Old Trafford, Sunday 8th April 2001, kick-off 1.30pm
FA Cup semi-final
See
NewsReel report,
and our list of links to reports on other sites, below.
So we went one nil down against the run of play. Did anyone, even then,
doubt we'd win? It was Spurs after all. We had outplayed them for the
opening 15 minutes.
Doherty put Spurs ahead after some scrappy defending. Parlour originally
gave the ball away on the half way line. Then Lauren gave away an
unneccesary free kick, then we failed to clear it 2 or 3 times before
someone's shot looped nicely for Doherty to score. What a mess. It was
their only attack of the game that caused any problems.
Arsenal responded well and to be honest I was confident we'd equalise,
but then I was confident we'd not concede a goal too. Ray was fouled by
Campbell (who hurt himself in the challenge. The papers say it's his
other leg, but I think we all assumed at the time it was the same one and
Hoddle's gamble had failed). Sol was booked, and was being treated whilst
Pires sent in a perfect free kick, from which Paddy scored.
Patrick is amazing. Outstanding. A brilliant player.
He made our second goal too. Picking up the ball in midfield he strode
thru' a challenge, pushed forward and rolled the ball out to Wiltord who
put a perfect cross along the ground to Pires. Wiltord and Pires did
well, but it all came from Patrick's run.
So... One-nil down, two-one up. We knocked Tottenham out of the Cup.
It really ought to have been more. Only Arsenal ever really got going --
I don't think Spurs forced a single corner all game. Sullivan was
outstanding, he save numerous one on ones in front of the Gooners in the
second half. Some of them you felt the striker should have done a bit
better, but many there was little you could do but applaud the keeper. I
am sure we must work on finishing, and seeing as we score more than many
it isn't really a crisis, but it would be nice to finish off teams
properly.
All the players did the job they had to. There were mistakes but players
battled back. I think the Spurs were more up for it: we were more
prepared to be patient. The difference being that this was all Spurs had
left to play for they wanted it more, whereas our team had played a hard
mid week European cup game. The patience was the right approach (and I
think thats why Wenger picked Silvinho over Cole) and it won us the game.
Old Trafford was quite impressive, but I have to admit that after the huge
build up people had given me about it I was a bit disappointed. It is
much, much better than Wembley; and the atmosphere it generated was superb
on the day. But the architecture is dull -- compares very badly to the
splendour of Highbury -- and the facilities are poor for this level.
Transport to and from it by train was quite impressive (considering the
size of the crowd), but people who drove may have a different perspective.
Vieira was man of the match by a mile. Save for his booking (why didn't
Poll save time and book him in the opening minute, we knew it was going to
happen. Poll wanted it.) you couldn't fault him. Made one scored one.
Wiltord was lively and creative. TH and his pace caused problems all day
for Spurs. They got some stick from some of the Arsenal fans, but I think
when we look at the game again we'll find it hard to fault them. Pires got
the winner. And knackered himself for us. I hope the substitution was
just fatigue, but it looked like he was limping. Hopefully he'll be OK by
Wednesday. He is looking like quite a good buy now -- two goals against
Spurs, and another against Chelsea. It was good to see Cole and Silvinho
working together late on. Maybe Old Trafford was the wrong place to begin
that experiment, but it presents us with several new possibilities.
I ought to run through some of the chances that were made. In no
particular order: Dixon in the first half forced a save after good cross
field passing; Silvinho hit a shot the dipped and swerved inches wide in
the second half (how did he do that?); Pires robbed a defender to force a
one on one in the first half, but the shot was pathetically tame, in the
second half he got away again (I can't recall who put him through) and
this time forced a superb piece of keeping. Wiltord had two one on ones
in the second half, but Sullivan did enough both times. Henry also.
Poll as the ref. Hmmm. Lets hope they select anyone else for the final. I
imagine the Scousers will agree with us here.
report by Mike Pitt
Preview
- Arsenal team news
Gilles Grimandi is suspended. Bergkamp is injured.
Everyone else is available.
- Tottenham_Hotspur team news
Sol Campbell could miss the game with the injury picked up against
Albania. But Tim Sherwood and Oyvind Leonhardsen could both be
back after long lay-offs.
update Wednesday
Another in the same boat is Stephen Carr. Out since December with groin and hernia problems,
he is "very hopeful" of being ready to play again in the semi final.
(see official spurs site). But together with Sherwood and Leonhardsen, he hasn't even played a reserve match for some time.
Campbell is still not back in full training, Hoddle has described his fitness as
"touch and go" for Sunday.
Sergei Rebrov is expected to be back having missed last weekend's
match with a hamstring strain. Ledley King and Stephen Clemence
are also likely to be back. Ben Thatcher and Maurice Tariccio
are out of contention.
And Darren Adnderton is still in plaster, of course.
update Saturday
Carr is back, according to the official Spurs website. Campbell is still 50-50
and Hoddel will make a late decision on him.
- UK TV/Radio coverage
Live on Sky Sports 2. Sorry, but what it said here before about ITV was wrong.
- non-UK TV coverage
- Australia: live on Fox Sports, coverage starts 10.00pm AEST (ko 10:30)
(thanks to Stephen & Jamie for the info)
- Norway: live on TV2
(thanks to Eirik for the info)
- USA: live on Setanta Sport (8am EST/5am PST), only in licenced bars (not pay-per-view). Also being re-aired on Fox Sports World on Monday
9th April at 5pm EST/2pm PST, and agains that evening on Fox Sports Espanol.
(thanks to Lawrence for the info)
- For details, and countries not listed above, see the
non-UK TV FAQ
- See also
Other reports
Your reports
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Useful links for travelling fans
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- Football Grounds frenzy. Wonderful photos of football grounds, with a little info too. Everything apart from
glitzy new grounds, and no Premiership ones. Might be handy for Cup games, and
certainly nice to look at!
- FanZone.
Information for travelling sports fans. directions, car parks, eateries,
pubs, blah-de-blah....
- Our own Highbury pages for useful info for Arsenal's home games.
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