That old classic is back and with it we see the end of the Goodison Park Curse. One nil to The Arsenal, one nil to The Arsenal, ONE – NIL TO THE ARSENAL!
So here we are then not even 24 hours have passed since that enthralling game in Merseyside in which Arsenal were completely dominant. But who could have predicted that line up!
The Lineup
David Raya take a bow son! What a performance, this man showed exactly why he was a focus for Mikel in the summer transfer window. The composure on the ball, the passing range he showed, this man truly is a midfield who happens to play GK.
The tactical need for a GK to play sweeper has been ever present in the Premier League since Pep first took over Man City way back when! However the position has evolved further, where your sweeper keeper is now a false centre back.
No we don’t mean he’s making last ditch tackles at the edge of the box. No! He is in fact another ball carrying option. Where Saliba may find himself lacking options ahead of him, and could even be under pressure from a press. Your GK turned False CB is there, ready to take a short pass not just to ease the pressure, but to have the composure to distribute the ball laterally or accurately to either flank and carry on the attack fluidly and quickly!
I said this on Twitter after the game last night and many of your certainly agreed. The discourse of who should start etc is not what we need. It certainly isn’t even a discussion in Mikels eyes. His post match interview made that clear.
Arteta stating his few regrets in football as a manager is previously “not having the courage to make a substitute (of a keeper) in between the 60th to 85th minute”. “Instead I take off a winger or striker to play 5 at the back and no one complains, so why not (a keeper also)”. Mikel has made it clear that every position across the XI should have suitable back up options at similar strength levels and we see this being the case even at GK.
Just look at the Martinelli substitution a precautionary move, but one made with no hesitation as we have such star power and quality on the bench these days. That Leandro Trossard has to wait for his opportunities. But what quality he possesses is always made clear with his delightful match winner. More on that later.
Simply put, I said this and many of you agreed.
EVERYTHING IS TACTICS
This goes for the goal keepers too. Raya deserves his start through his performances in training. The GK union stands both Raya and Ramsdale have a clean sheet this season so far. The choice for Mikel is when to utilise either player. He has the fortune to have two number 1s available. Now its simply a case of sharing the games across all the cup competitions and the Premier League too.
What will likely be the case is where Mikel expects a serious low block from the opposition such as this game with Everton. Raya will start as he perhaps has superior ball control, and distribution capabilities than Ramsdale. Not to say Aaron cannot do the same, but in my opinion, Raya has quicker decision making with the ball at his feet, and arguably from his game yesterday makes the correct decision all the time.
Ramsdale is maybe the better keeper at shot stopping with his height advantage over Raya. I’d argue Mikel would favour him in games where the opposition could get many corners and force stronger physical players against our GK to impede them.
Now all this tactical change and analysis is simply because no one predicted this starting XI. We haven’t even began to touch on the impact a certain Portugase made this game.
As those of you who read Art of Analysis know, or even if you follow us on twitter you will also know. We have a certain favouritism towards one Fabio Vieira and my word did he shine today once more. Mikel clearly saw his quality over the pass few substitute appearances and the impact he had on the game and decided that man deserves a start!
Once more, and I feel more importantly is that he now is a more fluid LCM option in comparison to Kai. Not to see Kai cannot do this role, simply that Fabio has had the year to learn Arsenal. Something Kai still needs to do.
Martinelli and Fabio, are friends on and off the pitch. They have a connection a mutual understand a shared language both verbally and mentally. This man has an understanding with Martinelli that mirrors Saka and Ødegaard on the right hand side. Without this understanding and mutual trust there is no interplay, quick tiki-taka. That almost telepathic connection that is present on the right isn’t here on the left with Havertz.
What is clear is that whenever Vieira is on the pitch his ability to further unlock Martinelli and in doing so improving his own game is clear and obvious. Gabriel Martinelli is capable of 15+ Goals a season. But to do this he needs Vieira in the 8 role. Kai is essentially Fabio last year. But I do like having 2 or more quality players able to fit this 8 role!
Tactico Teta:
A few weeks ago, Mikel lamented a terrible question from a journalist about formations. In which he revealed that from his brain, to the whiteboard, to the training pitch, to the game. There can be anything from 30-46 formations at play during a game. With constant changing of widebacks to central midfield roles, with pivots of the 8 and the 6 role, GK to false CB, Inversions of Martin, Bukayo and Ben on the right hand side. If you know ball you can see that statement being quite clearly evident and true in the way Arsenal play.
Clearly that journo, didn’t know ball.
But this game week there was a whole new focus intelligent set piece play and design. Whether this came from Mikel himself or Nicolas Jover, the former Manager Assistant who is Arsenals Set Piece coach. It certainly worked a treat.
In a game where Arsenal had 11 corners. Nearly all were taken short between Saka and Ødegaard. All were deliberate actions, to wait patiently allowing the Everton defence to shuffle around the penalty box, whilst Arsenal had a few in the box and their usual bunch of 3-4 players waiting outside the penalty area before rushing in.
What this did was allow an element of unsettling pause envelop the Everton side. Where they were once ready for corner, the further 5 or 10 seconds of waiting allows hesitation, am I in the write spot? Should I mark him instead? Oh wait they are taking it short?
In a first for Premier League punditry, sky sports analysed the time it took Arsenal to take their corners an average of 26 seconds. Whilst they criticsed this for time wasting, it was simply an element of tactical brilliance to unready the opponent and allow skillful players a shot on goal from range but with space and precision.
Whilst the uneducated masses see this as slowing down the game, in actuality in the 22/23 season average corners at Arsenal took over 30 seconds. With the highest average in the league taking 47 seconds for a corner. This therefore is actually a quick and effective corner routine!
It was clear this was something worked on with the team in training. Certainly, something they knew to implement in this game against Everton. As evident in the celebration from Zincehnko which saw him point to Mikle as soon as Trossard scored and shout in appreciation and jubilation!
Finally for this games analysis. Whilst Trossard will get the headlines and deservedly so for that sublime finish and his impact on the game.
Raya will get the pundits praise and Mikel will be told he has a selection headache ahead of the game against PSV.
There is another man who deserves our attention, Declan Rice. For me it is clear Declan Rice is already world class. He is already a world class 6. But now he is also turning into a world class 8 in this unique double pivot role he has under Mikel. He has it all calm composure, intelligent play and a reading of the game that is already at a high level and only growing. He has certainly changed Arsenal, in times where we have no Partey. I don’t see this side as weaker. If anything the way he embraces the 8 role is natural to Rice with Zinchenko or even Tomiyasu pivoting into CM it allows him space to move forward into that 8 role. Therefore utilsiing his ability to make progressive forward passes into the attack even more penetrative and allowing him chances on goal too. To put it short. Rice has elevated Arsenal. HE could have been the difference maker in the title challenge last year.
Conclusion
The Curse of Goodison Park is DEAD! Mikels mighty men have buried it! The Arsenal were completely dominant and not just on the Pitch. All the credit to our travelling away fans who were loud as ever! On Sky Sports all I could here was Poetry from Peter Drury and the noise of the away fans in full voice. It was beautiful.
As was the beauty of the football played at times. Arsenal were entirely dominant and deserved the win. With shining performances from Raya, Vieira, Trossard and Rice. Arsenal showed grit and a never say die attitude here, as well as the depth available at the bench too. Excellent win. We press on now, to the Champions League.
I will see you all on Wednesday night!
Written by Reekesh Somaroo
*Stats by opta and FotMob