Match Reaction Arsenal 2-0 Everton

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger in!

[Master Splinter]

Good, unfussy win after a poor start.

Giroud should have had a really easy hat-trick, but his overall game was pleasing.

Bellerin 'triffic all afternoon. Should have had a couple of assists.

Coquelin played well again too.

Lovely cameo from Rosicky, who will be punished for scoring, shooting and driving forwards by being sentenced to another stretch on the bench.

Defence had their dodgy moments, but Gabriel improved and Ospina made three telling contributions to keep them out.

Time to hand RPQ their survival revival on Wednesday now.

[Marc Overmars]

Yay

[Niall_Quinn]

Lovely cameo from Rosicky, who will be punished for scoring, shooting and driving forwards by being sentenced to another stretch on the bench.

Wenger caught him putting in tackles too. He's doomed.

[Globalgunner]

I called this one. "Character, Spiwit, Qualitee, Determination, Togetherness"

[Niall_Quinn]

Bellerin impressive. Looks like he's introduced defending to his game.

Shaky start for Gabriel as he was introduced to PL hoofaball. Once he'd recovered from the shock and horror he settled down into a steady performance.

Bit of a worry about Coq - can't afford to lose him.

Downsides were Ox's and Alexis' passing. They put in a ton of effort but wasted so much.

We deserved the win though. Bif could have had (should have had) 3.

[Power n Glory]

Ospina and Gabriel had some important key moments. Important tackles and saves to snuff out the limited chance Everton created.

We weren't the best on attack. Biff scored but missed some good chances but at least he scored. Sanchez still a bit rusty. Ozil was Ozil. Flashes of quality from Cazorla. Nothing really impressive from Ox. We can do better on attack. Good to see Rosicky coming on and just having a go to score.

Everton out done us with the possession play and got what they deserved. Good possession stats. This is what happens when you coach possession without attacking purpose.

[Niall_Quinn]

Their possession stats weren't even all that by the end, 55 to 45 I think.

[Özim]

Yay

[Gooner23]

Martinez reckons Everton deserved to win. I wasn't that impressed with them at all.

Comfortable win and decent enough performance. It's maddening how careless we are on the ball at times. Bif was decent though. The midfield worked hard. Back 4 and keeper were excellent.

[Niall_Quinn]

Martinez reckons Everton deserved to win.

There's always one.

[crashley]

Enjoyed that match for the most part, nice work from the lads & no horrific decisions from the 'tard in black.
I'm very optimistic we can get 2nd now, nice run in - well it has been worse.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Martinez reckons Everton deserved to win. I wasn't that impressed with them at all.

Comfortable win and decent enough performance. It's maddening how careless we are on the ball at times. Bif was decent though. The midfield worked hard. Back 4 and keeper were excellent.

they did ok, they benefitted largely from winning the posession high up the pitch with ponderous passes from us, and they managed to cross the ball in a lot but they didn't actually create much especially in the second half.

Gabriel looked all over the place at first, but settled into the game and made some nice, committed challenges

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Martinez reckons Everton deserved to win. I wasn't that impressed with them at all.


He is the eternal optimist......with a sprinkling of myopia.

Barkley was poor and Lukaku was well dealt with and I'm glad Giroud didn't drag his incredible performance from the CL into the sphere of the league.

[Letters]

4 points off the 2nd place trophy :o

I found it a bit of a frustrating performance, we didn't keep the ball well and moved the ball forward far too slowly. There were flashes of quality though, I thought we mostly defended well. Ospina did well to improvise with the flap and tackle after the bad backpass although did make a mess of one later on when he conceded a corner from a shot he should have held. Gabriel made an outstanding tackle in the first half. Overall, a very important 3 points with other results.

[LDG]

4 points off the 2nd place trophy :o

I found it a bit of a frustrating performance, we didn't keep the ball well and moved the ball forward far too slowly. There were flashes of quality though, I thought we mostly defended well. Ospina did well to improvise with the flap and tackle after the bad backpass although did make a mess of one later on when he conceded a corner from a shot he should have held. Gabriel made an outstanding tackle in the first half. Overall, a very important 3 points with other results.

You said flap and tackle :haha:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Sanchez was pretty poor by his standards.

[Injury Time]

Thank fuck for that.

[selassie]

Massive win today, really important. Top 4 is going to be a real battle, I don't like the fact we still have to play United Away & Liverpool at Home but if we have to do it the hard way so be it.

[Niall_Quinn]

You said flap and tackle :haha:

He said tackle twice which I think is revealing.

[Niall_Quinn]

He is the eternal optimist......with a sprinkling of myopia.

Barkley was poor and Lukaku was well dealt with and I'm glad Giroud didn't drag his incredible performance from the CL into the sphere of the league.

Giroud did have a touch of the Monacos about him today. Two good opportunities, one of them a sitter. Both missed. But at least he stuck it in the net once.

[Xhaka Can’t]

He said tackle twice which I think is revealing.

Theres no need to get in a flap over it.

[Niall_Quinn]

Theres no need to get in a flap over it.

I think I'll withdraw before this gets messy.

[Marc Overmars]

Sanchez was pretty poor by his standards.

Been off the boil for a while now. Work rate is still there but it's entering headless chicken territory at the moment.

[AFC Leveller]

Difference between Gabriel and Merts is already telling. the latter is slow, extremly uncomfortable on the ball and ducks headers (and shots, see MOnaco's first goal where he turned his back instead of facing it) where as the former looks athletic, quick, aggressive and a proper defender.

[rodders]

My view is that the better team lost. A very poor performance from Arsenal.

[Letters]

It wasn't a great performance but for all Everton's huffing and puffing they hardly made any decent chances. Overall we deserved the 3 points, IMO.

[AFC Leveller]

It wasn't a great performance but for all Everton's huffing and puffing they hardly made any decent chances. Overall we deserved the 3 points, IMO.

Agreed. We had more shots, corners and obviously goals so their posession was no use in the end.

[Marc Overmars]

I remember when we used to consider having more possession as an indicator of our dominance in games, regardless of the result.

[Niall_Quinn]

I remember when we used to consider having more possession as an indicator of our dominance in games, regardless of the result.

That's a long time ago, when we were regularly playing decent football and really did give the opposition a runaround. The result usually hinged on us being clinical in front of goal. Sometimes we were, other times not so much. Now we play football on par with the rest of the dross in this league. The good stuff happens maybe 2-3 times a game. We used to have good performances now we have good moments.

[WMUG]

https://vine.co/v/O2lPMdFD6UI

http://gfycat.com/FearfulLikableArmyant

http://gfycat.com/OddSoupyEarwig

Everton don't like it up 'em.

[Letters]

That Gabriel challenge :bow:

[The Emirates Gallactico]

After Wednesday's suicide mission it was good to get back to winning ways.

- Really happy with Ospina. That save was match winning. 1 - 1 ......... it's the sort of save that DDG and Courtois have been regularly pulling for their respective teams to win them points. Not saying he's on that level, but it's certainly something that Ches hasn't done all season.

- Also pleased with Gabriel despite the early fuck up. Looks like he has all the raw ingredients and motivation to be a top class defender at this level ...... that tackle was GOAT. I recall a certain Nemanja Vidic also had a complete mare on his PL debut.

- Sanchez once again poor. We really should consider dropping him against QPR ....... he probably could do with an extended breather as well.

- Our attack was lethargic once again. Don't think Ozil + Santi can work in the centre tbh ..... you need someone who's more of a hybrid like Rosicky or Ramsey alongside them tbh.

- Good goal but Giroud's profligacy once again an issue. Really should have scored at the end from Bellerin's cross ....... lucky it didn't cost like it did on Wednesday.

- Fuck of Martinez you fraud.

[Niall_Quinn]

Sanchez once again poor. We really should consider dropping him against QPR ....... he probably could do with an extended breather as well.

There's a difference between below standard and poor. I wouldn't say he was poor because he worked hard and Everton had two men assigned to covering him most of the time which allowed opportunities elsewhere. His passing was off but his work rate was still there.

[AFC Leveller]

Nice to see Gabriel has that bit of cleverness that south americans have. he was being held by Barkley but gave as good as he got without conceding.

[rodders]

Suspect Sanchez has realised what others before him have, that with our present Manager and owner we will always fall short of the mark.