I have left it a day before musing on the Everton game for the same reason I don’t tweet during matches, I find immediate appraisals tend to be knee jerk reaction and leave you looking like a right miserable Charlie.
The general consensus is that we were poor, but how poor were we really?
People say we were dire in the first half, but were we really ?
For the first 20 minutes there was zero danger that I could see. Ok, we didn’t create much ourselves, but we were away from home and playing ourselves into the game. We did look brighter than them and got into some dangerous forward positions.
Then the goal, against the run of play, had an effect on both Arsenal and Everton.
The goal itself could have been avoided, but what goal cant be? If we are going to blame Ozil for not defending like Tony Adams ,then thats harsh.
We were put on the back foot and Everton buoyed by being ahead when if anything they had been second best. For the next 10 minutes it was all Everton. Understandable? I think so !
The second Everton goal was a catalog of officiating errors. So to go in at half time 2 goals to the bad must have been a bitter pill to swallow.
The fans that had been screaming for Alexis to play in the middle were now screaming for a change.
Arsene made the change at half time (odd for a man who people say never makes tactical changes and always waits until 70 minutes) Giroud’s impact was immediate .He hit a volley that ended up in row Z but was only inches over the bar.
We know what happened, 2 late goals and a really good point was salvaged.
Everton we were told were great and we were lucky.
Really?
We had 55% possession and the same territorial advantage.
They had 2 shots on target(one of which was a clear offside) we had 3.
We also had more than twice the shots off target.
The reality is we were not that bad. We deserved at least a point.
Giroud once again showed how important to the team he is.
Monreal was good . He provided the assist for the winner and looked solid. Another good player proving detractors wrong.
Carzola, another scapegoat, came on and assisted for the first goal.
We had players coming back into the team and others clearly not fully fit.
We had played an extremely physical European game mid week.
We were playing a very good team away from home.
I’m not sure what people expected, but an easy win should not have been it.
Thanks for reading, pedantic george @Blackburngeorge.
Right, now some in house matters.
As you all know we have a very tight door policy in the comments section. Its supportive opinions only.
We set this blog up for like minded people to have a safe haven , away from the misery of other places you might visit. Once in you are free to use any language that pleases you. However, at the risk of being accused of “poacher turned gamekeeper” I will not tolerate aggressive posting towards others on the blog. Its not on and anyone doing it will be history. No matter who they are or how much I like them.
Positively Arsenal 
Fully Agree !!
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I agree. Your post is spot on. By our own high standards we were a little below par but fully deserved to at least share the points – despite Shearer saying “we didn’t deserve it!”
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Agree completely sometimes think l am watching different game to most people
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Absolutely agree!
We were told what a tactical genius Martinez is but what kind of genius is required to set out with tactics that burn your team out after 70 minutes? I think Wenger’s tactics were better i.e. save something for the finale. Without the crap officiating (again), we would have come away with three points.
We were told that Lukaku showed what a great talent he is and that he ran Mertesacker ragged all afternoon! Really??? I didn’t see that. He did nothing other than foul Mertesacker and play an offside pass for their second goal – that’s it! World Class my arse.
We were told that Arsenal hadn’t learned the lessons from last season. Really? Everton only had two meaningful shots all game and one of those should not have been allowed to happen.
I have learned not to take the press too seriously. They make up their own stories according to what best sells papers and follow each other like sheep.
We all know what really happened.
Having said all that, I think we have looked a bit toothless so far this season and I am hoping Arsene has a remedy for that.
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Here’s what most sane fans thought about the game.
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Yes. I agree with this article. Slow start to season is to be expected with so many new players. Once the team really clicks we will be really good. We are 1 point better than last season. If we turn losts into draws and draws into wins we will b there or there abouts again this year.
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It was, without doubt, a great result yesterday and I agree that we were by no means poor/dire/weak as has been suggested by some.
I think we have added a little something OOOMPH-wise in recent times; more likely to give it out, ‘av it, take no shit, than we have been and this is a good thing.
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we weren’t as bad as the pundits make out. take their offside goal out of the equation and we could have won it. chelsea laboured whilst beating leicester and all of a sudden they are the battle hardened and the best thing since sliced bread.
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Spot on man . Is high time we put. Our haters to where they belong. Shearers, owens, carraghers etc total ignoring. and support our team. If it were city, chelsea or liverpool, haters will commend their spirit from 2 goals down. We are never going 2 pleased them, they never sees anything good about arsenal.
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aj,
“World Class” simply means “not playing for Arsenal”
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If Arsenal were not at their best, and that was a poor performance, fuck me, what are we in for when they start playing well?…..
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Excellent perspective, George. A good take on a decent match.
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Good analysis. We weren’t great, but some of the media reporting was suggesting that Everton were better than us. That’s not how I saw it. The decisions that led to the second goal were very poor. Maybe we deserved all three points based on the match stats. Sanchez didn’t have a great game, but it will take him a while to a) get used to the Premiership, b) get used to Arsenal, and c) for Arsenal to get used to him in that role. We should give it time.
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Good point, well made, Georgakis.
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Good to see an increasing number of sensible balanced supporters, including on that Arsenal Fan TV link. This is definitely the place to come for some positivity and perspective sadly lacking in many other places.
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Fingers crossed, i agree with you that our game was nat any bad at all but i tend to think that the game would have been an easy win for us had we used Martesacker in his natural no.5 position then Chambers in Koscielny’s position to do the donkey work
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Good stuff George.
Like you I generally avoid Twitter during the game – I’m at the Ems for home games in any case so it’s easy enough for the most part. But occasionally I take a look and can only liken the experience to reading the text messages of drunks. And for a similar reason I tend not to drink (or drink too heavily) before a game as my own perspective becomes horribly skewed. For my part I’ve a tendency to become outraged at the ineptitude of most of the referees I have the misfortune to watch.
Overall I’m encouraged by so many of our players’ performances and look forward to the team fully clicking in the weeks ahead, with or without further new signings.
***
Have to say I’m fully behind George’s house-keeping memo.
We are lucky, thanks to technology, to have this ‘space’ occupied by like-minds, but with this great good fortune comes, in my view, a certain responsibility to avoid using the blog as a platform to directly malign those who in effect can’t answer back (at least, not here) and this should be implied if not explicitly stated.
Overly aggressive writing can also serve to deter others from expressing a view – something that is at best unfortunate, and, at worst, makes us all a little poorer for their absence from the comments section.
The blog was set up to be, if nothing else, a mecca for positivity and I applaud George’s resolve in remaining true to our roots.
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I watched the match for the first time on Arsenal Player this afternoon. Expected from the reports to see a dreadful first half and a lucky escape in the second half. Tried to shut out the whinging from Stephen Hughes. (Will someone please persuade him to do Özil the courtesy of trying to pronounce his name correctly?)
Didn’t recognise the game from the reports. We were energetic and creative in both halves. We’re still a bit rusty, so some passes are going astray. (85% pass completion is under par for us – though still better than Everton’s 81%. But for Everton to have won the match (with a blatantly offside goal) would have been a travesty of justice.
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As I was listening to yesterdays game on Arsenal player, I took a look at my twitter timeline and saw a comment by a ‘fan’ say how he was sick or Arsenal.
I asked him why he didn’t go and support another team.
He replied, telling me to F-off, he was only stating what ALL Arsenal fans were thinking.
This was just before half time.
I get an ever increasing feeling the a lot of social Arsenal followers are there to get a social following, not becuse they actually support the club.
Why would you constantly moan about a club you supposidly love and have done for years?
A point away to Everton is a great result.
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Thanks Andrew, I was beginning to think no one had read the last paragraph.
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PG – yes, of course, totally support your final para. Just glad you’ve said it.
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Agree with you. Yup the press always pressed on us. And they always overhyped everything for commercial purposes. They the one who should wake up, all the best player not from this league, and how many player from these league play the WC final. They should make a fair report and not sensasational article. The official are crap as well, I’m proposing a rating system for ref so we would have a high standard ref and not a crap one.
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Didn’t Alan Shearer take Newcastle down to the championship a few seasons back, when he was caretaker manager? Who gives a shit if he thinks Arsenal didn’t deserve a point, Everton only had two attempts on target and one was offside. Giroud missed two good chances before he actually scored and Everton looked like they were holding on in the last 15 minutes. I think Everton were lucky Giroud missed easier chances than he scored.
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Looks like the responses are strictly marshalled here, North Korea style, so this might not last very long.
I’m a match going evertonian, I’ll start by saying Ramsey is class, chamberlain is quality too despite some harsh criticism some gunners gave him after the match. In the first half they looked like the only arsenal players who wanted a game. Wiltshire was poor and gave the ball away to easily, Sanchez didn’t look like a footballer.
We tried to play the same tactics as last year but lukaku was too indisciplined and kept drifting away from monreal much to Martinez’ frustration. Fortunately our full backs dominated and debuchy got very little assistance from özil.
Yes the second goal was offside, very tight, you win some you lose some. At one point I thought an arsenal player would walk as they put in quite a few late challenges and Wiltshire in particular was lucky the ref was lenient for you cos down to 10 you wouldn’t have got back into it
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I dont think any chance Giroud missed was easy.
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Pepe you had 2 shots on target one was clearly offside following a blatant foul. Us playing below par against you at home. I think you got what you deserved-Just.
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totally agreed
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Giroud’s problem is that some fans want this mythical striker who scores with every chance and even creates his own chances! So when a real life human being (AKA Giroud) misses the occasional opportunity, however difficult it might be, he confirms their unrealistic expectation that player X (name the latest flavour of the month) would have scored that with his eyes closed. All the assists and contributions to our overall game that enable players like Ramsey to shine and pop up in the box, or the delicate lobbed assist for the Podolski goal currently doing the rounds on Twitter as one of the best recent Arsenal goals, seems to go unnoticed. I don’t see too many apologies from the “thank God he’s not starting” brigade after he came on and made the difference in the second half.
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PG- Just giving my perspective, leaving the ground most blues felt we threw the points away and the bunch of gooners I was walking with agreed.
On a side note it is refreshing to have stumbled across such a positive blog (even if a little rose tinted!) 99.9% of the time they’re just mindless ramblings of over opinionated keyboard warriors who make you question whether they really like football.
Best of luck for the season
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Cheers, you to Pepe.
I think you have the second best manager in the country btw. In fact I hope he is our next manager, when the sad day comes.
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Arsenal income in 2013 £283M, Everton income 2013 £86M. Both incomes have gone up by £30m in 2014. Were Arsenal £200M better than Everton? Fairly even entertaining game overall. But Arsenal need to improve to get back to the level they were at in the first half of last season. Arsenal should be way better than their performance against Everton. Don’t lower your standards, you guys need to be comparing yourself to Chelsea and City (charity shield not counting) not Everton.
An Everton fan.
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Great stuff PG,
Agree completely. I must have been watching a different game to many. We at least gave as good as we got. We did not make the most of some situations around the Everton box but that was because we are still clicking due to WC and a short pre season. We are getting better each game and it won’t be long before we hit our stride again. We created plenty of chances and deserved that point
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Nel, we do. But don’t downplay what aa good team you have. Who did you beat at home last year? Not just us.
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This is so funny….
http://tinyurl.com/ks5ykn9
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Nel
A very childish comparison……
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Nel, I think you are underplaying the quality of your team and the timing of this match. Unlike others we were coming off a tough mid-week away game against top quality Turkish opposition. Chelski have played 2 teams that were in the championship last season, whereas you came close to replacing us in the top 4 in the PL and have strengthened. We have several players who played deep into the WC stages and a number of new faces who are not yet up to speed with their teammates and the pace of the PL. I am confident that our team will start to gel and click if we can get past Besiktas. The points we shared today will not be the only points you gain off teams with expectations to be in the top half of the league. It’s far too early to start reaching definitive conclusions about where we will both end up come May, but I think we both have good teams who will challenge and make it difficult for our opponents on a game by game basis.
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Excellent job PG. On the road, 2 goals behind and to draw with a very good Everton team. Mark of champions imo. Early doors though..
I am glad to see a bunch of new faces on the blog. Hoping they read your rules as stated in the last paragraph, which I am fully aware is meant for the old timers as well. Positive support for our club of choice is no excuse for aggressive, snarky personal attacks on each other. This I believe should also apply to the manager of our great club. Criticize him if you will but not the personal, baseless nastiness we read in other social media. Let us truly learn the lessons of our experience elsewhere.
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Good stuff George,nice to see a couple of Evertonians on here,by far and away the best visiting fans to our place in recent seasons,both inside the grove and around the pubs after-really looking forward to Wednesday,we’ll be alright-injuries or not. As for twitter,I’m giving it a swerve for the foreseeable,too many cry babies & egomaniacs,and that’s just me & George.
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Excellent summary, George, and good comments today. I was admittedly very nervous by HT, not because I thought our boys were playing horribly, but because I feared the meltdown that would ensue if we lost. Luckily, unlike me, our boys and our manager did not panic. What we did in the first half didn’t work, so we changed it. And it seemed to me we instantly looked better. Just the addition of one more familiar face helped. Not that I think Alexis was poor, but the team is used to Giroud. They know how to play with him. Surely that can’t be lost on people. Or maybe it can…
Also agree with George’s gentle admonishment re: the comment section. Surely we don’t want it to turn into a place for virtual shouting matches, and rudeness toward each other. I know I don’t. Plenty of other places for that, if that’s your thing.
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Nel, we used to compare ourselves to Everton as you know your history denotes you are a big club however the last few decades has seen us move on with the big difference being we have built a massive new modern stadium while maintaining CL football. Two enormous achievements in their own rights so that’s where the difference in income has gone. Player expenditure has only started going up recently so your argument will not show on one fixture but in long term results. As Everton are performing above their outlay at the moment then ARSENAL have only a few positions left to occupy which for the last 20 seasons we’ve done,
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Shotta its definitely for the old timers, the problem is after fighting doomers for years on other mediums some of our typespeak is not how it should be when we discuss things in our own corner of paradise. George keep it strict remember how yogi lost control.
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Also interesting to hear the toffees saying Martinez was deliberately targeting Nacho, this obviously doesn’t happen with Kieron and a few decent performances from Nacho will stop managers doing that anyway. For now though it might be worth sticking someone stronger infront of him to make sure his confidence is up. I’m also of the opinion George that this is the Everton manager the CL clubs should be looking at although like Arsene he seems to be very loyal.
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A very objective assessment, and some well thought out posts. As an Evertonian who has wished for years that our club played the Arsenal way, I think we finally have a boss who looks like making this a reality. Of course he’s only been in the job a year, and injuries to key players, plus the world cup distraction, have impeded his progress, but to have Arsene Wenger relieved at snatching a draw – after all the hidings we’ve received off his great sides – shows how far we’ve come.
Everton had to be operating at 100% whereas the Gunners were probably still suffering from midweek exertions, so the strain on our players and Arsenals class began to show in the final quarter, but the signs are there; we can give anyone a game now, and our new-found style, mixed with the spirit, work ethic and guile that lies in the club’s DNA, indicate a promising future for the club.
The two longest serving top-flight clubs, who have always operated sensibly in the financial market and historically linked playing the beautiful game with success, may yet sweep aside the ‘Johnny-come-lately’s and their classless, filthy-lucre laden oligarchs.
Good luck to both our great clubs this season
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I don’t think it was just a case of targeting Nacho, as any defender would be vulnerable if constantly having to cope with two on one. For a variety of reasons (lack of winger tracking back, too many committed forward, lack of mobile centre backs, lack of scary holding midfielder) we have often been exposed on that flank, and it is patently unfair to blame Nacho, who seems to me an absolutely model pro and the type of player that all squads need. I see him as our very own James Milner, although being no hispanist I cannot comment on the quality of his tweets.
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Unlike many Arsenal fans on Twitter, I thought the media were pretty positive about the performance. And so they should have been as we eased our way back into the match after being patently below par in the first half against a very good side.
I won’t post the link, but Barney Ronay writes brilliantly on the transfer window, and is well worth a Bank Holiday read.
Some time ago AW noted that the overall quality of players worldwide was increasing and that therefore it was not going to be so easy for sides to buy their way to success. I am looking forward to this whole season immensely, and once the phoney August war is over and the first international break done, I expect to see plenty of fascinating football. As we showed through our lack of it in the first half, and subsequent discovery of it in the second, it will be the sides that have the best instinctive understanding and collective desire to go the extra mile that come out on top.
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I have to say that the Everton fans who have posted have shown a class way above that I’ve seen from any other club. There was only one I didn’t approve, which is far less than the % of Arsenal fans I have to send into the spam bin.
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Morning George
That is so often the case, we may often criticise our own wife whilst admiring the wife of another. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Good write up by the way.
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Problem with press types is that either they are at the game but their opinions are formed after their joint post-match piss-up at the expense of the host club (i.e. us fans) or the highlights of the game – so for their opinions you’re as well to pop down your local while the MOTD highlights are on to get the same accounts of the game. Sports journalists give journalism a bad name (which, these days, takes some doing)!
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As usual, many great comments and Passenal sums up our current position perfectly.
Particularly appreciate comments from our Evertonian friends who make many good, well thought out remarks.
Always had a soft spot for EFC, they were the first team I saw Arsenal play at Highbury in December 1973, with Joe Royle up front for the toffees and Alan Ball in midfield for our lot. Despite the presence of our own World Cup winner, just under 20,000 fans turned up that day, which itself is food for thought, being just two seasons on from our historic double-winning season.
At that point, in ’73, it’s possible to argue that Everton, Arsenal and Liverpool were, very roughly, on a par with one another. Over the next 30 years or so, both AFC and LFC went on to hit the footballing heights whilst Everton carried on being, well, Everton.
That Arsenal have now opened up clear water between both Merseyside clubs is hard to dispute but for me, in many ways, just as remarkable as Arsenal’s progress since I first saw them, is Liverpool’s failure to consolidate on their years of success to the extent that today, in 2014, Everton are STILL not a million miles from their neighbours in being able to give most teams a run for their money over 90 minutes.
And for that, EFC deserve much credit.
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Finally someone brave enough to say it.
Yes we were the better team, we were looking like coming back to oyr best. Yes we weren’t at our strongest form, still we weren’t bad either. Their goals were against the flow of the game.
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