Everton 2 - Arsenal 1 match report: hey look, another loss

Arsenal play, Arsenal disappoint. Wash, rinse, repeat. But somehow with all that washing, this club hasn’t been able to clean up the same mistakes they keep on making. They misplace simple passes. They do inexplicable things like marking a 6’6 centerback with Eddie Nketiah and Buakyo Saka. They let strikers and midfielders run between defenders with impunity. And they don’t offer any sort of attacking threat.

Arsenal stink.

“Play the kids,” we shout. Eddie Nketiah led the line and made the wrong decision almost every time he was on the ball. Ainsley Matitland-Niles had some great moments, especially defensively, but even more that left me scratching my head wondering what he was thinking. It’s true, letting younger players learn by doing is probably better than watching Willian loaf around the pitch for 90 minutes. In the end, it isn’t going to improve the results.

The lone bright spot on the day was the return of Gabriel Martinelli to the senior side. He immediately created a spark and looked great. He should be playing every minute that his fitness and surgically repaired knee allow him to.

And oh by the way, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is going to be out for a week or two. It isn’t getting better anytime soon at Arsenal.

Here, have a space to talk about all of it. But honestly, it might be better for your mental state to go do literally anything else. I don’t have much else to say. I’m beyond words.