Arsenal (a) Ghostbusters

Matthew Barry
Academy Prospect

Posts: 65

Arsenal (a) Ghostbusters Apr 24, 2021 11:51:40 GMT via mobile Avinalaff, jimmy, and 3 more like this

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Post by Matthew Barry on Apr 24, 2021 11:51:40 GMT

Arsenal (a) Ghostbusters

So there was a relative clean bill of health and Michael Keane being the only surprise omission from the squad. Gomes in for Davies, Coleman for Keane and DCL back for Iwobi.

As far as Arsenal were concerned they had 5 players missing, but still carried a threat with quick , versatile and intelligent forwards, defying their age and experience.

Not having won away at the Emirates, ever, and our last win at Highbury coming in 1996 courtesy of the magnificent Andrei Kanchelskis, absolutely needing to win to stay in the European conversation was a daunting prospect. Or was it?

The first half was your stereotypical football chess match, Everton happy to concede possession, Arsenal terrified of being caught on the break. A Saka effort was saved saved and held by Pickford and a brilliant Allan threw ball set Richarlison away via a neat turn just inside the box, but his shot across the goal was saved by Leno. DCL had gone a split second to early with his follow up and the ball brushed passed his head to safety. Unlucky! Gylfi hitting the crossbar with a freekick, a bit later in the half, but Leno was relatively untroubled for now.

It was quite ***** for tat, at about 38 minutes I asked myself was the game boring or was it quite high level and I was watching an actual game where the ball was just in play and both teams were happy to try and pass around each other to find solutions? I genuinely couldn't work out which it was. The defences were on top though, Godfrey and Holgate were extra vigilant, especially after the Spurs draw.

Jon Dross once again being horrendously fussy, and amazingly called out by Graeme Souness, was blowing when play could have continued for both sides, guessing at decisions rather than using common sense and being easily swung by cries that could be confused with actual dismemberment. What a terrible representation of 'the best' this league has to offer. HT 0-0, wasn't sure what to make of it....but we weren't behind.

Everton were out fairly early for the second half, and hopefully the graft from Gylfi and James would pay off this half, Allan had allowed them both to move freely ahead of him, but for their industry they were very much confined to the middle of the pitch and a cramped and confined battle with Partey.

Arsenal were the aggressors immediately, pushing everyone accept DCL back into the final 3rd, Everton for 5 minutes had no way out, it was worrying. Allan got ridiculously booked for little to nothing, and Arsenal poured forward again and again. In effect, this was their season defining game, just as much as it was for us. Win and they go ahead of us, lose and they're 6 points behind having played one game more.

The desperation for the win was typified by Ceballos's horrendous effort to deceive dross with acting of the highest order. Yes, Richarlison should never have made an attempt to go for the ball, however the reaction to the minimalist of contact was laughable, ludicrous and just plain cheating. Mr Dross bought it and pointed to the spot. VAR ruled that Pepe was offside during the build up, but honestly Ceballos should be retrospectively banned. We breath again!

Holgate booked for a challenge near the touchline, the freekick reached Chambers who volleyed into the ground and over the bar. We were creaking!!

Allan then takes the ball midway through our half and plays a long diagonal to Richarlison on the shoulder of Xhaka. Bending his run from outside to in, Richarlison bumped Xhaka off during the challenge and darted into the box, Xhaka giving chase. Richy beat him all ends up and was now on the edge of the 6 yard box with DCL running towards the front post. His low and hard cross was straight at Leno, and somehow the ball went through the keepers hands and off his heel into the goal. A disbelieving DCL just looked at the ball in the goal and then went off to join Richy having a dance in the corner. The obligatory VAR check to do it's best rule the goal out, but they couldn't and Everton were ahead, against the run of play? Yes, did we deserve some luck at this cruel ground? ABSOLUTELY. 0-1

Arteta rang the changes in search of an equaliser, Carlo countered by bringing this new boy called Delph, then Mina, then Davies. Gomes, James and Richarlison all made way. The danger was that Everton would drop too deep and it would be Crystal Palace all over again, Ceballos testing Pickford from range, a miracle that he was still on the pitch.... cheat.

4 minutes of injury time, a ball played into the box and Coleman has it covered with Marinelli challenging him, amazingly the forward was able to wrap himself around Coleman and get a shot away, but Pickford was equal to it, and with a strong wrist behind the save, the ball was cleared away from goal and to safety. FT 0-1 Another away ground ghost laid to rest and a nail in the coffin of a Europa league rival, albeit not the final one.

A massive triumph for Everton, it may have been lucky, but this was the way that we would normally lose this game, a real hardluck story. It was both wonderful and immensely satisfying to be on the right side of it for once despite Arteta's post match protestations.

As a club Arsenal are in a mess, they have forgotten their standing in English football. They are a shadow of the club that for a time stood head and shoulders above it's peers in this league, and boasted some of the greatest players this country has seen in the modern era. The 2004/5 Arsenal team that beat Everton 1-4 on opening weekend of the season remains the best away team that I've ever seen at Goodison Park. 7 of that starting 11 were the best players in the league in their positions, 6 of that starting 11 were world class.

The protests before the game were both required and should be applauded. The Arsenal owner and his cohorts from the other ESL offenders are part of a boardroom culture that has no place in football. In war terms, they are the type of soldiers that would walk a battle field just to bayonet the dying and them comeback later to pilfer what they can from the corpses. Disgusting vultures.

Onto Villa and another 6 pointer!!

UTFT COYB 💙

empresstouch
Super Sub

Posts: 359

Arsenal (a) Ghostbusters Apr 24, 2021 12:05:07 GMT Avinalaff, jimmy, and 1 more like this

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Post by empresstouch on Apr 24, 2021 12:05:07 GMT

Well, well.

From no win in three
to undefeated in four.

After a very unfortunate week (for reasons we won’t ponder on any longer), we can draw immense satisfaction from entering someone else’s house and walking away with all the prizes for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Writing about what Everton are doing ON the pitch is not only a refreshing change now; it has been more-or-less since the best manager in the world decided to let himself in for the biggest challenge of his footballing career.

It’s a mystery to many that he was somehow able to dig a squad of players with much talent, but hopelessly short in both key positions and key facets to their individual games
out of a three-decade, ongoing threat of possible-to-imminent rele[we-wont].

Then, with the assistance of a very competent scout and footballing director, identify AND attract such big name players who actually could deliver on the Goodison Park: as individuals and as a team.

The tightly-congested fixture list that has already exposed the chronic lack of depth in our squad in 2021 was always going to be a leveller for the Aston Villas and Newcastle Uniteds of this world. Whoever could put the hard work in, week-in, week-out, would stand a better chance of achieving above average results over the course of the marathon that is the English football season. It presents a new challenge to managers for whom (as it does in all professional sports today) to manage the physical capabilities of all their athletes to the finest detail.

This may not be our most silverware-decorated League campaign, but IF we can claim 7th place AND secure some form of European football in 2021-22 – even if that means being the founder participant of the Europa Conference – the experience of having to juggle competition aspirations and priorities will stand us in very good stead for the medium-term.

So how should last night’s result – and how it was achieved – rank among the highlights of this season?

Symbolically, the Anfield win was vital in our players taking their own careers at Everton seriously.

The 3-3 draw at Old Trafford confirmation to anyone who didn’t rate Ancelotti as a shrewd tactician, or believe that we have what it takes to dig ourselves out of a big hole in the form of a 90-minute performance.

Both home performances against Tottenham offered opportunities to players here to make careers for themselves by playing on pure adrenaline – when stepping up to the occasion absolutely demanded it.

BUT as far as significance of the results alone; last night’s win in north London was right up there, if not THE result of the season – if you’re an Evertonian.

“6-pointer” is often a phrase associated with the term rele[again, we wont].

It was a massive 6 points.
Getting ourselves back into the chasing pack for 7th.
Forcing Arteta and the Gooners to focus almost entirely on the ‘All eggs in the Europa League basket’ strategy.
All by eliminating them as a League presence, via this 0-1 score.

The result was top priority at this stage of the season, of course.

But despite the fact that there was no one obvious standout player in blue, and that the MOTM honour could very easily have been awarded to an Arsenal player, the functioning of our team’s play for the entire contest was as solid as ANY game we’ve played this season. It came at a brilliant moment.

Yes, there will be much more discussion involving the letters V, A and R.

There’ll also (unfortunately) be cries of "flat-track-bully beating up on gangs with no ringleaders"
(no Aubameyang, no van Dijk – we’ll not go any further).

But after the excitement of this historic result dies down, the finer details of how it was achieved make for very mouth-watering reading, when – not if, we participate in Europe.

Without both their best strikers, Arsenal still showed their own European experience by passing the ball very, very well. This meant not only for a stern test of our fitness levels, it also threw down a challenge to our players to need to keep the ball ourselves when possible.

We’re a long way behind in dominating possession – of course, but competing in that department is something we CAN do. By “competing” I simply mean making the absolute most of possession when we have it, not only to give our players some rest-bite, but to sufficiently deny opposition momentum in progressively grinding us down. All done perfectly legitimately. All achieved through getting the absolute most from everyone on the pitch – without any exceptions.

Though there were only two key moments in the game, the penalty decision and the goal, it is testament not only to the manager, but the players;
a chess match Everton both competed in and won, by fair means, that progress is there to see.

Sometimes the opposition are heavyweights too. A right uppercut cannot always be prevented. Lifting yourself from the canvas and starting again is sometimes the only way. We sure took three blows at Old Trafford and lived to tell the tale. Last night we landed an uppercut of our own when the opposition were caught off-guard – lucky goal or otherwise...

There will be frustrating results and performances in future.
We’ll be tasting this very bitter feeling Arsenal have right now.
We’ll be stronger for it too.

We’ve given ourselves a chance of ending the season with tangible meaning for next.

Enjoy the result for what it truly is: progress.

"Don't you turn too - if I ever change..."

Mark Reynolds, one half of Liverpool's second-finest band ever: Red Flag.

(The band name purely a reference to the motor racing signal that stops F1/IndyCar races, not our neighbours.)

Avinalaff
Record Signing

Posts: 11,093

Arsenal (a) Ghostbusters Apr 24, 2021 16:35:05 GMT jimmy likes this

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Post by Avinalaff on Apr 24, 2021 16:35:05 GMT

Cheers chaps.

Good 3 points yesterday, and the performance is less important than the result.

Some of our players weren't even born the last time we won at the Emirates Stadium, just to put the victory in to perspective.

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rugbytoffee Record Signing Posts: 12,046	Arsenal (a) Ghostbusters Apr 24, 2021 18:22:45 GMT jimmy likes this Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by rugbytoffee on Apr 24, 2021 18:22:45 GMT Football wasn't pretty but 3pts are 3pts. Need to keep it going. Defensively sound I thought , but again a lack of width and pace is alarming at times.