David Raya
On-loan keeper David Raya was a surprise starter on Sunday. It lead many to assume that he was not Arsenal’s number one. But was the decision just tactical?
Mikel Arteta spoke post-game about how pundits would not question him making tactical changes in the outfield, altering the team depending on the opponent.
In the previous 5 games against Everton, we have averaged 68.2% possession. In the previous 3, that rises to 72.7%. Yesterday we had 75% possession.
Arteta made the decision to play Raya, who is superior to Aaron Ramsdale with the ball at his feet, due to his expectation that we would dominate possession.
It will now be interesting to see whether Arteta continues to rotate his goal keepers based on opposition, like he would with outfield players…
Fabio Vieira
Talking about rotating players to exploit the opposition, Fabio Vieira came in for Kai Havertz. Again, some doubters saw this as Havertz being dropped. I think it was tactical.
Yes, I thought Havertz might have a big part to play in sunday’s game, but there is a reason why I sit behind a keyboard whilst Arteta stands on the touchline.
Everton beat us last season through compacting the midfield and making themselves very hard to play through. They force teams outside where they then rely on their wingers to help their full backs and know they have the power in defence to clear any high balls into the box.
Havertz likes to play central. He tends not to drift too far outwide. His inclusion would have led Arsenal to play into Everton’s hands with the congested midfield.
When Arsenal play with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah, we end up very narrow on that left hand side.
Fabio Vieira makes that run from in to out. He gets himself round the back of the winger, and also the full back. That allows him to get to the touchline and play balls on the deck into the box.
When you compare the heat maps of Vieira on Sunday against Granit Xhaka last season, you can see how wide Vieira played despite being in the “same position” as the ex-Arsenal captain.
Vieira playing wider has two affects on the games.
Firstly, he can find himself with space and time to influence the attack. Secondly, it drags Everton’s defence over which can then open up space on the right hand side.
I think Havertz will be a big player for Arsenal. But he does not yet have the natural instinct to get himself outwide.
We should not see Vieira starting over Havertz as a negative, but as a positive.
Arteta now has a collection of players that can all come in and slightly alter our attack depending on opponents.
Offside
I am still confused as to how that was offside on Sunday.
There is a debate to be had over the angle for the offside cameras at Goodison Park, but I do back the technology.
What I do not understand is the laws surrounding “deliberately playing the ball“:
*‘Deliberate play’ (excluding deliberate handball) is when a player has control of the ball with the possibility of:
- passing the ball to a team-mate;
- gaining possession of the ball; or
- clearing the ball (e.g. by kicking or heading it)
If the pass, attempt to gain possession or clearance by the player in control of the ball is inaccurate or unsuccessful, this does not negate the fact that the player ‘deliberately played’ the ball.
The offside came from Gabriel trying to play a sideways-backwards ball to William Saliba. The Everton player charged towards the ball and attempted to intercept it.
I am really confused that this is not seen as a deliberate attempt to play the ball. If the Everton player was not trying to play the ball, what was he doing running towards it?
“It was not a case of instinctive stretching or jumping, or a movement that achieved limited contact/control” – He was in full control of his body and knew exactly what he was doing – trying to intercept the ball and knock it back to his midfield.
He was in full control of his body and the ball went in the direction he wanted to go – his touch was just heavier than he hoped due to the speed he was travelling.
I do not get how an attacker in the 6 yard box jumping over a shot can be deemed “not interfering with play”, and then they deem a player deliberately playing the ball can be deemed as not deliberately playing the ball….
Leandro Trossard
Interesting to see people say “Leandro Trossard should have started” after his fine goal.
Trossard has been a brilliant signing for Arsenal. He offers us depth in a multitude of positions and works in tandem to with Martinelli to keep that left hand side fresh for 90-minutes.
He scored a fantastic winner, and his Man of the Match performance has led many to say he should start regularly, and it is a mistake by Arteta that he has only started 1 league game this season.
It ignores the fact that Martinelli had given Arsenal the lead, and it was only a ref error that led to the goal being ruled out.
In another world, Martinelli’s goal is given, he does not pick up an injury, and Arsenal win 4-0.
Yesterday was not proof that Trossard should start ahead of Martinelli. It was proof that we have two very good options on the left hand side.
You do not need to pick a side, you can support both players!
Corner time
A lot has been made about The Arsenal taking 26 seconds to take the corner which lead to the match winning goal. It is almost like Neville, Sky Sports et al go out of their way to discredit an Arsenal win.
To bring our 26s into perspective, last season it took sides on average 33 second to take corners.
Brentford have regularly topped the goals from corners charts since their return to the Premier League. They also take more time over set pieces than any other clubs. This shows a correlation between taking your time over a set piece and scoring a goal from them.
I have never heard Neville, Sky or anyone else criticise Brentford for how long they take over them, in fact they are universally praised.. So why criticise Arsenal now? I think we know why…
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
The win was excellent, the courage was sight to behold and the grit was impeccable. But the referee keep ignoring all the nasty tackles that Arsenal boys receive in every match.
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