Everton 1 – 6 Arsenal: A stunning result on the opening day
2 comments August 16th, 2009
Everton 1 – 6 Arsenal (Denilson 26, Vermaelen 37, Gallas 41, Fabregas 48, 70, Eduardo 89, Saha 90)
Highlights here; Arsene’s reaction here
Well, what an extraordinary result to kick off the season. I don’t think even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans could have anticipated such a resounding message to ring around the emptying Goodison Park: based on this start, the squad share Arsene’s determination not to be also-rans this season.
Yes, it’s just one game, but it is hilarious to watch the press u-turning on their proclamations that Arsenal had nothing to offer this season. With Man City winning earlier in the day, anything less than three points would have provoked a string of “Advantage City” stories. As it was, we swatted away the team who finished closest to us last season with such a superior swagger that our title odds have suddenly shortened. Without wanting to get carried away, as Arsene said last night:
“If you don’t smile with that emphatic win, then you will never smile in our game.”
We started solidly, with our 4-3-3 system functioning extremely well. Chelsea’s performance yesterday was a good example of a side struggling to get to grips with a new system, whereas ours seemed to click almost immediately. The manager old ArsenalTVOnline afterwards:
“We want to play with three strikers when possible, to go forward and play high up. I’ve been encouraged by some pre-season performances and that’s why I want to continue to try to do that at the moment.”
I’m similarly encouraged, and think that the pressure we’re able to put on teams high up the pitch (a la Barcelona) could be crucial to our chances of success this season.
The formation was crucial to our opening goal – Nicklas Bendtner received the ball in his position on the right wing, beat two men and played it inside to Cesc Fabregas. The skipper showed complete awareness to knock it inside to Denilson, whose first-time effort found the corner from twenty-five yards. A cracking goal and a great way for the Brazilian to start the season.
Everton almost equalised when Marouane Fellaini’s header was cleared off the line by Denilson, but soon we had a headed goal from our own Belgian: debutant Thomas Vermaelen. A Robin van Persie free-kick was lofted right to the far post where Vermaelen rose highest to head home.
If Everton’s defending was slack on that goal, it was non-existent on our third. This time it was a Fabregas free-kick from the right that was flicked home by centre-back-cum-goal-poacher William Gallas. 3-0 at half-time, and we were coasting.
It would have been easy to take our foot off the gas in the second half, but we had no such intentions, with Fabregas asserting his dominance with two lovely goals. The first was a left-footed finish after a flowing counter-attack which started with an Andrey Arshavin nutmeg deep in our own half and ended with Van Persie squaring for the captain to score. The second was similar in terms of distance travelled, but Cesc did it all alone, strolling to the edge of the Everton box before firing low into the corner.
Cesc dedicated both goals to his friend and the Espanol captain Daniel Jarque, who tragically died of a heart attack last week.
Eduardo came on for his first league appearance since February 2008, and it will have been no surprise to anyone to see him net our sixth. Andrey Arshavin collected the Crozilian’s pass and shimmied into enough space to poke an effort against the post. Who had continued his run into the box but Eduardo, finding himself in the requisite position to poke the ball into the net.
Everton grabbed a late late consolation through Louis Saha, by which point our statement had already reached ears at Stamford Bridge, Anfield, Old Trafford, and even the City of Manchester Stadium.
Whilst there were no weak performances, I was particularly pleased with new boy Vermaelen and Alex Song. Goal aside, Vermaelen showed a willingness to attack the ball early that our defenders have lacked in recent seasons. He looked like a good complement to William Gallas, and I particularly enjoyed the moment 35 seconds into this video – organising the back four and pushing them up the field whilst we’re 4-0 up and on the attack.
Song, meanwhile, patrolled the defensive midfield area extremely well. His touch and passing seem to have come on leaps and bounds, and that’s down purely to confidence. I’m prepared to say that I think he’s good enough to keep starting in that role, but what if he gets injured? What about when he departs for the African Cup of Nations in January?
The performances of Song and Vermaelen were excellent, but only served to underline the need for cover for the pair.
That said, that’s a job for another day. We now have Celtic on Tuesday, and our confidence ought to be Sky-high going into that game.
If it’s anything like last night, we’ll be all smiles again on Wednesday.
