Everton – Arsenal: Arsenal’s Crisis Deeper And Deeper (2-1)

Everton did not even need to bring their A-game to defeat Arsenal. Though their passing was ineffective, Carlo Ancelotti’s men had other routes in order to defeat their opponents. The result puts Everton in the top four, whilst pilling on more misery for Mikel Arteta, who is firmly under the spotlight.
Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

A year marks the day when two caretakers oversaw their teams perform a glum, inept and terrible game of football. Everton and Arsenal went for two very different profiles in their appointments and have thus evolved in different ways.

Carlo Ancelotti is considered Everton’s Godfather, well-respected and heavily trusted to turn the ship on Merseyside. Their luxurious start of the season span off, picking up just one win in seven games, due to absentees and an unbalanced 3-4-3 formation, with bad positioning in the buildup, sparking little creativity and chaotic on the defensive transition.

Fortunately, Chelsea and Leicester gave them the chance to deploy their old 4-4-2 defensive block, which defended compactly against two subpar passing structures. Not only did they win both games, but they also picked up their first clean sheets since the start of the season. 

Mikel Arteta came in with capo qualities, a leader and former captain, with ‘non-negotiables’ installed to his crew, but dreadful results have seen his authority increasingly slip. Arteta was brought in as the proclaimed son of Arsène Wenger, the man to replicate his greatest successes, with a strong tactical identity. But any resemblance of Arsenal’s . . .