Teams Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Bould, Linighan, Winterburn, Schwarz, Selley, Jensen, Parlour, Campbell, Wright Subs: Smith (Selley 79), Keown, Bartram
Spurs: Walker, Austin, Calderwood, Mabbutt, Campbell, Anderton, Popescu, Howells, Rosenthal, Sheringham, Klinsmann Subs: Nethercott (Popescu 79), Edinburgh, Day
Bookings: Rosenthal Schwarz, Winterburn Sent off: Schwarz
Att : 28747 Referee : M Reed (Solihull)
I'm afraid I was away over the Christmas break and didn't manage to rouse myself sufficiently to attempt the 400 mile round trip necessary to get to London for either of the home games. I was thinking of going to the Villa game, but the combination of the noon kick-off and an over-zealous celebration on Xmas day foiled me. I did then vaguely contemplate driving up for the QPR game but eventually decided against it, so was absolutely gutted to miss JJ's goal. Howls of anguish were apparently heard three doors down the street, and later turned into whimpering sobs as depression set in after QPR scored twice in a minute.
Anyway, enough of my mental instability. I did make it to London yesterday in time to go to the derby at White Hart Lane. Talk about suffering for one's passion. 18 pounds for plastic seat almost at pitch level right by the corner flag in bollocks-freezing weather, and to add to it all Arsenal lost, unluckily I thought. Still, I wouldn't have missed it.
After an early scare when Linighan's headed clearance fell to the feet of Anderton about 20 yards out and his first time shot bobbled wide of the far post, I thought Arsenal had slightly the better of the first 15-20 minutes. Can't remember much in the way of chances though, and Spurs went ahead with their first clear chance. Howells chipped the ball down the right over the Arsenal defence who were stepping up trying to play offside. Klinsmann was offside in the middle but running back so "not interfering with play", and Anderton was left to run through on his own and play a cross along the ground beyond the reach of the desperately back-pedalling defence into the path of Popescu. He had the simple job of scoring from just outside the six yard box.
After that Arsenal went to pieces for a few minutes, and Tottenham might have had one or two more but for some poor final balls. The closest they came was when Rosenthal was played through and tried to cut the ball back from the edge of the six yard box for Klinsmann. Fortunately Bould just got a foot to it and Seaman was able to intercept. Anderton also mishit another effort from outside the box which looped gently into Seaman's arms.
Gradually, towards the end of the half Arsenal began to regain their grip on things. Jensen had 20 yard shot slightly deflected which Walker had to be alert to deal with, and then Parlour bustled his way past Austin on the left before cutting inside and hitting a shot from the corner of the box a foot or two over the bar. He then had a better chance when Wright received a pass in the box and let Parlour take it off him to get free just wide of goal on the right. He chose the right option of a shot, but it flew just over the bar from about 8 yards.
Just before half time Wrighty produced one of his party tricks. Chasing a ball wide to the left, he turned Austin three times before eventually crossing to the far post, unfortunately just too high for Parlour.
In the first half Arsenal seemed to be playing a sort of 4-3-2-1 formation, with Parlour and Campbell behind and wide on either side of Wright. In the 2nd half Campbell seemed to push further inside to support Wright, and Arsenal dominated the half possession-wise at least. Early on a poor clearance bounced up for Selley on the edge of the box, but he was stretching slightly and failed to keep his volley down.
Not long afterwards the Gunners came their closest to a goal in the match. Schwarz, I think, played the ball out towards Parlour on the right where he was covered by two defenders. However, Dixon came steaming out of nowhere, took the ball in his stride and broke through into the box. His shot from about 15 yards was arrowing towards the near top corner before Walker pulled off a blinding save, fingertipping the ball away for a corner.
Soon after that Sperz might have increased their lead. Linighan went on an uncharacteristic charge upfield but telegraphed his pass out to the wing and Howells intercepted. After a quick break Sheringham crossed deep to Klinsmann beyond the far post. His nod back fell to Anderton, unmarked in the middle, but he took too long to control it and Linighan was able to redeem himself with a good saving block.
The rest of the half was a familiar story. Arsenal dominated possession, but really only produced half chances to show for it, while Tottenham occasionally looked dangerous on the break. They had two or three breaks with a spare man but each time poor finishing, with Sheringham the chief donkey, meant that Seaman really only had to make one fairly comfortable save.
Meanwhile Arsenal did have three chances with free kicks a few yards outside the box. They all seemed within Schwarz's range, but the first he chipped to the far post where it was headed away and the second he rolled inside for Dixon to fire over the bar. The 3rd, from probably the best postition, both he and Campbell lined up to take. Everyone assumed Campbell would make the dummy run and sure enough he ran up to the ball first, but instead of stepping over it thumped it high and wide. The Spurs defenders were probably expecting Schwarz to take it as well so maybe it wasn't such a bad idea, but the practice didn't quite live up to the theory. Maybe Kev's been cracking them in in training.
Wrighty looked sharp at times, but a bit sluggish at others. Campbell got some good flick-ons for him in the 2nd half, but he didn't quite anticipate any of them. On the other hand he had about 3 half chances which he almost made something of. Schwarz played a clever ball through for him to take on in the box wide on the right. From a difficult angle he produced a superb chip over the keeper which unluckily bounced off the top of the crossbar.
He also cleverly dummied to go one way then went the other chasing a long ball, but was clearly held back by Calderwood with the defender's arm across Wright's chest. To his credit he didn't go down but battled on to get in a shot which bounced a few feet wide of the right hand post. The ref gave nothing. Late in the match Wright had one of those snap shots from the edge of the box which Walker had to be well positioned to save.
To add to the list of gripes, Arsenal were also denied a penalty when Sol Campbell and Wright chased and challenged for a through ball in the box. They both went down (no foul) but Wright was up first and Campbell appeared to prevent him taking the ball away with his hand. The ref was probably unsighted but the linesman should have had a clear view of what happened. The Spurs fans behind him certainly had smiles of relief when the ref waved play on.
The only other real chance I can recall was when Schwarz did well on the left to skip past Austin and his cross was desperately cleared by Campbell to his namesake on the edge of the box. Kev's first time shot was slightly mishit and went a foot or two wide of the near post.
Smith replaced the mostly ineffectual Selley with about 10 minutes left but the substitution didn't really help Arsenal's cause much and the main incident after that was Schwarz's sending off. He'd been booked in the first half for a rather reckless two footed challenge on Howells, though the Spurs player also went for the ball in a similar manner - he just happened to get there before Schwarz. Then on one of Tottenham's breaks Klinsmann held the ball up on the edge of the area inviting a tackle. Schwarz had just charged back 50 yards and obliged by lunging in and taking away the German's legs. The ref couldn't really do anything but give him a 2nd yellow card.
So, a gut-wrenchingly disappointing end to the holiday program. I thought Arsenal played reasonably well and did enough to deserve at least a draw. The only thing really lacking was inspiration, and to be fair, Tottenham's defending has improved beyond recognition since Francis' arrival. I thought Dixon and Jensen were the pick, with Schwarz and Parlour also doing quite well. With Arsenal pushing forward for much of the 2nd half the defence was caught short a few times, but the defenders all did some good last man defending. Linighan had quite a good game, though it seems to me his positioning is more often suspect than Bould's or Adams'.
All of which makes the coming cup games all the more important. With one thing and another I kept forgetting to send off for a ticket for the Millwall match so I think I've lost my chance for that one, but I'll be going up to Liverpool next week. They're not playing _that_ well at the moment, are they?
Report by Derek Brownjohn