Everton vs Arsenal 23/08/95

Everton 0 Arsenal 2. 23/08/95

two reports

att: 35,577

Always going to be a tough one this, not least because my girlfriend is an Everton fan. Of course she had a 15 pound ticket at the top of the man stand with a perfect view and mine was 16 pound for a crap view three rows from the front. The team reamained unchanged from Sunday as did Everton. Never really expected this to be a classic as the "dogs of war" in midfield found themselves up against the midfield creative genius of Martin Keown. The first half was particularly poor. Everton had a number of long range efforts that caused Seaman no real problems. One looping effort from Rideout clipped the top of the net as it looped over. Ferguson had the best opportunity with the only well worked move ending with a diving header that he couldn't control. One or two nasty challenges saw Horne booked for hacking down Wright who was going to break through and Keown for an appalingly timed challenge in midfield. Keown was lucky to stay on the field when he later hacked down The Swede from behind. As the half grew on we began to put more pressure on. The best chance came from a free kick out on the left wing. This was floated to the far post which was then headed against the bar by Platt. Parlour managed his usual trick of being in possession in excellent positions, only to mess things up completely. Platt and Bergkamp were completely anonymous. Bould and Adams were having an excellent battle with Rideout and Fergeson. The Swede hardly got into things as Winterburn and Dixon also defended well.

The second half was almost non stop Everton pressure. THe Swede looked lively all of a sudden but Everton still seemed to lack any real punch up front. Ferguson countinued to be a handful, but Everton's insistance at keep playing high balls in rather played into our hands. Many a good shooting opportinity was passed up in order to play the ball to the wing to float into Adams and Bould. Keown was now in his element and holding the fort well in midfield. We only really got into their half on a few occasions but always threatened to score. Platt failed to control a ball accross the box as he broke in midfield and then Bergkamp showed his genius with a fine run and chip to the far post the Merson just failed to reach. As Everton piled men forward so the gaps began to appear in midfield for Merson and Bergkamp. Merson given acres of space and time threaded a fine through ball to Platt to run onto. He had one touch around Southall, who seemed slow to react, and knocked the ball into the empty net. Not entirely un expected but against the run of play. Everton bought of The Swede, much to my releif, and sent on Amokachi. Within minutes he found himself clean through on Seaman but could only scuff his shot harmlessly into Seaman's arms. Barlow and Ammo managed to work a couple of openings but in the time it took them to make up their minds who should score the chance was gone. Ferguson, who may not be fully fit, became less of a threat as the half went on, though he did manage to misqueue an overhead kick. Everton had earlier been unlucky not to be given a penalty when Dixon blatantly handled but the ref adjudged that Ferguson had pushed him in the process. As Everton pushed further forward so the second came towards the end. Bergkamp this time played a ball through for Wright to run onto. He controlled it and ran past Unsworth with ease before slotting it off the post past Southall. Amokachi still had time to blaze an easy chance wide but the game was lost. Everton were a little unfortunate to lose, the real difference between the sides being that Wright and Platt finished oour only real chances. We certainly defended well but seemed to have made an art out of giving the ball away. Everton still look a pretty useful side. Kanchelskis, who has finally signed and plays tomorrow, may provide them with the pace they lack up front and the sort of decent service that Ferguson requires. Wright once again looked very lively, though Platt and Bergkamp still look like they haven't adjusted.

report by Trev

This isn't going to be a match report as such but I'll try to summarise the events of last night's game. A game where the curse of Darragh, who'd gone 7 games on the trot without seeing an Arsenal win, finally came to an end. The team lined up like this;


                  Seaman

    Dixon    Bould     Adams    Winterburn

   Parlour   Platt   Keown (Jensen)   Merson

            Bergkamp    Wright

The first half was pretty poor with neither side really getting on top and there was a lot of scrappy play in midfield. Arsenal, who always looked a bit more incisive in attack, created a few chances but most of them seemed to fall to Ray Parlour and he wasted them all. He had at least 3 opportunities to test Neville Southall and on each occasion he failed to get his shot on target. But as you probably know I don't rate Parlour so I may be being a bit harsh on him. Still, I'd rather see Merson on the right with Helder on the left because this would give us a major threat on each flank.

The best chance of the first half fell to David Platt who timed his run to meet Merson's free-kick from the left to perfection and his header beat Southall but hit the angle of post and bar. This was Platt's only real contibution to the first half as he was virtually anonymous for most of it.

Everton never really threatened and their tactics of hitting it long to Ferguson and Rideout never caused our defence any problems. Bould and Adams are rarely troubled by high balls so why Everton persisted with this tactic was beyond me (and most of their fans I think). Rideout did have one chance where he hooked the ball over his shoulder but it was too high and went over the bar. Seaman seemed to have it covered anyway.

Arsenal came close to breaking the deadlock when Tony Adams burst through the middle, played a one-two with Bergkamp, and had an opportunity to beat Southall but he stumbled as he avoided the last challenge and Southall saved his shot.

One moment did stand out, an Everton attack broke down and we had the chance to counter-attack as Keown came out of defence with the ball. There was acres of space for him to run into but he hesitated slightly then off-loaded the ball to Merson who was tackled by one of the Everton players. But it really highlighted our need for someone to partner Platt in the centre of midfield.

The second half was better than the first and gradually Arsenal began to take control and looked more and more likely to score. Bergkamp, who'd shown some nice touches in the first-half, began to get more involved and Platt looked a lot sharper. But the man who did the most for me was Ian Wright who gave the Everton defence a torrid time with some aggressive forward play.

Platt came close to scoring when Bergkamp's pass allowed him to burst into the penalty area but Horne had tracked Platt and he made a superb saving tackle to prevent Platt getting a shot in. Shortly afterwards we went 1-0 up. Merson cut in from the left and drifted across the edge of the box before he played a perfect ball into Platt whose diagonal run had beaten the offside trap and Platt took the ball around Southall and scored from a fairly acute angle. The travelling support erupted and soon a chorus of "1-nil to the Arsenal" was underway.

Everton threw on Amokachi to try and salvage the match but they always looked susceptible to the counter-attack. Bergkamp created a great opportunity when he beat 2 defenders on the right-hand side down by the corner flag and drove a great ball across the face of the goal. Unfortunately no-one had made a run to meet the cross.

Everton's best chance came when Amokachi broke through but he didn't seem to hit it as well as he could and Seaman made an excellent save to avert the danger. With a couple of minutes to go Arsenal counter-attacked and a superb pass from Bergkamp put Wright in and he beat Southall from a tight angle with a perfectly judged shot. A great goal although I haven't seen it the video yet. Was it as good as it looked?

Shortly afterwards the referee blew the final whistle and the travelling contingent began their celebrations. Bruce Rioch was evidently pleased with the result and the performance as he waited for the players to come off at the touchline and shook each player's hand as they came off, reserving a hug for Ian Wright. However, I do have a point of contention with Rioch - the new tactic for goal kicks. Seaman has obviously been intructed to hit these towards one or other of the opposing full-backs, usually the shorter one. Last night these were going out towards Earl Barrett and Merson was having to challenge him. I'm afraid it looks to much like a John Beck tactic and it doesn't seem to work. We did at Wolves in pre-season and last night we did it too often for comfort.

It wasn't the greatest performance I've seen but if we are to do well in the League then this type of result will stand us in good stead. Our defence looked very solid and in attack we now seem to have the players in addition to Ian Wright who are going to be able to create and score goals. All in all a very satisfying result.

report by Andy Powers.

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