Everton FC 2 Arsenal 2: Greg O'Keeffe's verdict on a frustrating day for the Blues
Signs of tiredness in the Blues' late collapse, says the Echo's man at Goodison
Everton FC v Arsenal FC Premier League match at Goodison Park Liverpool. Pienaar injured
They spent a fortune on powerful new floodlights, but there’s still something of an energy crisis at Goodison Park.
For 75 minutes on Saturday it was an almost perfect action replay of the last time Arsenal came to town.
Romelu Lukaku led the rampage, Steven Naismith had been a marauding menace and Arsenal were making the same errors that undermined them four months ago.
Deja vu? It would have been – only for Everton’s fitness to desert them when they needed it most.
What happened next will concern Roberto Martinez, whatever his protestations to the contrary, as much as it frustrated Evertonians who watched their team ship a two-goal lead in the final seven minutes to give Arsenal a draw that they barely deserved.
What infuriated most is that it wasn’t really a lack of quality which prevented a re-run of April’s 3-0 blockbuster either. It was an all-too visible wilting in tempo, presumably caused by a simple lack of the requisite stamina.
Cue the continuation of a pattern which is beginning to feel eerily like the same time last year.
The 2013/14 season was such a joyous time for Everton, they’re currently in the process of repeating it – game by game.
A frustrating draw when victory was effectively thrown away on the opening day? Check.
Then a contest back in front of the Goodison faithful that promised much, but ultimately delivered little. Check, again.
Cast your mind back to last August and recall that there were mitigating circumstances for the Blues trio of underwhelming draws, not least their adaptation to the demands of a new passing style.
It’s the same this time around too. Martinez can point to a host of factors, hopefully fixable, which are hampering his team.
But, fitness levels aside, one of the concerns after two games of the 2014/15 campaign is the truism that the best sides press their advantage when they’re on top.
Everton just patently can’t do that lately. Martinez labelled 2-0 a “dangerous score” after Saturday’s game, but for the Blues any lead is precarious at the moment.
Worryingly Everton seem incapable of going the distance. If games lasted 80 minutes they’d be sitting pretty up by the summit of the table with six points.
Unfortunately for the leggy Toffees it’s that extra 10 minutes which are causing all the problems.
Seemingly due to a pre-season disrupted by the World Cup and subsequent rest afforded to those involved, too many Everton players don’t seem to have the fortitude yet to last the full-throttle pace of games in the top flight.
They sagged against Leicester and paid dearly for it. Same again when the Gunners arrived.
Witness them dropping too deep as the action wore on, and ultimately showing signs of mental and physical tiredness in the sloppy defending which cost them two goals.
It’s difficult to know how long the Blues will be playing catch-up in the fitness stakes.
They played a behind-closed-doors friendly last week, and now have over 180 minutes of Premier League action in the bank.
Martinez will know he needs to get them to the right levels soon if some of the highly impressive football they are playing is to get its just rewards.
If the first half at the Kingpower stadium was good, it was nothing compared to the scintillating display they mustered against Arsene Wenger’s men. Firing on all cylinders, the Toffees raced into a two-goal lead by, once again, out-passing the pass-masters and suggesting they have every right to be considered a threat to the top four again.
In Naismith they really do have a slow-burning but none the less bona fide Goodison hero.
His display was stirring in the first half, and it was a symbol of how he’s transformed his status via a combination of hard work and good coaching from his manager to hear the Gwladys Street sing his name.
He’s not the only Scot who the denizens of L4 have a huge soft spot for either. James McCarthy was outstanding once again. The everywhere man certainly can’t be accused of lacking energy, although it’s notable that he had a proper summer break unlike some of his colleagues.
Alongside him Gareth Barry was his usual classy self. The midfielder’s cross for Seamus Coleman’s opener was just one snapshot of his enduring influence and ability to always be in the right place at the right time.
Lukaku too had hearts a flutter during that first half. He showed his power and dynamism to surge upfield and create the second goal, not the first time he’s been cleverly deployed down the right against the Gunners.
But if he made the mature and sensible choice in that moment with his unselfish pass for Naismith, his decision-making deteriorated as the game wore on and too often he deferred the right pass when Everton could and should have got a third.
They were breaking smartly and finding space with Arsenal stretched, but the third goal just wasn’t forthcoming.
In the end they paid for it.
If Lukaku’s errant decisions were a sign of mental fatigue for a player who still needs time to build back up to full fitness, then he wasn’t alone as Aaron Ramsey was able to lose his marker too easily to give the visitors hope.
Then two centre-backs with the experience of Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin will be furious at themselves for allowing Olivier Giroud to head the equaliser.
The French striker was a nice option for Wenger when his experiment of playing Alexis Sanchez as a lone forward failed.
Unfortunately Martinez had no such striking plan B when Lukaku limped off with the toe injury that he suffered days beforehand and the Blues noticeably missed his presence and ability to hold the ball up.
Martinez knows he needs another striker, and his search for that vital option goes on.
So too does the search for three points.
Chelsea up next, it certainly doesn’t get any easier. But Everton can help themselves if they can spend the next week doing the work required to make them a 90-minute side.
