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.
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.
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.
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.Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
I think he'd do well for them. He's a Mourinho type of striker. Reminds me of Drogba.
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.
Formerly TMOKJ
Unbeaten in 11...
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.
Für eure Sicherheit
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'
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.
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
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