Stalemate

A mate asking if I wanted to join him in the Dixie Dean Lounge for the match. Naturally, I jumped at the chance… not least because of the prospect of catching a glimpse of a certain Carlo Ancelotti.

I was out in the pub on Friday evening when I received a message from a mate asking if I wanted to join him in the Dixie Dean Lounge for the match. Naturally, I jumped at the chance and awoke rather excited on Saturday morning…not least because of the prospect of catching a glimpse of a certain Carlo Ancelotti.

I arrived before the rest of the party and was sat nursing a drink or two and nattering away to some of the very pleasant staff who do a great job in Hospitality. Once everybody was at the table we enjoyed a very nice meal, and before long were in our seats. We had already heard by now that Carlo Ancelotti had been confirmed as our new manager, and I was tipped off by someone that he was sat near to us.

Ste and I were rather awestruck as we shimmied to our seats as just a few rows in front of us to our left Carlo was stood there having a chat with Marcel Brands. Shortly after Mikel Arteta followed and sat a bit further away from us on our far left. The sirens blared, the teams took to the field and, as they were going through their pre-match rituals, Duncan Ferguson looked up and waved in our direction, not at ourselves of course — his family were sat directly in front of us. He then also waved at Farhad, Bill, Carlo and Marcel, all of whom sharply waved back approvingly.

We were surprised to see so many players return from injury and sickness for the game, with Lucas, Djibril, Fabian and Gylfi all returning to fitness and making the team. Arsenal had also made many changes with Freddie Ljungberg unhappy with his team's effort against Manchester City.

Alas, neither team really got going on the day and it was quite the damp squid of a game. It wasn't through lack of effort from the lads, but these games can happen from time to time, when the fluidity of the game doesn't quite happen, passes don't meet their players and moves break down. When that happens, it's difficult to build momentum and it became quite the stalemate.

Arsenal were jittery in defence and on another day a botched clearance may have resulted in some luck and we may have benefited but it wasn't to be. The Gunners' were well backed by their vocal supporters and they may have travelled back to London feeling they should have snatched this. They certainly had the more clear cut opportunities in the game but were wasteful when Gabriel Martinelli thrashed wide in the first half, and then Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang forced Jordan Pickford into the only save of note all game when he reacted quickly to palm out his effort.

I was watching Duncan fairly closely and throughout the game he was often muttering to somebody behind him who was out of my view, presumably John Ebbrell. At the break, I actually walked back up the stairs alongside Mikel Arteta, who seemed very focused with his head down. I wished him good luck though he didn't react at all. I've got a lot of time for Arteta. I thought he was a fabulous player for us. I hope it works out well for him there, just so long as it is not at our expense of course.

Despite a good effort, the second half was much like the first - a lot of huff and puff but with no end product and, despite a late rally of sorts, it almost felt like a relief when Kevin Friend blew his whistle to end the game. Arsenal's left-back, Bukayo Saka, was on a yellow card for a big chunk of the game and had already done one rash challenge on Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Therefore it seemed a wasted opportunity to not get a winger on to take him on. We could have given Bernard a go or even put Moise Kean there. Instead, we substituted the substitute, Cenk Tosun. Cenk hadn't exactly set the world alight, but I'd have liked to have seen a winger given a go there.

We waited around to see Duncan leave the field. It was great to see him get such great applause, largely from the Gwladys Street, and heart-warming to see him give his sweatband and his tie to a young supporter. His impact over the last four games really shouldn't be understated. Let's be fair, we'd all have taken five points from them league games, and losing on penalties to Leicester City in the cup is hardly one we can lay the blame for at Duncan's door.

He's also had to deal with quite the injury crisis during this time. He's done a good job of lifting the club at a very difficult time and I'm pleased he is getting the opportunity to carry on working at Everton under Carlo Ancelotti. We actually saw Duncan very briefly later on and he was kind enough to stop for a photo with us, despite being pushed for time.

As for Carlo, well, I was very disappointed when Marco was sacked, largely because we've had so much managerial change over the last few years that I didn't want any more. However, had I have known at the time that our next manager was going to be Carlo Ancelotti, I certainly wouldn't have been complaining. Well done to Farhad, Marcel and Bill for making such a canny appointment. Nobody anticipated we would be getting one of the best managers in world football; we all expected David Moyes.

The future all of a sudden seems brighter. Let's hope we get off to a flyer with a win on Boxing Day.

Player Ratings

Pickford: Had very little to do but some of his kicking was rash. 6

Digne: I'm not sure he was quite fit but he managed to get through the game. His corners and free kicks were very poor. 5

Holgate: Had a good game, both in defence and also in midfield when he was pushed up in the second half. Mason is probably the biggest success story of Duncan's short spell as Caretaker Manager. 7

Mina: While he was atrocious on Wednesday, he played well against Arsenal. He went down late in the game with cramp but just about got through to the end. 7

Sidibe: I like Djibril. He keeps things simple and uses the ball intelligently. Our best performer in this game in my opinion. My man of the match. 7

Delph: Fabian had a very good first half. He was snappy in the tackle and used the ball well. He couldn't keep it up for the second half though and came off, hopefully more through stiffness/tiredness than anything else. 6

Sigurdsson: He didn't get on the ball much, though his role seemed to be to sit a bit deeper than Fabian and protect the defence a bit. 6

Iwobi: He began on the left but didn't survive for long as he came off after only 11 minutes I would presume with sickness as he didn't seem to get any knock. 3

Richarlison: He toiled but he is clearly jaded and/or carrying a knock and he couldn't really get going. 5

Davies: He was busy throughout but he isn't suited to the right wing. I'd have liked to have seen a winger come on to stretch Arsenal a bit in the last 20 minutes. 6

Calvert-Lewin: I thought he led the line pretty well and kept on scrapping. 7

Tosun (for Iwobi): Got involved early on but didn't really contribute a lot. 5

Keane (for Delph): As this change was done to push Mason into midfield instead, I wonder if bringing on Bernard at this point and putting Tom Davies into midfield may have been a wiser option. Tom was on a yellow card though so maybe that was part of the thinking. Michael struggled to get going, and is clearly low on confidence. 5

Kean (for Tosun): He didn't have the desired impact, unfortunately. Hopefully, life will improve for Moise under Carlo. 5

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