Match reaction vs Everton

[cheesy bites]

2-2

I don't care what anyone says. This game was proof.

Giroud must play up top every single game he can, until we buy someone better.

He did actually become the mythical "focal point" in our attacks, and provided a threat in the air which made the Everton CBs have to do something different to simply filling space in the box.

Thank you Giroud.

Fuck off Monreal.

[AKBapologist]

And we were so shit!


:lol:

[GP]

2-2

I don't care what anyone says. This game was proof.

Giroud must play up top every single game he can, until we buy someone better.

He did actually become the mythical "focal point" in our attacks, and provided a threat in the air which made the Everton CBs have to do something different to simply filling space in the box.

Thank you Giroud.

Fuck off Monreal.

Giroud changed the game. Quality player.

[Marc Overmars]

Great fight back.

A good point well earned.

[Niall_Quinn]

Let's put it down to teething problems. In the end a point away to them is probably a decent result.

[Dein-machine]

I've been slagging Giroud off all week after the Besiktas game but fair ply to him, he made the difference.
Need to get Ozil more central, he's too lazy to track back but he doesn't give the ball away like the others.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Well done, two away games in a row and not a defeat in either isn't bad.

Still quite pub team at the moment though.

[Gooner23]

Was Sanchez injured? Suprised he came off and not Ozil.

[Master Splinter]

Giroud changed the game. Quality player.

Monreal saved the day with that cross. Quality player.

Outpaced, outpowered, outstrengthed, outbullied, outfouled, outcheated, outheighted. But we still got two proper goals to their one and a point. How bad must the wonderful Everton be?

We were shit, by the way.

[Kano]

grit, determination, mental strength.

pace, power, precision.

indecision was final for everton.

[I am invisible]

Got away with it again though - no comeuppance!

[cheesy bites]

-----------New DM---------Ramsey---------
Ox/Theo-------------Ozil------------Sanchez
------------------Giroud-------------------

Is how we should be lining up. I do think fitting Ramsey and Ozil in the same team is very very difficult.

[Niall_Quinn]

Still waiting for a decent game of football.

[GP]

-----------New DM---------Ramsey---------
Ox/Theo-------------Ozil------------Cazorla
------------------Giroud-------------------

Is how we should be lining up. I do think fitting Ramsey and Ozil in the same team is very very difficult.

Alexis?

[Power n Glory]

Hopefully, that's the last time we see Wilshere starting. Two goals came once he came off.

[Power n Glory]

-----------New DM---------Ramsey---------
Ox/Theo-------------Ozil------------Cazorla
------------------Giroud-------------------

Is how we should be lining up. I do think fitting Ramsey and Ozil in the same team is very very difficult.

Sanchez???

[cheesy bites]

Alexis?

Oh lol, then him for Santi

[GP]

Hopefully, that's the last time we see Giroud not starting. Two goals came once he came on.

[I am invisible]

Sanchez is in the past - he had his chance. Still time to move him on and get Welbeck in...

[4-3-3]

Hopefully, that's the last time we see Giroud not starting. Two goals came once he came on.

he is injured allready.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Just wonder if we'd lost would it have made him do the obvious and buy some quality upfront. Now does the late goal hide the the fact that we have the same problems going forward as last year

We could do with something better up front however what cost us today was our absymal start which has been a feature of a lot of our important games away from home, including the FA Cup final.

There's just no shape or plan about it. Chasms of space between the midfield and defence and no sort of strategy to defend deep for the first 30 minutes, kill the crowd and by consequence the game before seeking to win it.

The terrible reffing for the second goal didn't help either but we simply have to do better otherwise it's going to be the same shit as last year. We lose the game in the first 20 mins.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

We need to knock this Wilshere/Ramsey thing on the head. I hate it.

[Japan Shaking All Over]

Giroud changed the game......he misses a ton of chances and I understand why that makes people crazy via it does me too but he is the only player that can hold the ball up and allow our tippy tap brigade to get up and support....we need another player, one who will weigh in with goals as Sanogo and Campbell are projects.....I am not leaning towards the likes of Cavani but I would take Remy and his dodgy ticker....Remy, Cavalho and Manolas and we are sorted!

[Dein-machine]

Hopefully, that's the last time we see Giroud not starting. Two goals came once he came on.

Didn't say that after the Besiktas game

[Dein-machine]

Jack is a liability at the moment. Rambos been giving the ball away too easily aswell but at least he's getting in the box.

[GP]

Didn't say that after the Besiktas game

I wasn't slitting my wrists either...

[Penguin]

Terrible performance but in the end we did deserve the point in the end.

In fact, if you look back at the chances we created, we could have easily scored two or three more if we were more ruthless in front of goal. That Giroud chance at the start of the 2nd half and one of Ox's chances in the first half should have been in the back of the net. Factor in the shocking officiating for Everton's second 'goal' and we should have won that by a comfortable margin.

We need to fix ourselves up though, especially our defence. We don't have the firepower at the moment to blow teams away with 4 or 5 goals so our defence HAS to be on point like it was at the beginning of last season. Merts doesn't have time to shake off the rust, he needs to get back into form right now.

[Niall_Quinn]

I hate tippy tappy and I wish we'd stop playing it. It wastes Ozil, Ramsey, even Giroud. Tippy tappy and the complex technical boredom just isn't entertaining. Shouldn't entertainment be just as important as results? I think so anyway. We could all go and support the chavs if entertainment is irrelevant.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Didn't think Jack was any worse than Ramsey but for the goal but again Wilshere will cop the overwhelming majority of the flak.

Well done to Giroud, but my view on him is the same and I have thought that the flak he has got has been OTT recently too.

If Alexis wasn't injured, it is really worrying that he was hauled off at half time. Really worrying. You might argue it is worrying in either case.

I know he probably isn't quite ready yet but I just really want to see Bellerin play. I love his Alves style 1'2's and overlapping.

[I am invisible]

So what's wrong with us at the moment? Is there a problem with the makeup of this team/squad that that we need to address, or have we just not really got going yet?

[AKBapologist]

So what's wrong with us at the moment? Is there a problem with the makeup of this team/squad that that we need to address, or have we just not really got going yet?

bit of both tbh.

[Power n Glory]

Giroud got the winning goal but if he didn't score today, the outlook on his performance would be very different. We weren't beating down on Everton's door for a goal and looked rather flat. If they had been more brave and attacked more, they could have closed out the game at 3-0. Monreal, Merts, Chambers, Debuchy...they all had dodgy games. No idea why Merts was pressing so high up field. First game back so maybe he just needs to adjust. Monreal was no help down that side and it wasn't much better on the other side of defence. A lot of mistakes made and Everton could have really done us damage on the counters.

I see the Ozil criticism but I thought he made some key passes. Very tidy on the ball and looked sharp. Came sprinting back when needing to defend, he was decent despite not tracking his man for the first goal but I blame Merts for that one too. He wasn't at the races.

Good goal for Ramsey after a poor game. Says a lot that he was able to make that late run once Jack went off. Wilshere is a hindrance to Ramsey. All Jack does is look to play one twos on the edge of a crowed box then go charging in expecting the return ball. It's unproductive.

Sanchez up front looked like it could pose a threat but some bad decision making kept us from scoring. If the defence were on their game, I'd have been confident about a goal coming but it says a lot when Wenger loses faith so quickly and hooks him off for Giroud. That says it all. Anyone that thinks Sanchez was bought to play as a striker needs to rethink that notion.

We'll see what Wenger chooses in the next game. The poor preseason prep means we're not at the races or as sharp as we should be but we need to shake it off quickly because we have some major games ahead.

A good point in the end considering we were 2 goals down. On to the next.

[Dein-machine]

I wasn't slitting my wrists either...

I was

[GP]

I was

Try harder.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Giroud got the winning goal but if he didn't score today, the outlook on his performance would be very different. We weren't beating down on Everton's door for a goal and looked rather flat. If they had been more brave and attacked more, they could have closed out the game at 3-0. Monreal, Merts, Chambers, Debuchy...they all had dodgy games. No idea why Merts was pressing so high up field. First game back so maybe he just needs to adjust. Monreal was no help down that side and it wasn't much better on the other side of defence. A lot of mistakes made and Everton could have really done us damage on the counters.

I see the Ozil criticism but I thought he made some key passes. Very tidy on the ball and looked sharp. Came sprinting back when needing to defend, he was decent despite not tracking his man for the first goal but I blame Merts for that one too. He wasn't at the races.

Good goal for Ramsey after a poor game. Says a lot that he was able to make that late run once Jack went off. Wilshere is a hindrance to Ramsey. All Jack does is look to play one twos on the edge of a crowed box then go charging in expecting the return ball. It's unproductive.

Sanchez up front looked like it could pose a threat but some bad decision making kept us from scoring. If the defence were on their game, I'd have been confident about a goal coming but it says a lot when Wenger loses faith so quickly and hooks him off for Giroud. That says it all. Anyone that thinks Sanchez was bought to play as a striker needs to rethink that notion.

We'll see what Wenger chooses in the next game. The poor preseason prep means we're not at the races or as sharp as we should be but we need to shake it off quickly because we have some major games ahead.

A good point in the end considering we were 2 goals down. On to the next.

With Ramsey's finishing, Wilshere might have 2/3 goals this season already, playing like that so I don't think it is actually unproductive. It is however, unproductive when he runs into a brick wall and hits the deck or lingers on the ball too long before losing it.

Raemsey's finishing touch took a while to come, as did Cesc's so I think Wilshere could well hone that skill.

I agree with you on the scepticism that Sanchez was bought to be a CF and I also think those that are convinced we are mainly open in games because of Arteta, might rethink that view too.

[Power n Glory]

With Ramsey's finishing, Wilshere might have 2/3 goals this season already, playing like that so I don't think it is actually unproductive. It is however, unproductive when he runs into a brick wall and hits the deck or lingers on the ball too long before losing it.

Raemsey's finishing touch took a while to come, as did Cesc's so I think Wilshere could well hone that skill.

I agree with you on the scepticism that Sanchez was bought to be a CF and I also think those that are convinced we are mainly open in games because of Arteta, might rethink that view too.

That's why it's unproductive. He doesn't have Ramsey's finishing but because he keeps trying the same move it means Ramsey isn't making as many runs into the box. If he's not scoring or setting up goals for anyone else, we can't really afford to accommodate him at the expense of Ramsey, Ozil or Cazorla for that matter.

[Niall_Quinn]

Can't be arsed analysing it all - too drunk and I have been promised sex tonight so my mind is mostly on that. But Bif wasn't even close to being as good as some are making out. Great that he got the goal, but credit goes to Monreal for dumping the ball right onto his static bonce. He put in a better shift than against the turks but that's not saying much. Admit it everyone - he's hasn't got what it takes to move us up that final level. Come on, we all know it's true.

[Niall_Quinn]

To be fair to Wenger - he gave us what we all wanted and played a very different formation. Trouble is, that didn't work either. Now what?

[fakeyank]

Ozil is shit. Stealing a living to be honest. Cazorla shits over him any day. Completely missing in the game.. disappointed his arse was not subbed instead of Sanchez.

Ramsey is a beast though!

[Dein-machine]

Can't be arsed analysing it all - too drunk and I have been promised sex tonight so my mind is mostly on that. But Bif wasn't even close to being as good as some are making out. Great that he got the goal, but credit goes to Monreal for dumping the ball right onto his static bonce. He put in a better shift than against the turks but that's not saying much. Admit it everyone - he's hasn't got what it takes to move us up that final level. Come on, we all know it's true.

Agreed - we also all know that Monreal isn't good enough but just because he gets one decent cross in out of 10 it doesn't hide his consistency - exactly the same for Giroud. Let's see what he's like on Wednesday, if the ball didn't injure him too much at then end.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

That's why it's unproductive. He doesn't have Ramsey's finishing but because he keeps trying the same move it means Ramsey isn't making as many runs into the box. If he's not scoring or setting up goals for anyone else, we can't really afford to accommodate him at the expense of Ramsey, Ozil or Cazorla for that matter.
You almost seem to be suggesting that he shouldn't try to get into the box and score? The logical thing would be for him to hone his finishing....not stop making the runs all together.

I suspect your real gripe is with him being on the field of play all together...but whilst he is on it, he can't be expected to play in such a way as to simply not get in Ramsey's way, lol. Rambo has scored this season in any case so I'm not sure it is that much of a problem. There is an issue of balance, but I think that that exists regardless of the mix or combinations we can concoct with the given personnel.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

To be fair to Wenger - he gave us what we all wanted and played a very different formation. Trouble is, that didn't work either. Now what?

Put some aftershave on for your lady friend.

[Power n Glory]

Ozil is shit. Stealing a living to be honest. Cazorla shits over him any day. Completely missing in the game.. disappointed his arse was not subbed instead of Sanchez.

Ramsey is a beast though!

Ozil was decent and if it wasn't for Ramsey's goal, he'd have had a real stinker.

I think we'll see a lot more from Oz this year. First game back so we should cut him some slack. He could have been as rusty as Merts but he looked one of the sharper players.

[selassie]

So what's wrong with us at the moment? Is there a problem with the makeup of this team/squad that that we need to address, or have we just not really got going yet?

I think it's a bit of both. I was pretty shocked to see Ozil out on the left and Jack in the centre. Was kind of surprised to see OX on the right too. What formation were we even playing first half? All I saw was Alexis isolated and waving at Ramsey et al to push up and join him.

Poor pre-season prep and not being ready/fit is one thing, being just plain disorganised is another, we looked really disorganised first half, we were all over the place...nobody seemed to have a clue what their roles were.

We definitely improved 2nd half but i can't help but think Arsene doesn't really know what his best team is and he doesn't really know who should play where.

We have to step up, we have City and Chelsea up soon, if we don't improve i think a repeat of those beatings last season could be on the cards. :faint:

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Hmm I think the issue is that Giroud usually performs better when he comes off the bench, playing Sanchez up front was a brave decision and one that didnt pay off in this game but I see no reason not to try it again, he had no service at all, and Giroud saw the ball more because after last weekend against Leicester they shut up shop instead of going for the jugular which with our midfield as it is currently I think they would have profited from.
Ramsey is Lampard esque at times, in that he will have a poor game (poor passing, giving the ball away, fouling) but will still find the net.
Mertesacker looked like he was playing on Tramadol, sluggish and lazy....was no help whatsoever to Chambers.
Why would you play Ozil wide left on his first game back?

[Injury Time]

Campbell made all the difference*

*haven't seen the game or any highlights tbf

Is Kos still injured as seems a rather odd game to de-rust BFG.
We need a thug in midfield for this sort of games were we as outmuscled as BBC describe?
dirty Arsenal 4 yellows, heroic and clean Everton plus a gifted offside goal, we're the ref and lineman consistently shit?

[Power n Glory]

You almost seem to be suggesting that he shouldn't try to get into the box and score? The logical thing would be for him to hone his finishing....not stop making the runs all together.

I suspect your real gripe is with him being on the field of play all together...but whilst he is on it, he can't be expected to play in such a way as to simply not get in Ramsey's way, lol. Rambo has scored this season in any case so I'm not sure it is that much of a problem. There is an issue of balance, but I think that that exists regardless of the mix or combinations we can concoct with the given personnel.

Yes, my gripe is with him taking up a vital position when we have other players that can offer so much more. If he was actually successful at doing what he does, I'd have no problem with it. But in the end, he's making passes to set himself up to get into the box and it just seems a little selfish to me, especially when he's not scoring. Would much rather someone that can feed the other attackers with goal scoring opportunities as well as score.

I don't recall many games where the Wilshere and Ramsey partnership has function well and it's not just this season I'm referring to. Ozil and Ramsey in the middle worked so much better where they had an understanding at least. I just don't see that with Ramsey and Wilshere.

[gunnerrrrr]

Wenger needs to address the team balance when he sets up.

Forcing Wilshire into the starting 11 is causing a big issue, as currently he simply is not the best option.

Giroud has to play up top, Ozil should be given a free role and then the rest is down to structure.

We could do with more quality up top, but i think we have a good squad as it is, but we have a manager who currently does not know what his best 11 is and that is quite obvious.

Not sure how this will develop but Wenger needs to address this asap.

Great point btw.

[GP]

I'm surprised no one is talking about Naismith.

An utter shitbag of a diving cunt. And the twat of a ref bought it every shitting time.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm surprised no one is talking about Naismith.

An utter shitbag of a diving cunt. And the twat of a ref bought it every shitting time.

And Miralles or whatever his name was. utter cunt.

[Letters]

The ref gave them everything today, it's no wonder players dive around like fannies when they know they're going to get the decision every time.

[Letters]

Two nil down with 15 minutes left you'd take a draw. I think I'd have taken it at the start actually. Felt a bit hard done by to be 1-0 down, I felt we'd been the better side, but for all our nice passing in midfield we weren't really creating chances and were missing a real threat up front.

Giroud made a difference, he missed a couple but at least he was having chances. Nice ball from Cazorla for Ramsey to get a goal back, lovely header from Giroud to equalise.

Overall happy enough with the result but the performance was a bit patchy again, we don't seem to have really got going yet.

[fakeyank]

Ozil was decent and if it wasn't for Ramsey's goal, he'd have had a real stinker.

I think we'll see a lot more from Oz this year. First game back so we should cut him some slack. He could have been as rusty as Merts but he looked one of the sharper players.
I really didn't see Ozil in the game at all. IMO, he either needs to play at a different position or he needs to be benched. For 42 million quid, he should be 5 times the player he is now.
Its his 2nd season and he is fast running out of excuses.

[Alpha]

I was watching the game with same yankees in New York who had no clue what soccer is .We didn't play quite well but we were unlucky to concede the two goals especially the second one which was clearly offside .
I can't single out any individual for the performance but it is clear to see the team is not ready yet but will get there with the time .
But the team deserves some credit as Goodison Park is not an easy ground when you are 2 nil down . That point will prove valuable in the future .

[GP]

I really didn't see Ozil in the game at all. IMO, he either needs to play at a different position or he needs to be benched. For 42 million quid, he should be 5 times the player he is now.
Its his 2nd season and he is fast running out of excuses.

It's his first game back after no pre-season.

Think.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I was a bit annoyed that we were buying into Naismith's craftiness so often. Thought we just needed to be a bit more savvy about dealing with him.....and against them their full backs always have a telling influence. We might start approaching our games with them with a plan for their hobbits at full back! I think we were quite fortunate Barkley wasn't playing today.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Probably being a little irritable but when Giroud scored the equaliser I was a bit annoyed by the celebration. Just wanted him to grab the ball and put it back on the centre spot! FFS!!!

[Heisenberg]

I probably would have taken a draw before the match so not terribly dissatisfied, especially having been 2-0 down at 83 minutes.

[Munchies]

We need to sort out the midfield in these away games

All over the place

[Marc Overmars]

I wouldn't be starting Wheelchair every game tbh, he has no niche role or special trait and we have several midfielders who are superior to him in every aspect. Can't help but feel we're not seeing the best of Ramsey because of his presence.

Giroud, love him or hate him is the best option up front for us until a superior player is brought in. All this talk of Alexis or even Theo up front is nice in theory but when you consider the role Wenger has carved out for his striker, then you see it won't work unless we change formation but that isn't going to happen.

[Grebbo]

Not sure why the media is obsessed with Wilshere tbh. After two major injuries at a young age it will take time for him to gain form, the only way for him to get some form is to play him. Wenger continued to play Ramsey even when he was shit, now look at him. Seems a bit unfair on Wilshere, Gerrard for example had a shocking world cup and lost Liverpool the league - where's his criticism?

More of a worry for me is Chamberlain. I'm not sure what he offers us tbh. Missed a couple of good chances yesterday. He really needs to start to kick on because he hasn't done half as much as Wilshere has done in an Arsenal shirt and that's not exactly much. At the moment I can only see a use for him as an impact sub late in the game when the opposition is tired.

As for the game....not impressed with Everton at all. I never knew they dived so much! Naismith was a joke and the ref bought it every time. Coleman is both severely retarded looking and an absolute diving cheat as well. British players never dive though do they?

We were pretty shit but had so many chances, enough to win the game. Giroud should have scored at least two before his goal, maybe three.

Nice to have a come back, shows a bit of fight. Hopefully we're just rusty otherwise I'm concerned with how we're playing.

Oh and I thought Campbell looked pretty lively when he came on.

[fakeyank]

It's his first game back after no pre-season.

Think.

Then he shouldnt have played 90 minutes today. Cazorla shouldve. I still do not think Ozil is worth the money we paid for... may be 20 million would be a fair price. I'd love for him to prove me wrong. What surprises me is the call for Cazorla's head when compared to Ozil... Cazorla has been a consistent performer for us since he joined us and so far, he has been head and shoulders above Ozil in most games.

[Munchies]

Then he shouldnt have played 90 minutes today. Cazorla shouldve. I still do not think Ozil is worth the money we paid for... may be 20 million would be a fair price. I'd love for him to prove me wrong. What surprises me is the call for Cazorla's head when compared to Ozil... Cazorla has been a consistent performer for us since he joined us and so far, he has been head and shoulders above Ozil in most games.

The thing is, because we signed Ozil, Cazorla got shifted out wide from his favoured position in the middle.

That £42m could've perhaps got Di Maria, but then again, who'd pass up on signing Ozil?

Still think he'll come good.

Wilshere looked hopeless and needs upgrading on.

And we should've gone for Diego Costa.

[Munchies]

Cesc > Wheelchair

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I don't think Di Maria is worth that sort of money even if he is a good player but it will be a little comical if Costa scores 20 league goals as he may well do whilst we've been acting like we are too good for him or he would be some major risk at 30 odd million.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

And I don't really get why Wilshere need's to be upgraded, when he isn't first team anyway.

[Power n Glory]

I wouldn't be starting Wheelchair every game tbh, he has no niche role or special trait and we have several midfielders who are superior to him in every aspect. Can't help but feel we're not seeing the best of Ramsey because of his presence.

Giroud, love him or hate him is the best option up front for us until a superior player is brought in. All this talk of Alexis or even Theo up front is nice in theory but when you consider the role Wenger has carved out for his striker, then you see it won't work unless we change formation but that isn't going to happen.

I still don't think Giroud is the best option for the way we play. I didn't think we had a problem up front in the first half. It would have been looked on differently if we went into half time 0-0. The movement was fluid and it looked they type or game where you know we'll score. But we conceded a sloppy goal in the first half and the second was sloppy but also offside.

I saw more of a problem with the defence and lack of defending from the midfield. Flamini, Ramsey and Wilshere just weren't pressing and you could see Sanchez harrying the opposition and urging his team mates to do the same. If we'd have been more aggressive and won the ball back when Everton were on attack, our counters would have been deadly.

If we're going to keep starting with Giroud, we'll need to be more direct, whip in more crosses and put aside this short passing game but that's just not going to happen. Our goals came from good crosses yesterday and that's what we'll have to focus on if he's playing because it's rare to see us carve open a defence with a flurry of short passes to get Giroud a goal.

[Munchies]

:gp:

The midfield had no presence

[Power n Glory]

It's the same problem we've always had. For the 2nd goal, you can see how open we were for the counter. Jack starting from deep and then pressing into the box whilst Ramsey is already deep into the opposition box just makes it worse. When we lose the ball attempting intricate passes in the box, we're vulnerable. It didn't help matters with both CB's attempting to win the ball back playing a highline. Flamini had no choice but to track his man once that happened.

Watching MOTD and they talk of a lack of presence up front in the first half and highlight the lack of targets up front when crossing. I don't know why they're under the impression we play that way. We often have the same problem with nobody in the box with Giroud playing. It's just not our style.

[Power n Glory]

I don't think Di Maria is worth that sort of money even if he is a good player but it will be a little comical if Costa scores 20 league goals as he may well do whilst we've been acting like we are too good for him or he would be some major risk at 30 odd million.

I expect Costa to well for Chelsea. They play a different brand of football to us. But rebound goals and scrappy tap ins won't change my opinion on him.

[Gooner23]

We weren't really at the races and a point was fair BUT the ref was dreadful. How did their 2nd goal stand. Stone wall foul on Chambers and Naismith was then a yard off side. Piss poor officiating.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I think the foul was on BFG but yes the officiating was nauseating at times. I didn't like how open we were in midfield.....especially in the second half and we were lucky Barkley wasn't occupying the space just on the edge of our area picking up the loose ball, because he can really hit them when he gets into his stride.

Ironically we had the ball there a fair amount at their end and I thought we might have benefited from Cazorla being there with the ball with his two footedness and nimbleness.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I expect Costa to well for Chelsea. They play a different brand of football to us. But rebound goals and scrappy tap ins won't change my opinion on him.

That alone might be the difference between them winning the league and not winning it. They struggled in the cheap games last season and they already seem to be doing better in them this season.

[Power n Glory]

That alone might be the difference between them winning the league and not winning it. They struggled in the cheap games last season and they already seem to be doing better in them this season.

I think he'd do well for them. He's a Mourinho type of striker. Reminds me of Drogba.

[Ernesto]

I think when the dust settles, this match, and the whole paradigm of it, can be repeated at the Stadium of Light, the Brittania, the Hawthorns or any other moderately tough place to go. I'm still not sure that this side can get over the mental block of the harrowing defeats at Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City so I'm not even going to discuss those.

If we're not going to start a game at full throttle, we're going to struggle. Everton aren't *that* good but they're no mugs either. As far as Goodison goes, if you snooze, you lose.

The last time I can recall starting a game so strongly, so early on, was at the North London derby last season. We pinned Spurs back into submission and they struggled to get back at us. We need more of that otherwise, forget this nonsense talk of winning the league- even 4th will elude us.

In summary, good comeback, but we never should have been in that position to begin with.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Unbeaten in 11...

[Niall_Quinn]

Tippy tappy kills football. Playing a game that relies on 90%+ passing accuracy and dominant possession doesn't frighten English teams who know it is much easier to disrupt intricate football than play it. We call it the Arsenal Way, but we haven't actually been playing it successfully for years. Instead we have been losing the ball in critical areas, slowing the game down and making it much easier and more predictable for our opponents. By the numbers we've been able to grab a CL spot every season, without ever really challenging for more than that.

Everton moved the ball quickly into space yesterday and swept from one end to the other in seconds, where it might take us minutes of tapping backwards, forwards, backwards and forwards again to cover the same ground. When we eventually reach the opposition box we then have to go through the whole 20 flicks and tricks routine before losing the ball when the odds of impossible pass #24 goes against us. We have the players to play a much more expansive and direct game. But they are being wasted as things stand.

Ox got criticised for having 5 shots off target. He shouldn't be praised for being off target, but he should get some credit for shooting at all. Similarly Alexis shuffled left and right trying to put pressure on their back line and disrupt their flow at source. No fucker helped him. Anyone can play that role, just running around until you run out of steam. Why spend £30mill on a player to do that? It's a waste. How many times did Ramsey look up to find that nobody could be arsed to move and stretch the opposition? 5 yards tight passing, tip, tap. Little triangles on the edge of the box with a needle fine option for the pass, that then requires instant control and instant layoff to the next guy in the 5 yard pattern. Or blast it over to the other flank and start the tip tapping again.

It's irritating football. Statistical football. GPS vest football. Energy threshold football (which probably explains many of the weird substitutions). And it's boring football.

I remain okay with losing and being entertaining, rather than (almost) winning and being boring. Always have. Thing is, if we changed or game I don't think we'd lose. I think we have the players to win.

Barca of a few years ago were the best and most boring team I have ever seen. Arsenal of a few years back were almost the best but definitely the most entertaining I have ever seen. Someone was saying the great team from a decade back didn't win as much as it should have. Maybe that was the costof being so damn entertaining and I;d rather have the memories than the extra trophies.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Giroud is a weird one

Plays absolutely toilet sometimes (i.e. Besiktas) and you think we need to bench this guy and put Sanchez up top

We bench him but when he comes on he changes the game (i.e. Everton). Then you think 'we need a target man, maybe Giroud should start'

:blink:

[Marc Overmars]

He's the best option for us because he's the only one comfortable playing with his back to goal, no point asking Sanchez/Theo to do the same when that's not what they're about. We need to play one of them off Giroud so we essentially have 2 up front.

[Munchies]

A 2 striker system would've been great for Podolski, but the thing is, we'd need a top CDM to play it.

And for the last 9 seasons, we haven't had that.

Sanchez - Ramsey - Pogba - Ox

Giroud - Feo

Something like that

[Malgunner]

Not happy with our concentration levels and tracking back for Evertons first goal plus how we didn't get the ball forward fast enough first half.Second half was better but still don't think Alexis should've come off but we got a point so mustn't grumble.Its good how we are getting points playing below par and really happy with players we have.Arsene just got to get the best out of them now.

[Transplanted Gooner]

I can't really disagree (how disappointing), so I'll just add to this...


Tippy tappy kills football. Playing a game that relies on 90%+ passing accuracy and dominant possession doesn't frighten English teams who know it is much easier to disrupt intricate football than play it. We call it the Arsenal Way, but we haven't actually been playing it successfully for years. Instead we have been losing the ball in critical areas, slowing the game down and making it much easier and more predictable for our opponents. By the numbers we've been able to grab a CL spot every season, without ever really challenging for more than that.
We haven't been the team the media portray us as since 2007, since we went Cesc-centric. All the commentary about our lightning quick counter-attacks was just lazy and not based in reality.


Everton moved the ball quickly into space yesterday and swept from one end to the other in seconds, where it might take us minutes of tapping backwards, forwards, backwards and forwards again to cover the same ground. When we eventually reach the opposition box we then have to go through the whole 20 flicks and tricks routine before losing the ball when the odds of impossible pass #24 goes against us. We have the players to play a much more expansive and direct game. But they are being wasted as things stand.
I can't tell you the amount of times where we've come forward with equal or more players than the opposition only for a lack of drive to occur within 5 yards of a defender, and then the square/back pass. Opportunity wasted.


Ox got criticised for having 5 shots off target. He shouldn't be praised for being off target, but he should get some credit for shooting at all. Similarly Alexis shuffled left and right trying to put pressure on their back line and disrupt their flow at source. No fucker helped him. Anyone can play that role, just running around until you run out of steam. Why spend £30mill on a player to do that? It's a waste. How many times did Ramsey look up to find that nobody could be arsed to move and stretch the opposition? 5 yards tight passing, tip, tap. Little triangles on the edge of the box with a needle fine option for the pass, that then requires instant control and instant layoff to the next guy in the 5 yard pattern. Or blast it over to the other flank and start the tip tapping again.
(underline mine)This is what kills me; seeing nobody making runs. Even decoy runs. Just anything to keep the defence honest. Instead, let's go around the left, around the right. dink-dink... interception/overhit ball to the goalline.

[Dein-machine]

Giroud is a weird one

Plays absolutely toilet sometimes (i.e. Besiktas) and you think we need to bench this guy and put Sanchez up top

We bench him but when he comes on he changes the game (i.e. Everton). Then you think 'we need a target man, maybe Giroud should start'

:blink:

We wouldn't have scored the equaliser without Giroud on the pitch but lets not get too carried away - He was hardly Messi. 70% of the time we get the Besiktas Giroud which is shit - a non-league player would give you more. Then in other games he has his moments & some of us on here think "there you go", we told you he was good. He looked good on Saturday because of what we compare him to. If that was most other average strikers it would have been a normal game where he missed 2 good chances by not hitting the target & then scored with one.