Everton plumb new depths after heavy Gunners defeat

It beggars belief, really, when you think of the vast sums Everton spent on new players over the summer and the optimism that was coursing through Evertonian veins just three months ago but the club is once again embroiled in crisis, with the man in the hotseat very much living on borrowed time.

In the relegation zone for the first time in 12 years and with a poorer goal difference than eventually-doomed Sunderland had at this stage of last season underscores the trouble that the Ronald Koeman regime is in.

Last term, this fixture marked a turning point, at least in Everton’s home form, the debacle in the FA Cup Third Round against Leicester aside. It paved the way for the 4-0 demolition of Manchester City, as a cock-sure Blues side romped through Pep Guardiola’s team with abandon, and six more wins at Goodison Park after that before Champions-elect Chelsea broke the sequence.

The only turning point this season’s visit of Arsenal to L4 might spark, however, is an abrupt one in Koeman’s employment status… although there’s no guarantee that the Everton Board will be so decisive. Farhad Moshiri was seen to mouth “oh, no” as the fifth goal went in while Bill Kenwright visibly shared the pain of every Evertonian watching — many of them sick and tired of conceding hatfuls of goals to Wenger teams — but whether they are moved to actually do anything about the managerial situation remains to be seen. It’s hard to see a way back for Koeman — he looks bereft of answers.

Koeman could yet get a pass at Stamford Bridge, one of those games, no doubt, that Moshiri wouldn’t be surprised to lose, but the trip to Leicester next weekend has an ominous look to it where the Dutchman is concerned.

This was a game that exposed Everton’s technical limitations, its defensive frailties and toothlessness while underscoring that energy and tenacity alone is not enough against sides like Arsenal when they can slice through disorganised defences like a whipsaw. The Gunners weren’t at their best but when they reached their potential, the porous Toffees couldn’t live with them.

In some respects, there’s a measure of sympathy to be had for Koeman here, albeit it not enough to mask the mess over which he currently presides. He asked for “aggression” from his players and mostly got it in the opening half hour as the forward line harried the Arsenal defence and the likes of Idrissa Gueye were making full-blooded challenges like the one that set Wayne Rooney up for the opening goal.

Getting a boot to the ball before Hector Bellerin, the Senegalese midfielder prodded it towards Rooney and drawing on the self-belief and execution with which he announced himself to the world as a raw teenager 15 years ago almost to the day, he swept it past Petr Cech from 20 yards.

But it was over-exuberance from Gueye — in the absence of Morgan Schneiderlin, he was charged with protecting the back four — that got him into hot water with referee Craig Pawson 11 minutes before half time and which ultimately cost him his place on the pitch half an hour later when he picked up a second yellow card for one late sliding tackle too many.

Despite grabbing the relatively early goal that might have provided the foundation from which they could prey on the low morale of an Arsenal side that came into the game without an away win all season, there wasn’t much more in terms of offensive production from Everton.

Jordan Pickford had made himself the leading candidate for the Blues’ man of the match before 10 minutes had elapsed by tipping a second-minute shot from Alexis Sanchez wide, diverting Alexandre Lacazette’s shot behind to safety and making an excellent close-range save to deny the French striker after Aaron Ramsey had picked him out with an accurate centre from the Gunners’ right flank.

And with Everton seemingly abandoning the high press and dropping off Arsenal as they advanced out of their own half, Pickford had to push away Sanchez’s free kick and then deny Ramsey from the rebound.

Arsenal’s increasing pressure told five minutes before the break. A slight deflection off Gylfi Sigurdsson from Granit Xhaka’s goal-ward drive wrong-footed Pickford who could only parry the ball into the path of Nacho Monreal and he smashed the rebound home. Deflation inside Goodison and plenty wondering if the Blues had it in them to re-establish a lead against a Gunners team that looked very much up for it and was slicing through them at will at times.

Pickford was on hand again to come quickly off his line to block from Sanchez as things threatened to get worse for Everton but Koeman made it into half time with the scores level.

Having started the game with a three-man central defence, Koeman elected to change things up by withdrawing Ashley Williams — the Welsh skipper’s yellow card after a quarter of an hour was perhaps a consideration — and introducing Tom Davies.

The switch had the effect of increasing the load on Gueye in defensive midfield, although it’s one he probably would have made with just eight minutes gone in the second half when Arsenal took the lead… assuming of course the lack of that third centre half wasn’t in itself attributable to the Gunners’ second.

Nikola Vlasic, who had shown some wonderful moments of individual skill at times, ended up running down a blind alley in front of the visitors’ back four and Arsenal broke quickly. The ball was worked to Sanchez who delayed until he spotted Mezut Ozil’s unchecked run and one chipped cross later, the German had guided a header past Pickford to make it 2-1.

Two minutes later, Laurent Koscielny was allowed to saunter down the right flank past Sigurdsson and cross for Ramsey but the Welsh international made a mess of his shot when he could have finished Everton off there and then.

As it was, it was only a matter of time. Koeman would lament after the match that Gueye’s dismissal had made an already difficult task for his team impossible but much of the fight had already gone out of them by that point.

Furthermore, Arsenal with their tails up were just too good. While the massed Evertonians were forced to see angled ball after angled ball float out of play on the right touchline, the result of the manager’s directive to go more direct, Wenger’s men passed with speed and precision, moving through the gears with an efficiency that Blues fans can only dream of.

With 16 minutes left, Arsenal extended their lead when they carved their hosts open once more after Vlasic had uncharacteristically given it away in their half. Only the hapless Michael Keane was in the middle of defence as Ozil surged down the right flank and crossed to Lacazette who couldn’t miss from the centre of the goal.

After Rooney and Calvert-Lewin had been withdrawn in favour of Ademola Lookman and Oumar Niasse, Davies bounced a long-range effort at Cech that represented Everton’s first shot on target since their goal in the 12th minute.

But a wide-open Sanchez missed a great chance to make it 4-1 with a diving header and Xhaka smacked a shot off the crossbar before substitute Jack Wilshere split the defence to pick out Ramsey and this time he didn’t miss.

There was farce still to come as Cech was caught trying to dribble away from Niasse and the striker robbed him to knock the ball into the empty net but Sanchez was still able to exert his will on the game with a final act in the final minute of stoppage time.

Driving his way past a rank of Blue shirts, he eventually engineered space for a shot that he whipped across Pickford and into the far corner to complete the misery among those Evertonians who had remained behind to the bitter end.

But for Pickford, the one new recruit who could be declared even at this early stage a success, this could have been much, much worse. And, even accounting for the final quarter of the contest played with 10 men, it was bad enough.

The flawed transfer strategy that saw Everton exit the transfer window with an unbalanced squad, woefully deficient in some areas and over-weight in others, is clearly a significant factor behind the current slump but the lack of consistency and clarity in Koeman’s methods, team selections and tactics – and the resultant collapse in confidence among the players – are compounding the problem to a degree that is unsustainable.

There is a shortage of imagination and what comes across as a lack of passion and desire from the manager and when the buck ultimately stops at that one role, there is usually only one course of action to take. Preferably before it’s far too late...

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