Everton 1 Arsenal 6: DAVID MOYES' stance on Joleon Lescott embodies the best of his Everton team: stubborn, strong and refusing to yield to the harsh financial rulings of the Premier League.
One brutal annihilation, however, has exposed to doubt the principles that have served Moyes and his club so well. As they state with faith at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger knows and on the evidence at Goodison Park, there are merits in selling the uncommitted to Manchester City.
If there was a blot on the landscape for Mark Hughes it came in the wonderful declaration from Arsenal that a Champions League invitation will not be sent north on a platter. Yet there were no hasty predictions from Wenger afterwards. This was the heaviest home defeat recorded in the league at Goodison since Arsenal inflicted an identical scoreline here in 1958 and the worst opening-day result in Everton’s history.
In Denilson’s exquisite opener, swept into Tim Howard’s top corner after a neat exchange between Cesc Fabregas and Nicklas Bendtner, and the Arsenal captain’s first goal on a glorious counter, there was confirmation of Wenger’s belief in football as art.
The remainder of the rout stemmed from Everton’s abject failures. Control, distribution and energy were all beyond Moyes’ team on Saturday.
Moyes entered this season with hopes of closing the gulf on Ferguson, Benitez, Ancelotti and Wenger. He ended day one drawing comparisons with Bryan Gunn, sacked after the opening week of the season by Norwich City following a 7-1 home defeat by Colchester United.
“There was a manager sacked for seven after one game so I’m not immune to that either,” said a pale and visibly shocked Everton manager. “I’m the same. We’ve lost six so it’s no different for me than it is for any other manager. I’ll need to pull my socks up and try and do better with the players that I have got.”
But Everton’s problems do not rest on the training ground. They stem from Lescott’s head “being twisted” by the opportunity to double his €46,578-a-week wages at City and desire to go, a determination that cuts through the unity upon which Everton thrived last season. Unlike Arsenal, Everton do not have the squad to compensate for serious losses and the bottom line is that City have not met Moyes’s valuation on Lescott.
Should Hughes follow up his many words on the subject with a bid in excess of €23.3 million, however, it would be self-defeating not to cash in. “I think one or two are not focused correctly,” Moyes admitted. “I have to make sure I get them back focused. Maybe I’ve not done that. I’ll need to have a look at things I’ve done over the last week or two.”
Moyes’ €34.9 million valuation of Lescott was not assisted here by the Premier League debut of Thomas Vermaelen, Arsenal’s €11.65 million recruit from Ajax and comfortably the finest defender on display.
Once Denilson denied Fellaini an equaliser on his goalline, Arsenal strolled to three points. The unmarked Vermaelen prospered from the first serious lapse in Everton’s defence to head Robin van Persie’s free-kick past Howard. William Gallas did likewise four minutes later from Fabregas’s set-piece. Two minutes after the restart the Arsenal captain galloped through a hole to convert a sublime counter involving Denilson and Van Persie and was allowed the freedom of Goodison to convert from 20 yards. Eduardo completed the torture for Everton from close range before Louis Saha converted the meekest of consolations. Arsenal departed to applause on all sides.
Guardian Service
