Everton 1 Arsenal 6, how about it. Pundits, in your face! Particularly those at Fox Soccer Channel in the States, fuck those guys, aside from Bobby McMahon, that place is full of morons who know nothing about soccer, even Warren Barton is clueless and he just retired. It's crazy that they get paid to talk about soccer, it's the equivalent of hiring a fridge repair man whose never looked inside a refrigerator, or something...right.
Anyway, we played a 4 3 3 as expected and in the absence of Diaby, Denilson played with Song and Cesc in the middle and in the absence of Djourou, Vermaelen started at center half.
It was a strange game, as we didn't hammer them like the scoreline suggests while we did outplay them quite absolutely. The opening 20 minutes saw little real football with the ball spending a lot of time in the air, but we coped admirably with a shocking aerial performance from our midfield destroyer Alex Song. He was climbing over Felaini and Cahill, winning most of the headers in the midfield for the entire game.
Nik Bendtner was looking lively during that cagey period and his hard work and eagerness paid off as he turned Baines inside out (which he did throughout) and moved the ball to Cesc on the edge of the box. Cesc was closed down by 3 Everton defenders as he teed the ball up for Denilson who curled a peach of a shot into the top corner. Howard had no chance and Denilson ran away dancing a hilarious dance as his teammates ran over to celebrate, a great scene that really showed wonderful team spirit with the absence of our old spirit killer Adebayor.
After that we killed Everton with our harrying and very good work behind the ball. Everton looked very below par but it was the same team that they fielded in the FA Cup final last year, with just the 1 change. And so it must have been because we out passed them and out worked them, not allowing them time on the ball with Song completely tearing their play apart and Denilson being his efficient, underrated self. Because of our far superiority we won plenty of free kicks as Everton lunged in from behind trying to catch up with our midfielders. Van Persie hit one of those free kicks to the far post where Vermaelen met the ball good and hard, placing it in the bottom corner of the far post, it was very Tony Adams.
We carried on our good work and won another free kick from the other side. Cesc delivered and while Joseph Yobo bear hugged Bendtner, an unmarked Gallas headed home. 3 nil at half time, we were cruising. We started the second half as we ended the first and scored after a few minutes. We were defending a free kick or corner or something and after the nutmeggiest move I've ever seen, Cesc finished well. Arshavin played the ball to Denilson (nutmeg), Denilson played the ball up to van Persie who played it across to a sprinting Fabregas (nutmeg) who left P. Neville in the dust and put the ball through Howard and INTO THE BACK OF THE NETTa!(nutmeg).
Cesc then scored his second, an individual goal that saw him pick up the ball midway in his own half from a throw from Almunia and dribbled through what seemed like an invitation only passage with Cesc's name on it, all the way to the edge of the Everton box to bury the ball low in the corner with Felaini hilariously chasing behind.
After that the game was over. Everton never looked interested and the slower game allowed us to make some subs with Celtic on Tuesday in mind. Bendtner came off for Eboue and van Persie came off for Eduardo who capped his premier league return with a very nicely poached goal, which he was involved in just before Arshavin hit the post. He put away the rebound and made it 6. Everton pulled a goal back but whatever. They weren't that good but we really put them to the sword as we were very efficient.
I mentioned that the game was strange, not only because we didn't get much of a run from Everton, usually such an industrious team. Not only because we won all the aerial battles, and Everton are usually such a dominant team in the air. Not only because we scored 2 free headers from set pieces, and usually Everton are so tight in their own box. But because in the last few years we've hammered teams, showered their boxes with fine quick play and peppered their goals with shot after shot and managed to lose or draw. Remember that game away to Moscow in the Champions' League? This game, we were clinical, efficient and had 7/8 efforts on goal and scored 6 goals. This is something I like very much. We never really got past 3rd or 4th gear and still skewered our opposition. This is a title winning trait and if we can do this type of thing week in week out, not win 6-1 but win well without really playing that tremendously, and still be very convincing then we'll surely be in contention on several fronts.
Besides the promise discussed just above, Song and Bendtner were excellent. They were the best players on the park, outshining their more flashy/famous teammates. The entire team performed well but those 2 were stand outs. Bendtner held the ball well, dribbled well, passed well and was eager and hard working, defending in his own box 1 second and taking on players in the other box the next. He really seemed to justify his selection as a wide forward as he won headers from and controlled long diagonal balls from the opposite side. Song was industrious and won the ball in the air like someone twice his height. His passing has really improved and his dribbling was very nice as well. Arshavin was quiet, as was van Persie for the most part and it really speaks to the quality of the side and the resources we can look forward to when we score 6 and only 1 of our front 3 get a goal. Goals from Fabregas is something that bodes well too and if we continue like this and use our depth well without getting too ravaged by injury and get consistent performances we'll be...well, we'll be title winners.
Having said all that it's important not to get too far ahead of ourselves and turn on the team should we fail to follow up our nice win with something similar. We've proved the punters wrong this weak and we'll have to do it the next week to avoid 'Arsenal A One Off' type stories. We've got a big game against Celtic at Park Head on Tuesday and let's hope we continue our excellent work in Scotland.
Highbury86
P.S. - Vermaelen made a very good debut and seemed commanding in the back, forthright and brave in a challenge, up for a challenge, loves a challenge. He was calm on the ball too and was super composed, even in his own box. Good goal too, welcome to the team dude.
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