Twoism wrote:Yeah but at the same time Giroud handballed in our box so that even out

No he didnt. it hit his chest.

Jay

great work Jay
what did you make of Calum-Per though
i see the former as long term replacement for latter

John Stones as long term replacement for Kos

Chambers showed his inexperience by being too over-zealous in the challenge at times. For Everton's second, it was him who tried to dive in and win the ball from Lukaku when he should've been holding up him so his team mates could get back. There was also a moment when he got caught under the flight of the ball and let Mirallas in behind him.

From what I've seen, Chambers has an aggressive style of defending that's similar to Koscielny's. He seems to like stepping out to win the ball and getting a challenge in, perhaps a habit from playing full back regularly. Mertesacker should be a good partner for him.

His future could well be in midfield, since he's very good on the ball.

Excellent work Jay, in both OP and post above with the shots/clips.

Just going to bullet point some thoughts:

1) Ozil on the left-wing was something most people questioned once the line-ups were out. Away to Everton against Coleman was always going be suicide. Had a very quiet game going forward and didn't track back for the goal.

2) Flamini had a really average game. Thought this was a good opportunity for Flamini, in the absence of Arteta, to impress, but he had an off-day; lost possession when under pressure and for all his hard work he just lacks the ability to dominate a midfield. A new signing in this area is absolutely imperative.

3) Chambers and Mertesacker had difficult games. After a bright start from Chambers, he suffered two moments (the Mirallas chance and the second goal) where his lack of experience showed. Mertesacker clearly rushed back. 2 weeks in training ahead of a game at Goodison is not enough imo, but he had to play with Koscielny suffering from injury recently. Think we'll see Mertesacker-Koscielny on Wednesday night.

4) Was impressed with all 3 subs who made a difference; Giroud of course, Campbell and Cazorla all were influential in the comeback. Our bench, actually, was very strong and that's without Ospina, Arteta, Walcott, Gibbs and Podolski.

5) Alexis, as many have already posted, is still getting to grips with our style and the pace of England. He will improve, of course, he's a great player, and his pressing game is very evident from his Barca days. It will be very interesting to see what happens when Walcott returns. We have many options up top, and who knows, maybe a forward will arrive if Podolski, as expected, leaves.

--

Overall it's been a steady start. The comeback yesterday showed character and desire but of course, to be in that position in the first place was frustrating - even if second goal was a foul and offside.

Big game on Wednesday and 8 days to bring in a CB and DM.

I've seen the opposite actually, Chambers instantly clicked with Koz last two games, not so much with Mertz. While playing with Koz, Chambers did has some dive tackle but Koz was still the one to go for the ball 1st. Mertz on the other hand, was forced to make some tackles that he's not comfortable with like that one when he got yellow. Mertz usually does not play too high up like last game.

Chambers needs to learn that you can't win every challenge even when you favourite, Koscielny had the same problem when he arrived m he will eventually learn it comes with experience.

I agree with Jay.
Chambers is sort of like a young Koscielny. Eager to step-in in front of the defenders, and good on the ball as well. Which is why I would still like to see him in that DM role. He's tall and has a bit of muscle so he could just be what we want in that position for the long term.

Going by yesterdays performance I'd rather see Chambers over Debuchy at RB against good attacking teams.
 
Anyway lets not make a Phil Jones out of the kid. Leave it to the coaches. I think there's a case to mould him into an RB, CB or DM.

Debuchy is fine, he's caught out ahead at times but he's still gelling, even though he's looked settled so far.

Chambers looks very promising through the middle, as Wenger said.

There have been three underwhelming performances but the common theme through all of them has been the lack of chemistry and tactical understanding between the lads.

It's frustrating, but the issue has been exacerbated by injuries and lack of fitness for key players.

It's being (mis)directed at the likes of Santi and Giroud and more recently, Özil and Jack. We can only be patient for this phase to pass. But you can bet that the stupid international break will not help one bit.

And all this is not taking away anything as far as the lack on transfer activity and (still) being 1-2 players short of a title challenging campaign is concerned.

I rewatched the first half an you know it really wasn't THAT bad. Things went wrong in the final third with sloppy mistakes and bad decisions, and a couple of times defence was broken (ozil, chambers), but in general it wasn't a bad performance. We pushed them back and forced them to kick the ball long/give it away for most of the half and created numerous situations in the final third which unfortunately we kept messing up with a bad decision/technical mistake

I think the fact that Sanchez didn't touch the ball in the Everton box says it all.. I don't need to re-watch to remember how terrible we were.

I agree to an extent, I think Sanchez being played as a lone striker was the leading cause in the poor performance. As well as Debuchy and Chambers putting some chinks in the armour, both had a knock on effect to the overall performance. Everton are a very strong side though so that amplified our weaknesses of course.

If Wenger insists on pushing for Sanchez as a striker.. we would be better off with two up front. Giroud/Sanogo/Campbell up front with Sanchez/Walcott would work imo. That's how Sanchez dominates for Chile with Vargas. That would of course push Walcott wider though and mean Ozil may have to play on the left...