Highbury, Wednesday 1st November 2000
League (Worthington) Cup 3rd round
Preview
- Arsenal team news
Gilles Grimandi serves his one match domestic ban for
stamping on Gary McAllister.
Arsene Wenger's 12 match ban is supposed to start
with this match too, but since he's appealed the ban is on hold
for now.
Anyone who fancies a game for Arsenal should turn up with boots
and shirt (preferably current) at Highbury at 7pm.
Seriously, it's not that bad. We've got some superb fringe players
and it's great that they'll get these chances. Always hard to predict
these ones but there's a good chance we'll see a few from:
Stuart Taylor,
Ashley Cole, Igors Stepanovs, Matthew Upson, Israel,
Stefan Malz, Nelson Vivas, Jermaine Pennant, Alberto Mendez,
Graham Barrett, Chris Wreh.
I'm really hoping for a look at David Noble too.
And what about Carlin Itonga, who scored
a record 7 goals for the
U19s in an FA Premier Academy match on Saturday, against, errrr, Ipswich Town.
- Ipswich_Town team news
Ipswich have no new injury worries after their win over Boro at the
weekend. A few players went into that match carrying slight knocks,
but none have suffered as a result so they could be at full strength.
It's possible that they won't pick a full-strength side, however.
First-choice players were omitted from the line up for both legs
of their tie with Millwall in the last round.
- See also
Result : Arsenal (1) 1 Ipswich Town (1) 2
Scorers: Stepanovs 44 Clapham 2, Scowcroft 89
Arsenal: Taylor; Weston, Cole, Stepanovs, Upson; Vivas, Vernazza,
Pennant, Volz; Barrett, Wiltord
Subs: Mendez (Pennant 56), Wreh (Volz 59),
Canoville (Weston 74), Kuffour, Lukic
Booked: Stepanovs, Vivas, Wreh
Ipswich: R Wright, Wilnis, Clapham, McGreal, Bramble, Hreidarsson,
Magilton, Holland, J Wright, Johnson, Stewart
Subs: Scowcroft (Stewart 46), Reuser (Bramble 46),
Karic (Reuser 90), Scales, Salmon
Booked: McGreal
Att: 26105
Ref: Jeff Winter (Stockton-on-Tees)
An unfamiliar team containing two 17 year-olds, four other teenagers and
two 21 year-olds, unluckily lost to a last minute winner at Highbury
last night. With five players making their first starts for Arsenal and
another teenager coming off the bench for his debut, it added up to a
very inexperienced side which more than hold its own against a close to
full strength Ipswich team which currently lies 5th in the Premiership.
It was all the more creditable that the Arsenal youngsters recovered
from conceding a goal inside 2 minutes, and went on to have more of the
game in the first half. They did however make a rather nervous and
hesitant start, characterised by the concession of that early goal.
Magilton's pass wide on the right allowed Wilnis to beat Cole and whip
in a cross which Johnson in the middle got his head to. The ball flicked
off the top of his head and reached Clapham making a late run at the far
post, and his left foot shot across Taylor beat the keeper and finished
just inside the far post.
Upson almost scored an own goal a few minutes later, albeit one that
shouldn't have been allowed because Johnson had clipped his heels as
they both tried to get to Clapham's ball in from the left. Upson
subsequently stumbled and inadvertently stabbed the ball straight at
Taylor, but the young keeper made an awkward stooping save as Upson
looked towards the ref in vain.
Gradually though, Arsenal found their feet, and were really sparked into
life by Sylvain Wiltord midway through the half. Receiving a pass 30
yards out, he jinked to his left before firing in a tremendous left foot
shot which if anything was too well hit, because with the keeper well
beaten it smacked against the crossbar and straight back out.
Arsenal proceeded to dominate possession for the rest of the half, and
though Ipswich looked slightly more dangerous on the break, neither side
had any further worthwhile efforts on goal until just before half time.
Pennant did almost combine well with Barrett to put the latter through,
but the ball just got away from him, and then Barrett played a good one
two to put Wiltord seemingly in on goal, but the flag went up for
offside.
Just before half time though, Arsenal did get the equaliser. There were
shouts for a penalty when Wiltord jinked round Wilnis just outside the
area and dribbled into to it only to go down as the defender got back
with a sliding tackle. I think he did barely get a touch on the ball and
the ref waved away penalty appeals. Cole was following up and his
challenge for the loose ball won a corner. Vivas' first kick was headed
out at the near post for another one, but his second effort was
perfectly placed to pick out Stepanovs' run at the near post. The big
defender glanced a header past the keeper and inside the far post, for
his debut goal and Arsenal's first headed goal of the season.
A good time to score, but Ipswich made a couple of half time
substitutions and almost made a similarly fast start to the second half.
First Johnson sidestepped Stepanovs to fire in a shot from 12 yards
which Taylor superbly pushed round the near post, and soon afterwards
the visitors came even closer. Hreidarsson chased a ball into the area,
just getting a head to it before the outrushing Taylor almost took his
head off. The ball seemed to be bouncing inexorably onwards and over the
line, but Cole somehow got back to scramble it clear. Hreidarsson
momentarily cleared his sore head and swung a foot at the rebound, but
could only put it into the side netting.
At the other end Wiltord reprised his first half effort, though this
time his 25 yarder was dipping under the bar before Wright brilliantly
palmed it over. Arsenal stepped up the pressure, the substitutions of
Mendez and Wreh for Pennant and Volz giving the attack somewhat more
weight. Wiltord went agonisingly close again when a corner wasn't
cleared properly, the ball was lobbed back in and Wiltord hit it on the
volley as it dropped beyond the far post. From an acute angle his shot
fizzed across goal and missed the opposite post by inches.
Stepanovs & Hreidarsson were having a right old battle at corners, and
the Ipswich defender fell over at the next one, curled in by Cole from
the right and the ball reached Upson, unmarked and soaring high at the
far post. His carefully directed header thumped against the foot of the
post and rebounded straight into Wright's arms, when he probably should
have scored.
The end to end action continued, and Ipswich missed a glorious chance
when Weston slipped and left Reuser with only Taylor to beat, but the
subsitute blazed over the bar from about 12 yards. Arsenal were then
denied good opportunities by a couple of dubious offside flags, and a
couple more when the ball wouldn't quite run for them in the area.
Wiltord had probably his best chance of the game when he ran clear onto
a long ball forward, I think from Mendez. He had only Wright to beat and
his lobbed attempt cleared the keeper, but also just cleared the bar and
landed on the roof of the net.
However, it was the visitors who had the better of the last 10 minutes.
First a deep cross from the left picked out Scowcroft at the back post,
but Taylor brilliantly diverted his header over the bar. Then, with
barely a minute remaining, the self-styled Tractor boys got the winner.
Clapham was left free on the left and whipped a low cross into the area.
Upson and Johnson slid in together at the near post, the ball rolled
clear, and Scowcroft reacted quickest, turning to fire in a snap shot
which caught Taylor slightly by surprise.
All in all a reasonably entertaining evening, and it was heartening to
see such a young side match one far more experienced, until the final
disappointing minute. The spirit they showed was also encouraging,
particularly bearing in mind that they must have all felt the loss of
George Armstrong quite deeply. He must have been almost a mentor to
some of them, particularly the likes of Vernazza, Upson and Cole.
In a break with tradition, I'm forgoing the usual judgemental ratings.
Taylor Made a couple of excellent saves, made a couple of good
punches from crosses (and another which laid out the
square jawed Herman), and otherwise looked pretty solid.
Weston Looked rather nervous and hesitant early on, but slowly
settled I thought, apart from a couple of misplaced passes.
Cole Composed and confident as would be expected from his recent
first team outings, though he also misplaced the odd pass.
Stepanovs I was quite impressed with him, looks competent and ready
to step into the first team when needed. Good in the air
and also had a good positional sense, covering a couple of
times for Weston early on. Only down point was that he
looked a little static when a forward turned sharply.
Upson Understandably seemed rather rusty at first, particularly
in anticipating things, but gradually came more onto his
game and had a good 2nd half.
Vivas Captain for the night, and apart from a couple of sloppy
moments and a wild lunge which got him booked, had a
reasonable game I thought, as the defensive midfielder.
Vernazza Had quite a good first half, looked confident and had one or
two nice touches. Didn't notice him as much in the second,
and was prone to trying to be too clever or over-ambitious.
Pennant As he usually does when I've seen him play, tended to hug
the right hand touchline where he was isolated much of the
time. One of his strengths is his crossing, but whenever he
got the ball usually had 2 men on him and he never got round
them so I can only recall one cross from him all night.
Volz Looked somewhat out of position on the left, and rather
lightweight too, though he did have a couple of good
touches.
Barrett Ran as willingly as usual, but to me his main failing is
that he doesn't get his head up enough and doesn't release
the ball when he should.
Wiltord Looked the man amongst boys, and was consistently Arsenal's
main and most lively threat. Rather unlucky not to score.
Mendez The forgotten man, but I think he added to Arsenal's attack
when he came on, getting forward much more than Volz did.
Wreh Forgotten man II, and likewise I thought he looked pretty
good, some nice lay-offs and passing, and combined well
with Wiltord on a couple of occasions.
Canoville Announced himself with a lung bursting run down the right,
admittedly ending it with a Dixon-like cross, and otherwise
did quite well, most notably with one superb 50 yard
cross-field ball.
Derek
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