Everton thoughts: Where’s Sian Massey when you need her?
164 comments February 2nd, 2011
Arsenal 2-1 Everton (Saha 24, Arshavin 70, Koscielny 75)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Before last night, Everton hadn’t lost a single game this season in which they’d taken the lead…
That stat begins to do some justice to what an impressive turnaround this was. On a night when Chelsea and United both impressed, losing ground by dropping points at home could have been very damaging. Instead, Arsenal clawed their way to a victory without ever playing their best football. If United had done it, it’d be called the mark of Champions.
Louis Saha’s opener should never have stood…
7amKickoff explores Rule 11 in depth here. It’s worth a read. What it comes down to is whether you deem Koscielny’s attempted interception a “rebound” or a “pass”. Had his acrobatic volley been an attempted backpass, Saha would have been onside. However, as it was quite clearly an interception, only necessary because of the involvement of a player who was in an OFFSIDE position, it is indeed OFFSIDE.
That said, Everton were fantastic in the first half…
Their passing was crisper and their tackling crunchier. Marouane Fellaini in particular was excellent. I suppose if you’re going to have hair that ridiculous, you have to be quite good.
Andrey Arshavin’s finish was a reminder of his class…
The Russian made a huge impact as a second half substitute, replacing the peripheral Rosicky. Rather than sticking to the left-wing, Arshavin had free reign to roam, and used it to devastating effect, popping up in the box to volley cutely home after Cesc Fabregas’ through-ball had been flicked on by Jack Rodwell. A lot of out-of-form players would have slashed at that chance; Arshavin merely watched the ball on to his foot and guided it home. Equally, there we no dramatic celebrations, just a sprint back to his own half to get the game going again and chase a second goal.
The bundle after Koscielny’s winner…
…was something else entirely.
It was a fantastic show of the spirit in the team at the moment. Though knowing our brittle players, I’m quite amazed someone wasn’t injured in the melee.
How typical to start picking up injuries the day after the transfer window closes…
Although the club are yet to confirm it, reports suggest Lukasz Fabianski could miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury – caused by a particularly powerful strike in the warm-up against Man City from, of all people, his understudy and the direct beneficiary of his injury, Wojciech Szczesny. Anyway, Fabianski’s injury pretty much explains why Manuel Almunia has suddenly been brought back in from the cold.
Alex Song and Theo Walcott also picked up knocks – it was a physical affair, after all – let’s hope they’re none-too-serious.
David Moyes was wrong to call for Cesc to be punished…
It was a clear attempt to divert attention from his team’s failure to capitalise on an outrageously fortunate refereeing decision. Fortunately, this has been recognised by the referee, who failed to make any mention of the purported incident in his match report.
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It was a tight, tense evening at the Emirates. There will be plenty more of those before the season is out. I expect to have no nails, hair or sanity left come May.
