I've had a chance to digest what I saw this morning. I thought Arsenal came out sharp on the offensive end throughout the first 10 minutes. As good as we looked, Everton looked our equal in terms of effort and established that they were not going to let us boss them. As the game settled in, Everton never really settled, they kept on meeting our attack with the same energy, and at times with even more intensity. The crowd picked up on this and essentially vested themselves in watching a performance from their side that they hadn't really seen all season. From there, Arsenal didn't really stand a chance unless they made a strategic change to what has worked for us all season up until today. I feel like Arteta tried, but I'm not sure we did anything with enough effort or passion today beyond the start of the match that was anywhere near what it was going to take to un-inspire Everton. It was just one of those days for them, and any team sharing the pitch with Everton today would have been in the same situation we found ourselves. Nothing outside of a world class cross put away by a world class finish would have gotten the better of them, and we simply did not produce it this morning. I'm sure this result will haunt Arteta for a bit. Now he's going to need to figure out how to evolve this team into one that can overcome a similar type of performance. I'm not sure every team we face will be able to produce the same lightning in a bottle that Everton did today, but if we're going to win the league, we're going to need a jolt of lightning ourselves in order to keep winning every week. Onward and upward.
Everton were excellent today in what they set out to do, credit to them. Arsenal never managed to achieve any ruthlessness. Maupay is a real bastard and that's was exactly what they needed. EDIT I'm worried about Martinelli, I think he needs a rest. I would start Trossard next week.
One thing I was going to say during the game was that I feel sorry for the traveling supporters who had to schlep up there only to see a poor performance from us today. And I just heard that there was a rail strike in the last 24hrs which made it especially hard to make that trip. I recall that sometimes a club will give some type of compensatory remuneration to away fans when the team fails to meet minimum expectations. I'm not sure if today qualifies exactly as that, but it might be something they consider?
Both had strong performances. Iwobi was a handful on the wing, and without looking at stats, seemed to be a good outlet for them to begin their attacks. Onana, imo, was the best player for either side. He put in the performance I would have expected out of Partey and Xhaka. He was resolute in defense and caused havoc to our build-up, and he was arguably their best attacking player after Calvert-Lewin. Not going to TMQ whether we should have pursued him instead of Caicero or Jorginho, but he certainly looked the player we needed today.
Has anyone seen a replay of the Xhaka-Iwobi duel that led to the corner they scored from? First reaction from me was goal kick, and Xhaka certainly thought so as well. They never gave us a replay, though. Just casting about for some straws to clutch.
It should have been a goal kick. But it was also interesting and maybe just coincidental that they scored on a corner right after we took Partey off. Look, don't get me wrong. We didn't play well. But on another day, this could have easily been a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. Fine margins.
So you’re saying they scored on a corner they shouldn’t have had, in a game where we should’ve had a penalty? Straws clutched!
To be fair, they should have been 2 goals up when they finally scored. We had a bad day at the office. How we bounce back is going to be very important
Sorry guys its my fault, I made the match thread while I wasn't wearing my lucky Arsenal long sleeve shirt. As soon as I didn't do that, the result was set in stone.
I have avoided reading the responses to the Everton loss, but I have two comments. First, chasing a 1-0 game with 20 minutes go is not a time for like for like substitutions, I would like to see either a Smith-Rowe (If he were available) or Trossard come on for Xhaka in those situations. Throw another attacker on at left 8 and they would probably have to think twice about doubling up on Martinelli. Second, based on the subsequent results this weekend it was a huge opportunity missed.
The missed opportunity to have gone back to a 8pt gap isn't bothering me so much, given the context that it was about to go down to a 2pt gap, but then thanks to Harry-Fvckin-Kane it's still at 5pts. (and 1 game in hand) But about your first point that may give me more concern. Although I wasn't really thinking a lot about Mikel's subs at the time, other than "fresh legs might help", now that you mention it, I reflect on how he didn't figure out a way to coach the team out this defeat. Clearly we weren't effective or potent on offense. And although my first instinct is to say that's due to the players, both ours and theirs, it was probably also tactical, which is largely down to Mikel, Albert et al. I didn't notice a marked shift in shape or tactics after the subs. Was there none at all? If so, then your point is well taken.
To me, this sub only works if OZ slides in to cover for Xhaka, and Martinelli drops back to cover in defense on the left w/ Trossard in the advanced attacking role. Everton did a good job of using the width to attack from the sidelines, so we tactically couldn't leave that area much less exposed than we already were. On today's Arsecast, there was discussion that this is the match that needed Jesus and we move to more of a 442 to have 2 strikers (w/ Eddie) up top. I don't think we get the same benefit with Trossard or any of our other attacking subs. That's a tactical sub that makes sense, imo. Hopefully Jesus is back before we need to actually try this formation out.