Rosicky no cake icer
Arsenal 2 Everton 2
From Goodplaya in the queue for Arsenal tube
A draw was probably the most we deserved in the driving snow. That said there ain’t no better draw than a 90th minute equaliser and we showed great character to get one.
Osman scored first with the kind of thumpingheader that is hard to defend. Our equaliser came when denilson’s shot took a hefty deflection. Lucky but then Frank Lampard has made a career out of doing that.
The snow got worse after thebreak and while we dominated everton were really throwing themselves at everything and without Songwe always looked exposed on the break.
We had a vermaelen shot brilliantly blocked by neville (I know but it’s true), an arshavin run that nearly brought glory and a very decent penalty shout for a pull on eduardo that was admittedly tough for the ref to spot.
But on 80 odd minutes we were guilty of committing too much too soon as from an Arsenal corner they broke, two of our men chased one of theirs, allowing the other a free run on goal from the half way line.
On a snowy surface the dink over Almunia was an interesting choice of finish but it worked. I Can’t say it was a great way for Our keeper to be beaten.
Not drawing games has been a welcome feature of our season and that does involve committing to attack and taking risks at the back. But that said we still looked exposed too often today.
There followed a piece of truly appalling sportsmanship from Everton which makes their claims to misfortune over the deflections ring a little hollow. Denilson had it in midfield and suddenly collapsed in pain under no pressure.
If it was a piece of play acting it would have been the mst insane ever as it presented Everton with the chance to plAy a simple pass to put their man in on goal.
I honestly would have put it out. Don’t get me wrong: Denilson was not going to die so that was no great consideration. But from a purely sporting perspective it was just entirely wrong.
If they already had the ball then fine play on. But this was completely different and for me right out of order.
As it was they missed the one on one and the slightly off form diaby found the otheewise vaguely disapointing Rosicky (a sub) who hit it first time, got another deflection and got us a point.
On this occasion a late Rosicky goal was anything but a cake icer.
We were nevernear our best today and Everton seemed to thrive in the conditions. So too equalise so late on showed nothing if not character.
Performance wise nobody hit any great heights inthe snow. Traore undoubtedly struggled at times but his high energy approach does count as a plus in my mind.
On which note my tube will soon be pulling into Piccadilly Circus so I will bring this report to an end. My feet are beginning to defrost at last.
Agreed on the Denilson incident, it’s a worrying sight to see a player just collapse in a heap on the pitch, what’s worse is it was obviously not a hamstring injury.
I was shocked to seem Everton try take advantage of that, and if they’d scored it would definitely have been hard to take.
dissapointing with the result but i felt the performance wasnt too bad, great timing on the article
Saw the game with mute engaged. Our passing was woeful generally, even taking the conditions into account. Ramsey was a mix of the Sublime & the Ridiculous. But my overall impression at the end of the 95min was of a team of battlers, not kids & not softies by any means. Reminded me of United in 2007 when they were converting defeats into draws and draws into wins even after playing poorly.
But b
Thought a point was about right on today’s performance. Massive relief when Rosicky’s shot went in. When you look at the absentees, a draw’s not bad. Manx are currently drawing too! Great to get a report from the horse’s mouth, cheers.
Bit disappointing not to win, especially after United dropping more points (haha @ Fletcher, the thug)
Thanks, Goodplaya – that’s pretty much how I saw it.
I would definitely not have taken a draw before the game but, given Everton’s greater desire, commitment and application it was a point I would have bitten your hand off for at 85 minutes. We barely deserved to draw but, in our defence, we did have our three best players this season unavailable.
We have often been second best going into the break but today, we didn’t seem to have the reserves to step up a gear and win the game. Every title-winning team has off days (even the Invincibles snatched draws from the jaws of defeat) and hopefully it will have been a wake up call going into the three week period that will define our season.
Luckily the draw didnt hurt us too much as Utd drew as well.
To tell the truth Id be happy enough if we finished 2nd this season, as long as it’s above Utd. Cant stand them. They actually approach the ref to complain that not enough is going their way During the match. Even though close to everything has gone their way overall this season and in every preceding season Iv seen.
On our game, imo the only major difference between this match and the game we won 6-1 is that song is missing. He bullied fellaini at goodison, and consequently everton crumbled. If wenger is going to buy anyone, let it be a ball winning CM. Its not my nature to attack anyone in the squad (unless they are receiving undue praise), but we dont have a physical presence in the midfield when song is away apart from maybe diaby who is more forward-thinking anyway. I think denilson can cover the anchor man role if he is getting a hand from a stronger CM from time to time,and altho ramsey is a fantastic talent, hes still a few years away from being physically dominant imo. I think Behrami would be a perfect signing based on his last performance against us (I havent seen much of him besides to be honest h/e)
I thought it was a good point against a good team. However, we have to win our next six matches, that is what I would demand from Arsenal. If we do that, then we would go top of the leauge and also beating the tops would give us the confidence and belief.
Traore had a nightmarish game but he delivered one quality ball and Eduardo was inches away from converting that into a goal.
Denilson was our best player today. He didn’t get much help from Diaby or Ramsey. He was doing his shift and shift of both Ramsey/Diaby. I hope he hasn’t broken anything and he is fit for the next game. We really need him. I don’t know why Diaby was reserved in his play. He should have played more advance but he did defend well and got some good last ditch tackles in the box.
Anyway, getting maximum points from our next 6 matches is a must. A very crucial period! I hope we can deliver it with good perfomances and a bit of luck.
PS We need to buy a coulple of defenders. Today we could have had our both CD injured. Would like to see Clichy back ASAP.
Oh and, definetly they should have kicked the ball to the touchlune when Denilson slipped, if it were us they would be complaining about sportmanship. And high challenge by Neville on Denilson was a reckless foul, that should have been a penalty, IMO. If that was outside the box then it would have been a free kick to us.
I thought Denilson was hopeless in the DM position today – he has no physical presence and cannot tackle at all. I think the rest of the midfield and forwards missed Song not being there and was one of the reasons they all played so badly. Song will not be back for some time so hope Wenger has a DM on his radar as well as a tall CF and commanding CB – but unfortunately feel Wenger will buy no one – so another season without trophies! Incidentally, both Everton goals came from bad mistakes made by Denilson and Rosicky so it is just as well they scored our equalising goals!
Denilson was hopeless Davi. He lacks the physicality to play in the DM position. Fellaini and Pannaar just bullied him into submission.
I say we were very, very lucky today. 1. Everton played really well and we did not match their aggression and high tempo 2. I dont remember Howard being made to make any saves of consequence 3. After being caned 6-1 at their place this game was never going to be a walk over if only for pride.
We didnt look as dangerous as we normally do at home, but we came back from behind twice. Everton are on the way up, bearing in mind how badly we played a point is a good result
How can you guys say Denilson was hopless?! Yes, our both goals came were deflected, but how many deflected goals do we score?! He was the best Arsenal player on the pitch. He doesn’t look as strong/mean as Song but he still is good enough and top of that he scores goals and can create goals.
Were Denilson, Diaby and Ramsey playing together for the first time?! If so, I am ready to give a benfit of doubt and hope their understanding improves with matches. But Denilson was far better them two today.
At the game today and just seen most of Football First too: we were well below par today, but not actually that bad – we just came up against an Everton team playing pretty well with a good game plan. At the point it went 2-1 we’d just had our best spell in the match and looked likely to go on and win it.
Everton playing on after Denilson went down was absolutely shocking, as poor a bit of sportsmanship as I’ve seen all season and you can guarantee the media will say nothing about it. Imagine, for a moment if we’d done it…
Well opinions make the weold go round but I though Diaby was our bwst player. The only one to make a physical contest of it with Fellaini and his drib=ving runs were our best source of opportunities (eg the Rosicky equaliser).
That said he made mistakes too and in general the midfield was shocking. No shape. No width when we had the ball and no one picking up their players in defence. Poor Traore had no help at all at LB. Ramsey never got into it and I thought Denilson was very poor. He is brave and he takes responsibility but I literally lost count of the number of times he gave he ball away and for a team like ours that thrives on possession and moving the oppo around.
Bottom line is we were very fortunate to get a point today and the post match pint discussion reckoned it was a point earned rather than two lost even though beforehand I thought it was a home banker.
Ok. Sorry about the spelling etc. Maybe the post match pint took its toll.
Denilson definitely our best player until Rosicky came on. Ramsey doesn’t work hard enough and gave the ball away too much. Diaby not bad but didn’t always show up. Why can’t he play centre forward like Fallaini did for Everton last year? I think he would make life much happier for Arshavin and Eduardo. His sticky feet and surging runs would be well used and you don’t have to be reliable up there. Nasri, Denilson and Rosicky would make a good midfield too.
Anyway, the midfield looks bad when it doesn’t have anywhere to send the ball and it’s much easier to spot the ball being lost than to spot the attackers not showing up.
We really miss RVP and it’s worse without Fabregas. I don’t htink Song would have made much difference.
Ramsey could also do with some new boots, he had a lot of difficulty keeping his feet.
A point taken from a bad game for us seems like not too bad a result. We could easily have lost all 3 points so in hindsight it was a good point earned. We’re still in the thick of it at the top I believe!
It was it all honesty, the worse performance at home(didn’t get to see the match against Chelsea). We looked very off-key from the first whistle. Midfield was almost completely overrun, although nothing much could be done with denilson diaby and ramsey in there. No link up with the forward 3 while not enough closing down of everton players was our problems imo. At times it felt as if it was 9 vs 11!
Injury scares to both CBs’ early on highlights the lack of capable cover for that position(silvestre does not count!). Horrendous keeping by almunia on several occasions really put the defence under more pressure than needed esp on that rollout to sagna which nearly resulted in an injury to him and the clatter into traore at the end!
Worrying injury to denilson and I have a bad feeling that it was a serious one..can’t see who’s the internal solution to replacing him in a tough january fixture list.
Sometimes Champions have a way of rescuing certain defeats and I think we showed the strength of character to come back against tough opposition, when last season we would have conceded defeat. We didn’t have a good game in appalling conditions and against a resolute opposition, but we managed to grit our teeth and get a point. Not all doom and gloom…cheer up!
what i noticed was theat everton were very sucessful at pressing high up the pitch and we struggled to get out of our own half. a little more guile (cesc) or a little more muscle (song) may have made the difference. on the whole argument re denilson, i don’t think he has the strength right now to play the position. he was bullied off the ball – that led to the corner for the 1st goal. that would not happen to song. cover for song may be more important than a new striker.
Vivas – I think that’s a fair point about Rosicky who definitely looked the pick of our players when he came on. Mostly because he offered width AND movement which up till then we had lacked. I disagree that Denilson was the pick until then but hey-ho, and I accept that its a fair point that the lack of movement and options for the man in possession make it look like the midfields problem but either because Everton were better at pressing than everyone else we’ve played (bar Chelsea) or because we played our worst game of the season (bar Chelsea) is a moot point. Probably a bit of both and we should give Everton credit. If we played like that away from home and only got a draw (through two deflected goals, one in injury time, we’d be gutted).
That said, I’ve posted before that I think Arshavin is twice the player through the middle when Cesc plays because Cesc sees the pass before anyone else. Yes Cesc is exceptional and any team would miss him but even those dunderheads on MOTD spotted that Andrey was dropping into space but we couldn’t find him.
Final point. What has to happen for Fabianski to get a run in the team. I thought he was excellent v West Ham and while Manuel made a good save at the end to keep it at 2-1, I spent the rest of the game as a nervous wreck any time the ball got anywhere near him – it looked like he felt the same.
My understanding is that the injury to Denilson is a complete mystery and that he’s up & about and vowing to play the next match. The way he crumpled reminded me of MVF at the ACON the time before last. And what was the “injury” to Gallas all about? Are these players fit or what?
Song always got help from Denilson or Diaby whenever he needed it. He hasn’t been doing everything by himself. all players need a bit of support. Yesterday Denilson didn’t get that kind of support from neither Diaby nor Ramsey. Them two were playing individually. The three needs to function as a team. Also most of the time Diaby was stuck on left side – he should have been more central. We lacked his attacking force yesterday. Yesterday Diaby & Ransey played like Merida & Wilshire did last week. Although, Diaby looked whenever he defended, that is postive. He needs to do both, though. So does Ramsey – he doesn’t like defending in our half.
Song for player of the season anyone?
Thought Denilson did fairly well against Cahill, Pienaar etc. Ramsey had a bit of a shocker but he is young so fair enough. We lacked width making it easy for Everton to pack the midfield. Maybe Nasri in the middle and Rosicknote of the right next game.
Thank you – the only blog/newsreel I’ve read that even mentions Cahil & Vaughen playing on & nearly scoring after Denilson went down in a heap.
On the espn commentary Trevor Francis even had the audacity to commend Cahill for his sportsmanship for putting the ball out after the move had broken down.
Good ol’ hardworking Everton… Completely classless. That’s karma Moyes.
of course we missed cesc a lot – who wouldnt?
diaby plays better with cesc and song, because he can attack more. but i think he was not bad at all.
denilson did not start well, got a few passes wrong, but then did very well. moreover, song is back in 3 or 4 weeks, for god sake.
we missed bendtner. a 6ft3 tall, 21 yr old dane at the center of the box.
ramsey is still very inconsistent and had a bad day.
rosicky is a very good player. i was happy we had him at the bench. can’t see vela making an impact.
Oh and, my last point about Denilson; if he had not attacked the ball – he took the ball in front of the everton player, then he would not have created a shooting/scoring oportunity! You gotta look at the small plays. From that ball winning we scored a goal. He is vital for us. And Everton wouldn’t have scored the second goal if Denilson wasn’t injured.
League could be won by a single point this season,and considering how poor we were,its a point gained. With players coming back hopefully we can kick on. But i do worry about the D.M position when songs not around. Maybe Parker or Veloso would be good jan signings,dont think denilson can do it even if he is fit,but he has been good this yeaar in a midfield of three. Also think Sol would be good for 6months as cover,still better than silvestre and senderos. Goal keeper is still a worry,but i cant see wenger doing anything about it now! Joe hart would be great for us in the future.
EPL keepers I would have taken to replace Seaman in 1998: Schmeichel.
EPL keepers I would have taken to replace Seaman in 2002: None.
EPL keepers I would have taken to replace Lehmann in 2004: None
EPL Keepers I would take to replace Almunia in 2010: Cech, Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Reina, Hart, Friedel, Given, Schwartzer, Gordon, Green, Jaaskelainen, Fabianski, Maik Taylor, Howard and Sorensen.
Conclusion – If we’re going to win the title we need to have one of the two best keepers in the league.
That was the worst match Vermealen has played for Arsenal… odd that that has been overlooked. He was outfought more often than I thought possible and positionally naive throughout.
SOL’S A GOONER,AND I LOVE IT !!