Everton 1-Arsenal 6

By: Martin | August 15th, 2009

I feel like I should try to say something clever here. Something pithy but a little profound to put some perspective on what just happened. But all I can come up with is–that was really, really awesome.

I suspect I’m like pretty much everyone else in that I expected this to be a really tough match–I thought a 1-1 draw was likely, and a 2-1 win would have been great for us. So I’m still a bit in shock at what happened. Simply put, we dominated from the first whistle to nearly the last whistle, when Saha scored a junk-time consolation goal. We scored 2 goals from set pieces, which has not been a strength of ours in the pass. We held possession and looked poised and composed in the final third, which was also a trouble spot. All in all, we just completely pwned a good team on their own pitch–how could you ask for a better start to the season?

However, let’s not crown this bunch the new Invincibles just yet. As impressive as it was, the bottom line is that this is just one game. We’ve got the same number of points as Chelsea, who needed an injury time wondergoal to take 3 points from Hull at home. Hopefully it’s a sign of the squad coming around, but right now we’ve just got to keep our heads down and try to keep the momentum going into the trip to Glasgow on Tuesday. And, I hate to say it because I don’t want to take the wind out of our sails and I really respect Everton as a club and Moyes as a manger, but the fact is this–Everton was really, really crap today.

As per request, here would be my player ratings:

Almunia 7. Didn’t do too much, but didn’t really have to. I don’t actually recall him making any saves of any real difficulty, but I thought he was good coming off his line to deal with Everton’s corner kicks.

Sagna 8.5. Good start from Sagna, I thought–he was getting forward into the attack and tracking back when he needed to, and several times managed to effectively deal with Fellaini on set pieces.

Clichy 7. Regular readers will know I’m pretty worried about Clichy in terms of his form since the end of the 2007-2008 season, but I thought he had a solid start. He ran around, made some good plays, but there were a couple of times when Vermaelen had to come over and cover for him.

Vermaelen 9. I spent a lot of time trying to watch the new guy, and I have to say I was very, very impressed. The goal was nice, of course, but other than that, he seemed like a solid defender with a great all-around game–he’s got enough pace to be good in recovery and play a high line effectively, but is pretty tough and decent in the air as well. If he continues to play like this, he’s a huge upgrade over Kolo.

Gallas 8.5. I don’t think Everton’s attack was requiring too much of him today, but he got back and made the plays he needed to, and got the goal on the setpiece. Solid start for our entire backline.

Denilson 8.5. I’ve defended him in the past, and I still stick by my prediction that he could come into his own this season and make Brazil’s World Cup team. The goal was on a wonderful shot, and he was running around making plays all day.

Song 8.5. I’m probably wrong about this, but I don’t think Song failed to compete a pass until the very end of the game. Solid and safe with the ball, and physical and tenacious without it, I think he was a thorn in the side of Everton’s midfield all day. As I’ve said before, I think we need another holding midfielder for cover, especially since Song will be at the ACN in January, but as far as I’m concerned, we’ve got our first-teamer in that role.

Cesc 9.5. Man of the match. 2 goals. Making passes. Pulling strings. Paying tribute to a fallen comrade. Te Amo, Cesc. Te Amo.

Bendtner 8. Didn’t light the world on fire, but was involved in the first couple of goals and looked more comfortable than I would have thought out on the right. He may prove me right about him yet.

van Persie 8. Solid performance, and great pass to nutmeg the defender and set up the fourth goal. Part of me still thinks he might be better suited to one of the forward wide roles–I think if he shifted to the left, Arshavin moved over to the right, and Bendtner moved to middle to provide a bit of an aerial threat, that might be a slightly more effective configuration. But I won’t be second guessing the gaffer after a 6-1 win.

Arshavin 7.5. Didn’t make many mistakes or bad plays, but wasn’t really the catalyst on the attack we’ve seen him be in the past, either. Hit the post on a shot to set up Eduardo’s goal.

I don’t really like rating late subs, but Ramsey looked decent, Eboue was pretty good, and it was wonderful to see Eduardo score his first league goal in some time. You can say it was an easy goal, and it was, but Eduardo is one of those guys who has the instinct to put himself in position to score a lot of “easy goals,” so it wasn’t pure luck. As he said in the video I posted this morning, “I’m back.”

Nothing more to say, really–we just started the season in the best possible fashion, hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up over the next 9 months. For now, we’ve got to prepare for a very tricky away match in Glasgow on Tuesday, which we’ll discuss in the coming days. For now, though, enjoy the victory and the rest of your weekend.