Michael Ball disappointed by Everton player v Arsenal
Although Everton produced a decent performance at times in their end-to-end 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, it was ultimately a wasted effort.
The Toffees probably should have got something from the game, but lacklustre defending undid them.
Going forward, though, they were impressive. Dominic Calvert-Lewin got on the scoresheet again, as did Richarlison.
With that duo, and with people like Bernard and Andre Gomes pulling the strings, Carlo Ancelotti’s side should be in good shape moving forward.
However, there was one Toffees attacker who failed to produce the goods against the Gunners, and former Blues defender Michael Ball was quick to name him.
“We were losing the ball in a sloppy manner far too often. Gylfi Sigurdsson was conceding possession too easily, and so was Alex Iwobi. He looked a bit nervous and his mind didn’t seem to be on the game fully,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column.
“He seemed to freeze against his former team and that sort of happened to me in my time as a player. I had mixed emotions coming back to Goodison Park, you try to focus on the game and be as professional as possible.
“Iwobi has been brought to the club in the summer and he needs to start showing more quality with his final ball, at the minute it’s too sloppy and looks a bit nervous.
“Hopefully that feeling of playing his old team will fade away in time. The manager has put him in there to produce a performance and he didn’t rise to the occasion, which is disappointing from him and Sigurdsson.”
Was Iwobi really that bad?
He certainly didn’t perform well against his old team, that’s for sure. Perhaps that was the reason why, but either way he was something of a passenger.
Defensively he was really poor. He failed to provide right back Djibril Sidibe with the proper protection from start to finish.
He was at fault for one of the goals, simply failing to track his runner. It was lacklustre and lazy.
Still, we know he has ability. The Nigerian simply needs to stay fit and find his feet at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, the club are reportedly ‘expected’ to sign a Ligue 1 central midfielder in the summer.