{"id":7506,"date":"2023-03-01T23:18:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T23:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7506"},"modified":"2023-03-03T19:01:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T19:01:39","slug":"young-guns-come-to-the-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7506","title":{"rendered":"Young Guns Come To The Four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1470600753\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1470600753?et=a9E73uQoSWRtUDRpNoBHog&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=gqUy1ZLwjqbtIeBM6GCc8C81HtAmfIcBq4Sqx0LSOrQ=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Lightning could not strike twice for Sean Dyche\u2019s Everton side despite a stubborn and hardworking opening forty minutes. From the moment that the rapier sharp Bukayo Saka smashed a right-footed shot over his England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford the result of this one was, in true Arsenal fashion, never in doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everton did well for most of the first half, and we were not at our incisive best, the final ball being somewhat lacking from us, and the Toffees even managed a couple of shots on target before we got our first. They were everything Baff told us they would be in his perfectly-judged preview (note: as I type this, Sheffield Utd have just knocked the spuds out of the FA Cup \u2013 hahahahaha!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven\u2019t got it in me to do anything other than doff my cap to Dyche and his ability to turn a team playing without confidence or purpose into one that looked solid, organised and a decent outift. They were physical, but they didn\u2019t take the piss like some have, although I could do without a unit like Onana (what\u2019s his name?) falling on the floor and getting play stopped for a head injury every time anyone disturbed his aura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first half was intriguing, despite a lack of goal-mouth action. We saw some lovely fluidity from our front four with Trossard and \u00d8degaard getting out to the wings, allowing Saka and Gabigol to head central, albeit nothing came of any of it. Jorginho and Zinchenko provided the midfield platform, spraying the ball about, whilst Xhaka drifted around and occupied pockets of space. We were patient and it was all pretty good \u2013 except we had no end product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until, suddenly, we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fed up with making clever runs only to find two blokes marking him, Saka drifted into their box and donned his invisibility cloak. Of course, Oleksander Zinchenko has magic in his veins, so, unlike the <s>Burnley<\/s> Everton defenders, he could actually see our number 7 and duly threaded the ball through to him, where he stood unmarked. With his weaker foot he leathered the ball past the near post and into the roof of the net. The faithful went wild. The lad himself looked rather happy too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moments later we had another. \u00d8degaard\u2019s level has been immense this season but this was absolutely outrageous and the boy was taking the mickey today. Five moves ahead of anyone else in the stadium, and sensing that Gueye could be lured into an error, our captain pretended to get the ball stuck under his feet and fall over. To any but the most observant eye it looked like he had done just that, and Gueye took the bait hook, line and sinker as he ambled in and poached the ball. However, like some sort of Premier League Derren Brown, the Norwegian maestro had confused him into dawdling on it like he was Pickford taking a goal kick, and his brain froze as he did nothing and still nothing and a bit more nothing until Saka nicked the ball off him and Martinelli swept it home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lino immediately ruled it out for offside, but we had time for a quick round of VAR Pot Luck, and it turned out that we had the winning ticket on this occasion. Frankly, I\u2019ve got no idea what decision they are gonna make even after I\u2019ve seen the freeze-frames, but I liked the one today. More of those please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We brought on Partey at half-time. I\u2019ve been really impressed with Jorginho every time he has played and his signing looks to me like a very canny piece of business, but it isn\u2019t fair to a single player in this squad (or league) to ask them to do what Partey does, because he is simply the business. That bloke is just one hell of a player. He does the job of two people, a bone fide monster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, while I\u2019m at it, Ben White looked so good today. No goals or assists, and he wasn\u2019t up against much from an offensive perspective (\u201cNeal Maupay\u2026 The prosecution rests, my lord.\u201d) but he looked consummately in control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the half wore on, we turned the screw, ratcheting up the pressure, which told in the 70<sup>th<\/sup> minute when our captain made the most of a lovely cross from the dangerous Trossard, who had been left in far too much space on the left wing, to side foot a right-footed shot home for our third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By this point we were purring, an absolute Rolls Royce performance. The excellent crowd gave us a few oles, which I\u2019m no fan of, but hey, they\u2019ve earned the right with the support they have shown this season, which has been as phenomenal as the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We really could have had more. Trossard and Gabi could have scored, before Xhaka and Leo were replaced by Vieira and Eddie, who both could have scored too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nketiah did grab an assist, after making a nice run into the inside left channel and squaring for our young Brazilian tyro to boost his excellent numbers further as he nipped in front of the defender and slotted a finish through the keeper\u2019s legs. Timewaste that, Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All you need is to add some punctuation and \u2018Timewaste\u2019 is an anagram of \u2018See? I\u2019m twat!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m just saying, Jordan. Just saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zinchenko and \u00d8degaard went off, job done. KT3 came on for the Ukrainian and decided that his way of playing left-back is much better than the way the Scot has been doing it all these years. He promptly took up a position in the centre circle and showed repeatedly for the immaculate Gabriel and Saliba, who for some reason seemed less inclined to give him the ball in that area than they do Zinchenko, and funnelled it out wide, much to Tierney\u2019s chagrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am not a composer, and I can\u2019t play the bagpipes, but if we don\u2019t win the league this year then I\u2019ll have to spend some time brushing up my skills and coming up with a pibroch to lament the occasion, because \u201cTierney\u2019s Chagrin\u201d is too good a title to waste. Or, failing that, I\u2019ll invent a cocktail. I may be on safer ground here. Maybe a single malt mixed with Baileys? That\u2019s enough to make any reasonable person cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was chuffed to see our captain replaced by our number 10. I love ESR, and although he will need a few more cameos, and perhaps some Europa League game time, to get fully up to speed, he is a player whose goals and guile will be vital before this season is over. Welcome back into the fold young man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Oliver let Everton off the hook with a mere two minutes of injury time and then blew up a few seconds early anyway, the crowd roaring at a job well done as the final whistle sounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are five points clear at the top the league, and our goal difference also got a boost. We played well and have three out of our next four league games coming up at The New Home Of Football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Game by game. Step by step. That\u2019s what got us this far, and it\u2019s a great place to be\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But how much further can we go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until next time, have a good one \u2018holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Lightning could not strike twice for Sean Dyche\u2019s Everton side despite a stubborn and hardworking opening forty minutes. From the moment that the rapier sharp Bukayo Saka smashed a right-footed shot over his England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford the result of this one was, in true Arsenal fashion, never in doubt. Everton [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7506"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7526,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7506\/revisions\/7526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}