Highbury. Sunday 25th November 2001
FA Carling Premiership
(list of links to reports on other sites
follows below)
scorers: Ljungberg 48 Scholes 14
Henry 79 85
Arsenal:
Taylor
Lauren Campbell Upson Cole
Ljungberg Vieira Parlour Pires (Grimandi 83)
Henry Kanu (Bergkamp (71)
Arsenal bossed the game practically from start to finish.
Man Utd did have a few good spells in the first half,
but their goal didn't come from one of them.
The first chance came from a free-kick after a pair of defenders
had been forced to bring Kanu down after he'd skipped past
them and was heading for the D. Thierry Henry took the free-kick
and forced an excellent save from Barthez who flung himself to his
right to tip it round the post. Pires took the corner and it was
cleared just before Sol could get to it.
2 minutes later Kanu won another free-kick wide on the
right. Pires swung it into the crowded box where it fell
to Vieira whose half-volley rolled wide. Kanu tried to get
onto it but Barthez was alert and slid between Kanu and the ball to
shepherd it out for a goal kick.
Arsenal were playing with good pace, and pressing the champions
well at every opportunity. They did get a half chance on
10 minutes when Campbell did really well to snuff out a United break,
getting to a Beckham header into the box before van Nistelrooy.
But without being under a great deal of pressure he kicked his
clearance straight into the midriff of the England captain.
Fortunately it bounced straight back to Sol and he made no
mistake with the second clearance.
Soon after that we were on the attack, Vieira taking control and
charging upfield. He played a nice 1-2 with Pires on the left wing
before being brought down. Bob took the free kick and
although it
was headed clear to a United player outside the box Parlour
was right onto him to win it back. His cross came back out to
Lauren who played a nice chip over the defence for Kanu
but offside was given.
Following another well-handled United break, Taylor hit a great
ball upfield for Henry to run onto. He made up about 5 yards chasing
Blanc, but his compatriot just got a foot on it as the 2 of them
(and the ball)
converged on the outrushing Barthez. United were a bit lucky as the ball
fell for Barthez to clear.
Again we dealt well with their break forward, and
again we won a free-kick off them as this time Ljungberg
charged forward. This time Henry curl the free-kick round
the wall but Barthez was awake to it and fell easily onto
the ball as it dropped towards his goal line.
It was
pissing down something rotten and a few players on
both sides were having a bit of trouble keeping
their feet on the greasy pitch.
...which may provide Lauren with an excuse
as Silvestre slipped past him on the right. The French
full-back (in for Irwin) got to the bye-line and cut the ball
back for Scholes who'd made one of those runs to the 6 yard line.
Arsenal collectively seemed to stand and watch, and Scholes
gave Taylor no chance.
That was pretty much all Taylor had to do in the first half.
But this was quite a different Arsenal to the one we'd seen
for most of the season so far. The heads didn't go down. We
continued to press constantly,
giving United no time when they had the ball and
driving forward when we had it. But they defended deep. Roy Keane,
their one really impressive player, was doing a good job
in front of the back 4. And it looked like another one of those
games where Arsenal would fail to capitalize on their
dominance.
Let's just reflect on that Roy Keane thing. We all know what an
effective player he is. But what about the rest of them?
Veron? Anyone see him today? Beckham? Was this the same player
who gives his all and a bit more for England? Let's face it,
insofar as this match featured a contest for the accolade of
best midfielder in Europe, as it was billed in some previews,
there was only one winner. Keane may have been well clear in
second, but Vieira was miles ahead of him.
At the back Upson and Campbell did their defensive duties well
again but with a dodgy moment each. Campbell's was described
above, Upson got his out of the way on 17 minutes when he missed
the ball completely trying to hoof it clear from the edge of
the box. Fortunately van Nistelrooy wasn't able to get to it
and it was Matty's turn to do better with his second chance.
Beckham tried a speculative shot from about 35 or 40 yards,
which was deflected luckily wide to Quinton Fortune. We have to
be grateful that Giggs is out - he'd have been much more
dangerous on the break. But this time Forune put a deent cross
in which van Nistelrooy headed short of the near post. Lucky
for us, he should have left it because it would have come
through for a much easier chance for either Beckham or Scholes.
Just before the half hour mark Arsenal broke well with Pires
attacking space on the left of the box.
But he delayed his shot a bit and in the end had to try a crafty
low curler round a wall of defenders which Barthez saved at his
near post. Then Ljungberg won the ball with more good harrying,
but after he'd made a nice run to the byeline he hit the cross
too strong for Kanu at the far post.
Then Freddie won another freekick 3 yards outside the box,
but Henry hit this one into the wall. Good thing we weren't
giving Beckham these kind of chances.
United had another dangerous break, but with Roy Keane powering
into the left of our box Cole did brilliantly to get back
and get a legal tackle in.
Lauren was getting into some good space down the right.
One time he put in a cross towards the far post but everyone
had gone to the near. Next time he tried a chip in from
deeper. It was cleared but fell to Parlour about 20 yards out.
His technique was immaculate as he volleyed it back in but
it came straight to Barthez. Easy save perhaps, but you never
know in those wet conditions. He was earning his money,
no question. Up the other end, despite United's occasional
threatening breaks, Taylor still hadn't really done much.
It felt a bit surreal being a goal down. Not that we're not used to
that feeling.
3 minutes from the end of the half and Cole and Bob combined
well down the left to create a half chance for Henry. His shot
from a narrow angle forced another save from Barthez at the
near post.
In injury time a Ljungberg cross from the right was deflected
up and looped down towards Kanu beyond the far post, but Barthez
did well to reach over and palm it out for a corner.
Wenger can't have had much to say to Arsenal at half time beyond
"more of the same please". Whatever Ferguson said, it didn't
help. They had less of the second half. And it's not like they
were just trying to protect their lead because 3 minutes in we
were level. Pires intercepted an absolute howler of a square
pass from a United player (Gary Neville maybe, it was
certainly in the right back position). Bob brought it infield a bit
then hit a great cross-field pass to Freddie who was outside
the right hand corner of the box.
He had a defender right in front of him, and Barthez probably
wasn't expecting such an early shot. It looped, wonderfully, over
the keeper and inside the far post. I have to admit that my
first thought was that it got a deflection. But seeing the
replay on the jumbotron at full time, it looked more like a
clean, deliberate, and brilliant finish.
Arsenal kept the momentum up, clearly recognising that a point
wasn't enough, not when they were playing so much better
than the opposition (whoever they were).
Ray and Kanu broke well again, the Nigerian fed Henry down the right
but he hit his cross right across the face of goal when no-one
had really had time to get there. Kanu was well-place for a cut-back.
Then Thierry looked to be running forward very dangerously having
escaped a challenge on the right wing. But the ref hauled it back
for an Arsenal free-kick (how hard can it be to wait a second
before blowing the whistle?). Bob took it and although Kanu did well
to get his head on it just outside the penalty spot, he didn't
deflect its flight enough to bring it inside the far post.
In an (increasingly) rare break, Silvestre was put clear down
their left into space which our defence appeared to have vacated
for a while. Some things, Ashley Cole may never learn. But that's
ok, so long as you've got players with the energy of Freddie
Ljungberg, who race back to get in a massive tackle. He even
won a goal kick out of it! Silvestre was brought off moments later,
with the other Neville brother coming on. And a few more moments after
that, Dwight Yorke came on for Veron. Veron had been pretty anonymous,
and United looked liek they were going to start attacking us a bit more
Before long they did, van Nistelrooy doing very well under pressure
from two defenders to get his head to a ball into the box. With
back to goal he nodded it back and down to Yorke. But Campbell
was quick to react and got over to block the shot.
On 13 minutes, a brilliant touch from Kanu sent Henry into the box on the
left. It looked (from the other end of
the pitch) like he had time to get a shot in, but Blanc was
given time to get back. Henry went down and looked to be looking
for a foul to be given but (from where I was) it didn't look a
strong claim.
2 minutes later Henry was blocked by Wes Brown as he tried to dribble
into the box.
Then Kanu played a perfcet 1-2 with Henry to set the Nigerian clear
on the right hand side of the box, but maybe took a touch too many
and Barthez did well to get out and block the low shot. The best chance
of the match so far.
A few minutes later, Bergkamp came on for Kanu. They both got a massive
ovation from the crowd. Relieved I think, and a bit surprised, to see
these two getting the chances before Wiltord. As I've said before,
Henry and Wiltord might be alright when playing a counterattacking
game away from home, but when you need a bit of craft to get through
the defence, Sylvain's got to be my 4th choice. And for most Arsenal
fans, judging by Arseweb's inbox.
Henry got his head to a Pires corner from the right, but from
near
the penalty spot he directed it straight forward into the hands of Barthez.
Halfway into the half, and a great move finished with Bergkamp
playing the ball through for Henry. From a bit of an angle
on the left, his powerful shot forced yet another good save
from Barthez.
Shortly after that, Barthez got himself booked. I've no idea what for,
it came after a whole load of players got involved in a bit of
"chatting" between themselves and with the ref, as Arsenal prepared to take
a corner.
Van Nistelrooy was snuffed out once again by a great tackle from Upson.
He and Campbell had the "best striker in Europe" (© Siralex Ferguson)
in their pockets all game.
Bob Pires hit an outrageous first-time volley from outside
the left hand corner of the box when a clearance fell to him.
But Barthez was positioned in the right place to stop it
at his right hand post.
With a bit more than 15 minutes to go, Beckham did get a chance
from a freekick. From 20 to 25 yards, he whacked it way over the
bar. When the ref pointed for a goal kick, Becks went mad at him.
I certainly didn't see it hit anyone on its way out. And there
weren't any 9 foot tall players on the pitch at the time.
Soon after that, Beckham got himself booked for a lunge on Cole
as they went for a lob into our goalmouth. Then the ineffective
van Nistelrooy was broughgt off and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on.
This did not seem like good news.
But then, with just over 10 minutes to go. Everything changed.
Barthez collected the ball in his 6 yard box. Bergkamp was the
only person in their penalty area, but didn;t go to challenge the keeper.
Henry was on the edge of
the box between 2 defenders. Under no pressure, Barthez
hit his clearance all wrong. It hit Henry in the chest and
fell in front of him. As Thierry brought it forward and
the ever-alert Bergkamp very sensibly made a move away from goal
to make sure the ref wasn't tempted to blow up for offside,
and Henry passed the ball into the net.
We didn't know whether to cheer or laugh. So we did both.
Before long the songs started, "There's only one Fabien
Barthez", "dodgy keeper", "Barthez, man of the match",
and so on. Slowly "Give it to Barthez" came to dominate,
and we had a good laugh every time the ball came near him.
Grimandi came on for Pires a few minutes later, and then
with 5 minutes to go Henry raced onto a through ball,
heading for the left hand corner of the box. Barthez came out
to challenge and went to ground but somehow Henry came away
with the ball and again passed the ball into a virtually
empty net.
After the game, Arsene Wenger tried to excuse this error,
saying that as he was sliding out of his area Barthez had to let go
of the ball. No dice, Arsene. He should have known where he
was before trying to hold the ball. Barthez was well inside his area when
he first got his hands on the ball, so why didn't he punch it?
Barthez was even lucky to stay on the pitch as soon after,
he appeared to hoof the ball into touch at an Arsenal
corner or throw. It looked a strong case for a second booking
but perhaps the ref was feeling a bit sorry for him. Ferguson's
face was visibly glowing red, even from the Clock End (it's
true, I swear).
Even with all the fun of the last 10 minutes, possibly the
most significant event of the game was still to come.
A ball into our box beat the defence and Solskjaer found
himself clear on Taylor. The keeper came out bravely,
diving at the Norwegian super-sub's feet. Preventing a
goal and hurting himself in the process.
Up to that point, bizarrely, Taylor had come through
his Premiership debut,
behind a defence not particularly used to playing with
each other, and against Manchester United, without
really having to do anything. So it was particularly
pleasing to see him forced to act, and to do it so well.
So, yes, in a sense we were gifted it. But surely there can be
no question in anyone's mind as to whether this win
was deserved. Massive performances all round, outclassing
United in every position with the notable exceptions
of Roy Keane and, ironically, Fabien Barthez (he actually
had quite a good game).
Just for the record, this win sees Arsenal leapfrog
Man Utd and Tottenham in one fell swoop. Not often one
can say that.
report by Rupe
Preview
- Arsenal team news
Injured: Adams, Dixon, Seaman, Jeffers.
Keown is doubtful having missed Wednesday's Champs Lge game
with a rib injury. Some reports say that he is ready to come
back in but Upson was one of the few to come out of Wednesday's
match with any credit.
Richard Wright is of course another big doubt having come off
at half time with a knee injury (and suspected, but denied,
confidence problem).
It seems likely that Stuart Taylor will start in goal. Seaman
has started training again, but is not ready for a match like
this.
- Manchester_United team news
Ryan Giggs is out until the new year with a hamstering injury.
Quinton Fortune replaced him for the Bayern Munich match on
Tuesday.
As far as we know, Ronnie Johnsen is their only other absentee.
There is talk (teamtalk) that Roy Keane could miss
the game with his knee injury. Nicky Butt would probably fill in.
Andy Cole is back in contention having recovered from flu and injury
Denis Irwin got a slight injury in Munich, but Silvestre could
be preferred at left-back even if the Irishman is fit.
- UK TV/Radio coverage
Live on Sky.
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(thanks to Andy for the info)
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(thanks to Eirik for the info)
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(thanks to Lawrence for the info)
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non-UK TV FAQ
- See also
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