Source: Telegraph
Everton 1 Arsenal 6: match report
A summer of whispering doubt, silenced. Arsenal started this season apparently clutching desperately to their place at the Premier League's top table, hoping against hope for a future that may never arrive. [LNB]In place of the cacophony of criticism which has stretched through June and July, the only sound surrounding M Wenger's side now is the hurried tearing up of all those pre-season predictions, all the pull-outs and columns, which suggested they stood on the verge of losing their place in the Big Four cartel, gazumped by the Eastlands oil billions. [LNB]It is easy to get carried away at this stage of the season, when knees jerk most furiously, but it is no exaggeration to say that none of Manchesters United and City, Chelsea or Liverpool will come to Goodison Park and demolish Everton in such imperious fashion. [LNB]Wenger, ever coy, will not allow himself to be carried away by the waves of euphoria which will envelop Arsenal's supporters, increasingly cynical over the summer months, as big name after big name fails to arrive. [LNB]The paeans of praise he can expect will go ignored, too. 'For us to become super-favourites now is too extreme,' he said. 'Everyone has said we don't have the squad, well, if you look at the players who were out, maybe we have shown we do have the squad. It was an interesting first day.' [LNB]Quite. If anything, the scoreline was kind to David Moyes's side, who could not have been more accommodating hosts. Denilson opened the scoring with a beautiful, curling 20-yard shot from Cesc Fabregas's cut-back, Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas headed home unmarked from inviting free kicks before Fabregas beat Tim Howard twice. [LNB]Eduardo tapped home the sixth before Louis Saha rolled past Manuel Almunia, scant consolation, Goodison Park all but empty. The artistry of Wenger's protégés, though, cannot be distilled into pure numbers. [LNB]The Frenchman's revamped 4-2-3-1 formation purred, his attacking quartet interchanging positions and possession with an eerie, effortless grace. Fabregas, deployed further forward than in previous campaigns, orchestrated play and dictated tempo, revelling in the space afforded him by Everton's disjointed, shambolic midfield. [LNB]Even amid the joy, the Arsenal captain found time, after jauntily skipping through unchallenged to add the fifth, to run to the bench and hold aloft a shirt bearing the name of Daniel Jarque, the Espanyol captain and Fabregas's fellow Catalan who died suddenly of a heart attack last week. He was 26. His class extends off the pitch, too, it seems. [LNB]Behind him, Alex Song appears to have developed into the ideal water-carrier for the Spaniard, the natural heir to the much-missed Mathieu Flamini, although that may, in fact, be unkind. [LNB]Song is more elegant, more creative, than the Frenchman, who brought industry and, in truth, little else. Yet further back, Thomas Vermaelen, the centre-back derided for a lack of height, towered over every other player on the field. His reading of the game is expert, his tacking ferocious, his distribution flawless, every inch the Wenger signing. [LNB]'I am very pleased with him,' said the Frenchman, 'because he's shown on the ground and in the air that he has what it takes to cope in the Premier League.' [LNB]Quite how the Frenchman landed the Belgian international for £10 million in a market where Manchester City are prepared to pay £24 million for Joleon Lescott is one of the few questions not erased by this performance. [LNB]Lescott, like his team-mates, was anaemic, powerless, as the red-and-white tide washed over them. Moyes insisted on Friday the saga over his future has 'disrupted' Everton's preparations, though he probably did not expect that to extend to his side's marking. [LNB]Twice after the opener they let a central defender wander free in their central area, a sight all but eradicated during the Scot's tenure at Goodison Park. [LNB]Fabregas' two strikes were marked by the complete evaporation of his midfield, Andrei Arshavin's accidental assist for Eduardo's goal notable for the absence of any sort of challenge, even as he shaped to pass the ball onto the post just outside the six-yard box. [LNB]'Our defending was terrible and I need to do better, to train them better, to coach them better and try to sort it out,' said Moyes after the game. 'There might be one or two reasons for what happened, but there's no excuse. I'll take my responsibility, but when you consider that was basically the team that finished fifth last season and got to the FA Cup final, a few players have to take responsibility too.' [LNB]That should not take away from the breath-taking heights which Arsenal, in patches, intimated here they are capable of reaching. Quite how high they can go, Arsene knows. [LNB]
