows anyway.

I see I'm being usurped now!

Not at all. Mommy and daddy are still in charge around here. Just trying to feed the monster that this site has become.

Yep Homey go ahead!

Yeah Homey let's get that Texan flair in written form!

Sagna down... Song out a half-time.. Nasri out.. WHY did we start boasting about our injury record this season?

Wow, reading it really does show the significant injuries we've got right now. That is a whole cast of 1st teamers out.

We need to find a way to always have RVP or Cesc on the ball. They really do just create magic.

Definitely nervous about this game though, Everton look dangerous, especially every ball played into Fellaini's head.

well thats it, imo, this run of games would show winner material.

sad.
sad.

ARSHAVIN!!!! where have you been the last 3 months???

Assisting on every other goal ;)

On another non-match related note, anyone check out atdhe today? Favourite site for streaming seized.

Rosicky,you cunt get out of my club,you spineless twat.

I hope someone agrees here even if you're not a fan of him, but Rosicky should come off very soon for Arshavin. He can provide 30 minutes of juice at full force to create some chances (he may not score, but he will assist!).

I give you complete credit for that goal Perry. Do it again!

Theres my boy :)

Gigi -- Its time for the two of us to celebrate today.

I really can't tell anymore if I'm seeing very bad refereeing or if I'm being a homer (the offisde call excluded). that being said, sure seems like he's letting Everton be VERY physical and Arsenal are having touch fouls called on them. But again, that may just be my frustration talking.

If this team ever improves to be good enough to be champions i am gonna grow a second cock.

How much do you want to bet that if this thing happened to United, the media would be in furor about this? ugh.. so angry

It is time to throw the kitchen sink at this Everton team once again thay have been playing with the handbrake on.disgraceful.

Oh boy. Full offside debate happening on twitter.

If nothing changes from this moment, we'll be 8 behind Man Utd at the end of the day. And that may pretty well do it for us. Might be time to focus on the Carling Cup final if that were to happen.

Not exactly stuff of champions.

I can't say I've read the exact rules on offside, but I've seen that same play many times, and it's always ruled offside. Seems simple to me. I was stunned when the goal was awarded.
Also, it seems clear that the issue was more one about the rules than the facts of what happened. So when the announcer was saying that the fans shouldn't blame the ref, but blame the linesman, I don't know that I agree. Even when they conferred, I thought the linesman would explain what he saw, the ref would apply the rule, and the goal wouldn't count. Ugh. Very brutal.
And then a couple more bad ones by the ref against us in the half. Rather than giving us a "make up call," he seemed to want to do the opposite.

That was probably the worst 45 mins of EPL refereeing I have ever seen.

That was probably the worst 45 mins of EPL refereeing I have ever seen.

So from what I'm hearing, we're not doing so great. Will be looking forward to watching later. Ugh

This referee is getting worse it's never yellow card for Rosicky and it looks to him like any Arsenal going to the ground is a dive. He's useless!

djorou might've just separated his shoulder. this is going great

refs with another terrible no call on someone tackling theo on that counter.

they're having a real stinker so far

I hate it when I mention a player and then he scores against us, but I told (them, someone, myslef) so, attn to Everton, Saha is not dead..

Have "men don't know the offside rule" jokes been done to death yet, or is it still fair game for a colossal screw up like that?

Where the fuck is this referee team coming from? They are just useless!

That. is. offside.

The defender would have never tried to play the ball if the whistle had simply been blown like it should have. And how is the defender supposed to know not to play the ball unless the whistle blows? It's like a chicken and egg thing, but I'm pretty sure the refs got it wrong there... Basically the whistle should have been blown is all I'm trying to say.

My source for links has been shut down. :( does anyone have a streaming link?

Glad to See Rosicky in for nasri, i was watching Fox Soccer Report and i herd Bobby saying the the likes of Arshavin and Bendtner tend to hold on the the ball to long and i agreed with him, Arshavin mostly lose the ball when he dribbles it was because of him losing the ball caused Sebastian to get sent off. Chamahk also slows the game down sometimes i wonder if he is running or jogging

I think Squillaci got sent off for close-lining a guy, not because Arshavin lost the ball 60yards down the field. But that's just me

I understand that Arshavin and Bendtner both played 90 minutes on Sunday, but honestly, I'd still rather have one of them play the first 50-55 minutes and then have the other come on than have Rosicky (who played 60 minutes on Sunday himself). I don't have anything against Rosicky per se, but he has been dreadful lately. Here's hoping today's the day he turns it around.

Also, "mixed" is probably the kindest thing anyone has said about Jermaine Beckford's season. Come on Arsenal.

Rosicky is the most overrated screw up that have ever worn an Arsenal jersey in a game like this he really shows how useless he is,more like a trafficcone then a footballer but Hey,Wenger loves him.

Yeah, I know Rosicky hasn't been great. Bendtner could have stepped in I think, but Arshavin isn't really known for his stamina. Don't know if he could do another 70-90 min after just 2 days. Anyway, Rosicky will at least keep our pressing consistent no? Fingers crossed!

I'm getting mixed messages on what time the game is on in Canada, so the review may be up earlier if they are showing it at 5pm.

If Bendtner started i think Walcott would then go on the left side, but with Walcott on the right it would keep Baines busy