Kevin Whitcher
In talking about what to expect from last night’s fixture with friends, I ventured that these days, you never know which Arsenal will turn up. Such is the team’s inconsistency. Kieran Gibbs was dropped because, one imagines, Arsene Wenger did not wish to choose between Koscielny and Mertesacker – a choice he would have had to make if his captain was to start at centre-back. Conveniently. Koscielny’s injury will spare him that dilemma for a while now.
The number 6’s early removal was not so early he left the field before Arsenal had taken the lead. Theo Walcott took the ball from his flank across the pitch and combined well with Aaron Ramsey to score an excellent goal before 60 seconds had been played. A dream start. The choice of Ramsey, a right footed midfield player, as a left-sided attacker was certainly an eye-opener. However, you can’t argue with the goal it produced and Ramsey had a decent enough match in my view, given his technical limitations. He switched with Walcott in the second half, though Theo was largely peripheral after his goal.
Critically, Arsenal played with spirit and commitment, qualities that make fans more forgiving of errors – and there were a good number last night, often when possession was given away carelessly, as occurred with Everton’s equalizer. Sagna was to blame, initially giving Arteta a hospital ball and then when he had the chance to make amends, playing it across his own penalty area to Fellaini. This passing in the team’s own half needs a look at, because errors here can be very costly. Sometimes, playing it down the flank instead of into the middle needs to be used as an option, especially if Theo Walcott is the choice. Ok, he may not control the thing, but at least the danger is minimal.
Everton away is a tough fixture that Arsenal have achieved a good number of decent results from over the years. In isolation, it was a satisfactory point. Given the merits of David Moyes’ team and the one Arsenal faced at the weekend at Villa Park, you can see why a point was a disappointment on Saturday. And the performance coloured that to an extent. Last night’s was better. If Arsenal had put in the same type of display we saw at Villa, Everton would have secured three points.
Was Jack Wilshere the difference? Driving the team on? Theo Walcott the missing ingredient? Maybe it’s a combination of both. Giroud battled hard, but was unfortunate in front of goal. The only really definite conclusions you can take from this game is the knowledge that Arsenal can play with motivation and commitment some of the time, and that the style of play will always allow the opposition chances unless the team is right at the top of its game, which we know is only going to happen once in a while. So the sloppiness has to be addressed and the players need to understand that the attitude shown in the matches away at West Ham and Everton is what is required, not what we witnessed at Norwich and Villa.
These days, we are looking at fourth place rather than being interested in the title race. In the build-up to this game Arsène Wenger trumpeted last season’s third place finish as a fantastic triumph, on a par with the Invincibles season. I have to admit to having little interest in the fortunes of the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea these days. Times have changed, eh? Such is the nature of decline.
There will be a new issue of The Gooner on sale v Swansea on Saturday. The current issue can still be bought online here. There is also an e-version of the issue available to read on your ipad/tablet/iphone/android. The app is free and you can download the first few pages of each issue as a taster before deciding whether or not to purchase the whole thing.
