Arsenal (0) 1 - 2 (0)Highbury, Monday March 24th 1997FA Carling Premiership
Scorers:
Wright Collymore McAteer
Arsenal: Seaman Dixon (Parlour) Winterburn
Adams Keown Marshall (Garde)
Hughes (Shaw) Vieira Platt
Bergkamp Wright
An extremely frustrating night on which nothing
seemed to go right for us. We were on the attack for
large parts of the game, but Liverpool always looked
dangerous on the break.
Collymore could havehad a first half hattrick after being clear on goal several times, sometimes through clever footwork and sometimes through our errors. One time Platt put Collymore clear with a pass aimed halfway between Adams and Seaman. Adams pulled off an extraordinary tackle, sliding in from behind to just get a slight touch on the ball as Collymore pulled the trigger, causing the shot to go skywards and wide. We also had our chances. I remember a shot saved low by James and a Wright shot from the edge of the area which got a deflection taking it just wide. Bergkamp had our best chance after Wright did his winger bit down the left and got to the by-line. He pulled it across the goal to Bergkamp who'd slowed up nicely to give himself room but snatched at the shot to put it well wide. Liverpool's first came 5 mins into the second half from a Bjornebye shot which inexplicably bounced out from Seaman's arms with Collymore following up to put it in. Fifteen minutes later Fowler broke into the box, pushed the ball too far past Seaman but went flying as H came to challenge. From behind the incident (albeit a long way away) there didn't seem to be contact but the penalty was given. On the radio they said that Fowler went straight to the ref and appeared to be saying it wasn't a pen, but it seems more likely that he was pleading for leniency as the ref decided what to do with Seaman, surely...? Justice appeared to be done when Seaman saved the penalty, but again a Liverpool player was first to react to the loose ball and McAteer slammed it home. After this we had a lot of the play, and we pulled one back when Wright chetsed the ball forward on the edge of the area and forced his way through 2 defenders. He then pulled off an extraordinary lob, slow and high over James from the 6 yard line. I've never seen anything quite like it and it took a while for it to sink in that the ball was in the net. More pressure from us, but with Liverpool still threatening ominously on the break. A penalty claim was turned down for the equaliser in the dying seconds. Several goalmouth scrambles in their box as throughout the game, and as throughout the ball just never fell for us. During the game we had about three penalty claims turned down - all of them as good as Liverpool's (ie not particularly good at all necessarily ;>), and the tradition of refs not believing that Bergkamp has been fouled (no matter how many arms are round him) continued. He even got booked for diving on the deg of the box, an absurd decision in the circumstances, even if it wasn't a foul a guy's got to be able to fall over under a tackle and Bergkamp was trying to get through a couple of tackles at onec. This must be the end of our championship hopes, but if we can win all the rest of our games then Liverpool's Euro distraction and their game against ManUtd to come should still give us a chance of second spot. report by Rupe
FA Carling Premiership
Arsenal vs Liverpool Mon Mar 24th 1997
Result : Arsenal (0) 1 Liverpool (0) 2
Scorers: Wright 78 Collymore 50, McAteer 65
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Marshall, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Platt,
Vieira, Hughes, Bergkamp, Wright
Subs: Parlour (Dixon 68), Garde (Marshall 68), Shaw (Hughes 73),
Bould, Harper
Booked: Bergkamp
Liverpool: James, Kvarme, McAteer, Wright, Harkness, Bjornebye,
Barnes, Redknapp, McManaman, Collymore, Fowler
Subs: Thomas (Fowler 81), Warner, Ruddock, Berger, Kennedy
Booked: Collymore, McAteer
Att: 38068
Ref: G Ashby (Worcester)
Disappointment at Highbury again, as the second of our main championship
rivals take all three points from a tense, exciting and eventful
encounter. Arsenal were close to full strength and dominated possession
for large periods of the match, but Liverpool always looked more capable
of creating meaningful openings. The fact that the visitors won the
match thanks to a controversial penalty shouldn't detract from the
impression that the Gunners didn't quite have enough quality on the day
to get the win they needed.
Arsenal in fact started off quite well, and might have scored in the first couple of minutes. Keown clipped in a cross from the right, Wright (I) beat Wright (M) in the air to nod it down to Platt on the edge of the area. Platt's volley was crisply struck, but straight at James. The keeper failed to hold on to it, but fortunately for him there were no Arsenal shirts following up. Perhaps a sign of Wrighty's lack of match practice recently. For the next 20-25 minutes the match was fairly even, possession wise, but it was Liverpool who created the clearest openings. All of them fell to Collymore, and on another day (when he remembers to put his brain in, perhaps) he would have had a hattrick. Early on Fowler skipped past Marshall just inside the Arsenal half, which left room for him to push the ball forward to McManaman who passed it on first time to Collymore, unmarked just outside the area to the left of goal. He looked to have plenty of time to pick his spot, but Keown got back quickly and forced him to hurry and wildly put a left foot shot high and wide. His next chance came from an Arsenal error. Platt tried to knock a volleyed pass back towards Seaman but put it straight to Collymore's feet. He ran clear through on goal, but this time Adams did well to get back and put him under enough pressure to slice a left foot effort wide. The third chance was all his own making. Slightly fortunately he got away from Adams on the edge of the area, turned into the box, nutmegged Marshall as he charged across to cover which appeared to leave him time and space to shoot. However, he seemed to take too much time and ended up having to hurriedly stab in a weak shot at the near post which Seaman was able to grab at the second attempt. Liverpool threatened again when Keown just got his head to a McManaman cross to deny Fowler a free header about 10 yards out in the centre of goal, but it was Arsenal who dominated the final 15 minutes of the half and Bergkamp missed a chance the equal of any of Collymore's. Hughes' pass released Wright for a run down the left. The linesman's flag stayed down for once and WWW carried the ball to the byline in the area, and cut it back to Bergkamp who'd dropped off his marker at the near post. The ball bounced slightly awkwardly off the turf though, and the Iceman blazed his shot wildly over the bar. For the rest of the half Arsenal pressed, but the Liverpool defence for the most part held out. Dixon cut in from the right and hit a good left foot shot, but again it was straight at James. Vieira appeared to have a couple of half chances running on to loose balls on the edge of the box but both times tried to go round defenders instead of hitting first time shots. Bergkamp was through into the box on the left following a defensive mistake, but Kvarme did well to get back, and (not without a certain amount of pulling and pushing) just nicked the ball off the Dutch master's toe. A penalty or corner, but naturally the ref awarded a goal kick. The game was really up for Arsenal 5 minutes into the second half. Liverpool ended a short spell of pressure when Bjornebye was given space for a shot from the edge of the area. The ball was spinning and bending but Seaman nonetheless seemed to have it comfortably covered, but somehow allowed it to bounce off his chest. Collymore (from a suspiciously offside position it seemed to me) was following up and had an easy tap in to put Liverpool in front. Arsenal came back with some huffing and puffing but didn't seriously threaten an equaliser and their frustration was heightened when Bergkamp was booked for diving just outside the box, following a challenge from Fowler that was so poorly timed it missed the Dutchman altogether. Liverpool continued to look more dangerous on the break. This impression was confirmed 15 minutes later when Mark Wright hoofed a ball forward from the back and Fowler was allowed to run clear on to it. Seaman was possibly a bit slow coming off his line and Fowler touched the ball past the keeper as he slid out to try and block on the edge of his area. From my position in the North Bank it was pretty clear that Seaman had realised he'd got there too late and pulled his arms away from the challenge. Fowler however was committed to playing for the penalty and dragged his legs as he hurdled the challenge, but instead of catching Seaman's arms as he'd expected, tripped over some rather heavy molecules of air. I didn't see Fowler's reaction at the time, concentrating as I was on yelling abuse at the ref, but he certainly has my admiration for trying to convince the ref there had been no contact. Not sure his manager and teammates would have been equally chuffed had he been successful though. He did look somewhat sheepish as he lined the penalty up though, and while I don't think he deliberately missed it, perhaps the usual killer instinct was missing. Seaman made a good stop, but the encroaching McAteer followed up to put the rebound home. Arsenal very nearly pulled a goal back straight away. Bergkamp eventually did win a free kick a few yards outside the box and curled in a cross which was won at the far post, I think by Adams. He nodded it back towards the opposite post but, with James beaten, Wright somehow missed the awkwardly bouncing ball and it drifted agonisingly wide of goal. At the other end Collymore got the better of Marshall as they chased another long ball, and hit the outside of a post with a snap effort from 25 yards, and Seaman stopped a Bjornebye break which was similar to Fowler's. Wenger sent on Parlour and Garde on place of Dixon and Marshall, but Arsenal continued to labour rather uninspiredly at breaking down the Liverpool defence. It was almost a surprise when the Gunners pulled a goal back with a typical bit of Wrighty opportunism. Garde chipped a ball into the box which Bergkamp nodded on well for Wright to chest down and burst between a couple of defenders. From the other end it looked as though his attempt to lob James had comfortably cleared the bar as well, so it was rather a surprise to see the Clockend suddenly erupt. Arsenal attacked for the remaining 10 minutes, but apart from a couple of half-chances and scrambles and with nothing seeming to bounce Arsenal's way, the Liverpool defence held out without too much trouble. I think this game and the one against Man United have shown what we all knew to be true at the beginning of the season - that the squad this year wasn't strong enough to win the league. No points in four games against the top two teams tells it's own story. Having said that, it could be argued that we haven't had much luck in these crunch games. The missed early chances against the Moaners, and the shot against the bar and disallowed followup might have gone our way on another day, and Liverpool's goals at Anfield were both down to lucky deflections. Also, I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere, but one of the TV angles on Liverpool's first goal showed that Collymore was offside when Bjornebye hit his shot, so technically that goal perhaps shouldn't have been allowed either. It could also be argued that Seaman has cost us a 3 point swing against both our rivals. His mistake led to the winning goal at Old Trafford, and he handed Liverpool the opening goal at Highbury.
Seaman 5.0 Bit harsh maybe, but it was his mistake that handed the
initiative to Liverpool.
Dixon 6.5 Not a bad game, but I don't think he's regained his
pre-injury form.
Winterburn 6.5 Had a good game defensively, but in attack I think he's
more of a liability.
Adams 7.5 A pretty good game, despite the odd hint of being
hampered by the ankle injury.
Keown 7.5 Again excellent in defence.
Marshall 6.5 Coped pretty well for the most part with the Liverpool
attack.
Platt 6.5 I thought he had a fairly good game, particularly in
the first half, apart from a couple of blunders which
might have given away goals.
Vieira 8.0 The outstanding midfielder on the pitch, particularly in
the first half.
Hughes 7.0 Played some notably good passes, and did some good
tackling and chasing, though I still think he tends to
be a bit slow to react in some attacking situations.
Bergkamp 7.0 I thought he looked quite good early on, but seemed to
have one of those games where things weren't quite
coming off.
Wright 6.5 Didn't look at his sharpest, particularly early on, but
a typically superb finish for the goal.
Report by Derek Brownjohn
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