Read on to find out what our Gooner Fanzine print writer had to say in his regular column about Alan Alger’s Three Things We Learned after Arsenal defeated Everton 1-0.
After Arsenal defeated Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park, there are three things we can learn.
At Goodison Park on Sunday, Leandro Trossard helps Arsenal defeat Everton in a crucial victory.
At Goodison Park on Sunday, Arsenal defeated Everton 1-0 to win their fifth straight league game and move into the top four of the standings.
In the 69th minute, Bukayo Saka’s clever pullback was tucked away by Leandro Trossard to give the Gunners their first victory on the blue side of Merseyside since October 2017.
Here is Alan Alger’s weekly column Three Things We Learned from the Gooner Fanzine.
1 – Karen Carney is an astute pundit and was right on the money.
When Karen Carney on Sky mentioned Arsenal’s tempo and control in yesterday’s game, I thought it was an amazing insight. The former England international explained how she believed Arteta had been planning the game’s lackluster outcome all along, slowing down the pace and calming the environment.
Even though the Everton supporters have little to cheer about these days, they still raise their voices when we visit the city.
We have allowed them to control our team’s level of passion far too frequently in recent seasons, and we have paid the price.
Mikel Arteta showed such wise leadership when he told his team to go through the motions and avoid letting a single incident cause the Goodison noise levels to increase.
Additionally, it’s possible that the choice to omit Aaron Ramsdale from the team – a player who is infamous for giving home fans the willies when we’re away – was a continuation of this.
Arteta agreed with Carney after the game that we intentionally killed the game and the atmosphere, and this proved Carney correct.
Even Everton’s tenacity was diminished as they only received one yellow card (which arguably should have been two) as opposed to the four they received in Dyche’s first game when they defeated us in the same matchup last season.
2 – We continuously come up with new ways for authorities to mistreat us.
Yesterday’s match would have been decided by Leandro Trossard’s delicious second-half winner, and I’m almost positive that we would all be complaining more loudly about Gabriel Martinelli’s first-half ‘goal’ if it hadn’t been disallowed.
I’ve never witnessed anything like it.
If you examine the decision in terms of the letter of the law, it was incorrect on at least two levels. It really takes a lot of picking through to insist the goal be chalked off – and once again it’s Arsenal who seem to be the standard-bearers in new and innovative ways to referee football matches.
Notably, Gabriel’s pass is not forward and then Beto’s intervention was surely deliberate.
Remember the instances where players received two yellow cards for the same infractions, the time when VAR was ineffective, and Tomi’s second Palace booking.
That is all I can think of right now.
We don’t want to wrap up the weekend by talking about officials.
The problem is that it seems like there are always new ways to wrong us. The fact that the referee needed VAR to step in and then gave a drop ball (because the rules forbid him from giving a yellow if he doesn’t first blow the whistle) is once again not a positive reflection on the division’s officiating.
In addition, the challenge from Mykolenko on Bukayo Saka is unquestionably a yellow card offense.
3. Declan speaks on command.
Readers of this column may feel that I am repeating myself when I praise our new West Ham addition, but I will not stop doing so.
Rice will be a huge asset in the away games in the north where last-second tackles and breakaways are necessary to stay in the game.
When Rice is facing his own keeper, he almost always executes a perfect tackle and pass to regain possession, all done with very little fuss. Gary Neville wasn’t at his best in the co-commentator role yesterday (including his undisguised annoyance when he thought Arsenal had scored in the first half), but he did point this out.
Only better things are ahead for him.
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