Arsene Wenger sends a League Cup team out to Belarus and Arsenal still win a six-goal tear-up, while Ronald Koeman picks a strong Everton side that can only draw at home against ten men.
Here are the notes from a night of contrasting fortunes in the Europa League.
Everton in a bad place
A 2-2 draw against Cypriot visitors Apollon Limassol made it three matches unbeaten in all competitions for Everton.
If you like your messages positive, that’s as good as it gets.
But nobody, not even Toffees boss Ronald Koeman, was buying it.
“The feeling is a defeat today, not even a draw. It is really disappointing. It is football and sometimes when you are struggling maybe we are too afraid to play football. That is difficult when your body is not full of confidence. I cannot say they are not running or fighting, but they are scared to play forward.”
Koeman spent a lot money over the summer but still has no idea as to his best team, with Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen all keen to play the number 10 role – often when they’re all on the pitch at the same time.
Injuries have reduced the defence to its bare bones. Mason Holgate partnered Ashley Williams at centre-half last night, an alliance that flattered neither, and the ex-Swansea City man was directly at fault for the visitors’ shock opener.
Everton’s first league win since Gameweek 1 came courtesy of an Oumar Niasse brace off the bench against Bournemouth last week.
The match last night seemed to be following a similar path. First, Rooney reacted smartly to a woeful back pass to almost walk the ball into the net.
And then half-time substitute Nikola Vlasic, on for Idrissa Gueye, looked to have papered over the cracks with a cool finish when put through by Sigurdsson’s cute pass.
Fellow sub Dominic Calvert-Lewin was on the end of a stamp that reduced the Cypriots to ten men, but that didn’t stop the visitors snatching an equaliser less than two minutes later.
The shock around Goodison Park was palpable and only increased when Calvert-Lewin missed a great chance to win it at the death, forcing a fine save when his free header from close range should really have given the Apollon keeper no chance at all.
However attractive Everton’s league schedule now is, their lack of confidence is just plain ugly.
Midfielder Vlasic (5.5) looked lively and took his goal well, but merely adds to the confusion of options Koeman has thus far utterly failed to mould into a cohesive attacking unit.
Rooney (12.4%) is still well owned but drops ever deeper in search of the ball, and Sigurdsson (3.7%) remains a peripheral figure rather than the influential playmaker the team should probably be built around.
Calvert-Lewin – who was afforded just 23 minutes off the bench last night – will be pushing for a return to Koeman’s XI at home to Burnley on Sunday.
And the same can be said for Niasse, who was omitted from the Toffees’ Europa League squad at the start of the season and therefore had last night off.
Admittedly, their defensive issues remain far from unconvincing yet with seven goals scored in their last three matches – all at Goodison – there’s still every chance that they can breach a Burnley backline that’s failed to keep a clean sheet on their travels this season. However, the determined Clarets arrive unbeaten on their travels with a win and two draws at Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool so far.
You’ll win something with kids
Arsene Wenger made nine changes to the side who beat West Brom 2-0, leaving most of his first-team players back in England and settling for a bench of teenage talent.
The senior players who did make the cut then made early hay in Belarus against Bate Borisov.
Theo Walcott scored twice, from a Jack Wilshere cross and then a dreadful clearance by the hosts’ goalkeeper, before Rob Holding made it three, turning home Per Mertesacker’s flick.
With just 25 minutes played, there was a genuine chance of the Gunners making it into double figures, only for familiar failings at the back to give Bate hope, and a goal, before half-time.
Olivier Giroud converted a penalty after the break to score his 100th Arsenal goal, the spot-kick awarded for a negligible foul on Shkodran Mustafi, but back came Borisov to net again, leaving Wenger’s men in the curious position of having scored four times away from home and yet still being required to cling on for victory.
The key Fantasy fact of the night was that the Gunners’ well-owned players didn’t even make the trip to Belarus – great news for us all ahead of Sunday lunchtime’s favourable home fixture against Brighton.
Of those who didn’t get Thursday night off, Walcott grabbed the headlines but was frequently wasteful in front of goal, while Wilshere was his usual busy and creative self but remains well down the pecking order when the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey are in the same squad.
Arsenal’s next set of Europa League ties take place on October 19 and November 2. The first match is sandwiched by trips to Watford and then Everton, the second by a visit from Swansea and an away day at Man City.
Based on the evidence of last night, we won’t have to worry about rotation issues or fatigue when it comes to the side’s major Fantasy assets.
