Toffees made it stickier than it ought to be

I WAS fretting at half-time on Saturday, as my 11-year old nephew, Jake, had flown over from Dublin with his mum, for his first ever pilgrimage to the Home of Football (Mark II).

I was most disappointed for him that we were one down, after such a humdrum first-half Arsenal performance. And with the two of them sitting close to the front, behind the goal, I was gutted that we hadn’t managed to score at their end.

It was also somewhat disconcerting to discover through my binoculars that they were only separated from the Everton fans by a thin line of orange-jacketed stewards in the very last two seats in their row. Luckily Jake’s not a delicate lad and didn’t appear unduly bothered to find himself acting as the net, with all the banter being batted back and forth above his head.

On the pitch, however, I must give credit where it’s due as I’m all too often whinging about Wenger’s reluctance to tinker with his team until the last 10/15 minutes. Although, it must be said Arsène was forced to shuffle his pack at half-time on Saturday, as we were rapidly running short of defenders, with Kolo’s withdrawal. Moving Song to centre-back and Eboué to right-back, he sent Theo on to wreak havoc on the right flank, resulting in the injection of dynamism and directness which led indirectly to the equaliser.

If it wasn’t for our captain’s injury, I wonder if Wenger would’ve maintained his customary patience and left our Wonderboy cooling his heels on the bench, until the last quarter? As it was, the timing of our goal was absolutely crucial, coming only three minutes after the restart.

The moment Nasri’s grass-cutter skimmed its way into the bottom corner of the net, I immediately trained my binoculars on Jake. I was delighted to discover that his initiation into the tribe was complete, seeing him give vent to first-half frustrations and the Toffees fans’ gloating, with a rapid-fire succession of one fingered salutes, directed at his new found “friends”. I couldn’t have been more proud if he was my own.

With Liverpool and the Gunners both making hard graft of our games, while the other two contenders cruised to victory, normal service appeared to have been resumed this weekend.

Yet as the tension evaporated with our equaliser and we were able to relax, we were transformed into the Arsenal side that is no less an irresistible force than either of our two main rivals

It leaves one wondering exactly what it is that’s responsible for our recent trend towards inertia, seemingly waiting for success to fall into our laps and needing to go a goal behind, to inspire the sort of urgency that’s required to really force the issue. Why we can’t apply ourselves with the same intensity right from the off?

If it’s a matter of complacency then seemingly they aren’t the only culprits, since Saturday’s events would suggest that the lack of aggro at our new gaff up until now has resulted in some of the old bill going to sleep on the job. I’m unsure whether some slieveens in the posh Club Level seats above the away fans were responsible for causing the problem, or if they were reacting to some aggro below, but from the evidence seen since on YouTube, their behaviour was reprehensible.

Considering the light-hearted banter I’ve shared with the Scousers for several years now, I would’ve never believed it would end up being Evertonians christening our new gaff with it’s first scenes of violence (thus I have to assume there was some provocation).

However by comparison to the sort of sedate, often to the point of soporific atmosphere that is unfortunately the norm, I guess Jake couldn’t have wished for a more fervent occasion for his first match.

Hopefully publication of this piece will coincide with a return from Istanbul with three more Champions League points in the bag, in a game which based on form, is highly unlikely to be a boring 0-0 and where the side with the least inconsistent defence is likely to prevail.