Liverpool vs Arsenal. 27/11/96

Liverpool (2) 4 - 2 (1) Arsenal

Anfield, Wednesday 27th Nove,ber 1996

Coca-Cola Cup 4th Round

Teams
Arsenal: Lukic, Dixon, Keown, Bould, Adams, Winterburn, Platt, 
         Vieira, Merson, Wright, Hartson
         Subs: Morrow (Winterburn 73), Parlour (Merson 73), Bartram

Liverpool: James, McAteer, M Wright, Ruddock, Babb, Bjornebye, 
           Thomas, Barnes, Berger, McManaman, Fowler
           Subs: Collymore, Matteo, Redknapp

Result : Liverpool             (2) 4   Arsenal                 (1) 2
Scorers: McManaman 26, Fowler 39p,52   Wright 13p,68p
         Berger 72

Bookings: Bould                        James
Sent off: Bould 56 (2nd yellow)

Att     : 32814
Referee : A Wilkie (Chester-le-street)

Yet another disappointing trip up to Anfield, as Liverpool's superior passing and movement proved too much for an Arsenal team perhaps slightly jaded (either mentally or physically) after the exertions of the previous Sunday. Why do they always seem to reserve their best performances for when they're playing us?

First disappointment of the night was when the teams came out. Having warmed up and been announced in the team, Bergkamp apparently felt his injured thigh muscle go again, and withdrew to allow Hartson to take his place. Added to that, McManaman and Berger were both playing, leaving Collymore and Redknapp on the bench.

The first real threat at either end came when Ruddock displayed a bit of control a parks footballer would have been embarrassed by, and allowed Hartson to nick the ball off him. He took it into the area, touched it beyond James as the keeper came out, and gratefully fell over his lunge. James didn't get a touch on the ball so the ref didn't have much option but to award a penalty. He might have sent the keeper off but as Hartson wasn't heading directly for goal contented himself with booking him. Wrighty confidently dispatched the spot kick into the right hand corner.

For a while after that it looked as though it might just be Arsenal's night. Liverpool struggled to put anything worthwhile together, while the Gunners twice came reasonably close to getting a second at the other end. Platt combined well with Dixon down the right before hooking over a cross which Ruddock again failed to clear, and Wright produced a volley on the turn from the edge of the box which went straight at James. Then Merson had a strong run down the left before playing the ball inside to Wright. He cut along the edge of the area before firing in a shot which flew only a couple of feet wide.

Meanwhile Liverpool were hinting at a recovery. Berger received a corner on the right and took it on before hitting a superb 20 yarder which bounced against the right hand post and along the line before eventually going past the opposite post and out for a goal kick, though I'm not sure Lukic didn't actually get the faintest of touches.

Liverpool now began to get into their stride and soon afterwards got the equaliser. After one of their long passing moves had broken down Vieira and Dixon tackled each other and allowed Fowler to nick the ball on to Bjornebye on the left. He bent in a cross which picked out the head of McManaman, unmarked at the far post. His looping header back across the keeper wrongfooted Lukic and dropped just inside the post.

Subsequently Arsenal began to get increasingly stretched by Liverpool's swift passing and movement. Bizarrely Fowler missed with a header from about 5 yards when another Bjornebye cross found him yards clear of the Arsenal defence. He seemed yards offside as well, but the linesman didn't initially raise his flag, though when I looked across after Fowler had missed he did have it out. Lukic took a goal kick though.

About 5 minutes from half time Liverpool did go ahead. Fowler chased a ball wide in the area, Lukic came out and appeared to impede him without getting a touch on the ball. The ref gave a corner and the Scouse fans were still yelling abuse at him when the corner was played short to Fowler. He knocked it back towards McManaman outside the area, it hit Dixon, a couple of yards away, in the chest and then bounced against his arm. Not much Dixon could have done to get out of the way, so abuse for the ref from the Arsenal fans this time as he pointed to the spot. Fowler sent Lukic the wrong way and rolled the ball into the net.

The game was pretty much up for Arsenal within about 10 minutes of the restart. Winterburn sold himself with a lunge in at McAteer as he ran down the right, which allowed the right wingback to skip away from Nutty. He exchanged passes with McManaman and ran on before slanting in a low cross which Fowler, sliding in at the far post (and looking suspiciously offside on the TV replay), knocked home from inside the 6yd box.

Five minutes later the Gunners were down to 10 men. Bould (having been booked in the 1st minute of the game for a fairly innocuous challenge from behind on Fowler) received his 2nd yellow card. The assumption was that it was for another tackle from behind, this time on McManaman and this time probably worthy of a booking. However, it was a bit of a shock because at the time the ref played advantage, Liverpool came close to scoring, Arsenal cleared their lines and it was some time later when play eventually stopped that the ref pulled out the cards. As Simon, a fellow listee (thanks for the lift) pointed out, he'd have looked a bit stupid if Arsenal had gone up the other end and scored (particularly if Bould had been the scorer).

Anyhow, that was pretty much it. Liverpool enjoyed the extra space while Arsenal were forced to chase the game. They thought they'd got a fourth when Lukic couldn't hold another Berger shot and Fowler tucked home the rebound, but was flagged offside. There was a brief period of hope for the Gunners when they pulled one back. Merson lofted in a diagonal cross from the right picking out Hartson in the area. Mark Wright climbed above him with his arms all over Hartson and the ref pointed to the spot once more. Wrighty slotted home the penalty, going to the keeper's left for the 3rd time in a row.

Briefly the ten men even had a short spell where they kept possession but any hope was soon killed off with Liverpool's 4th goal. Vieira gave possession away with a loose pass in the opposition half, McAteer broke quickly down the right and played the ball inside to Berger. He cut in and unleashed a well struck 25 yarder which was placed just inside the near post to leave Lukic with little chance.

I'm not sure the ref was as bad as all that. All 3 penalties were perhaps a bit soft, but if he hadn't given any of them he'd have got even more stick. How many times have away teams been given 2 penalties at Anfield? Actually, having said that, he might have given a 3rd. Platt had a shot late in the game blocked by Mark Wright's arm, and Vieira appeared to be held back by Ruddock on one occasion when he did well to get to the byline on the right.

However, it was a disappointing performance from Arsenal, though in mitigation you could say they were suffering a bit of a reaction from the euphoria of Sunday, and Liverpool played probably their best game of the season. It was rather worrying though, the way the Gunners failed to cope with Liverpool's movement. With McManaman and Berger playing behind Fowler the centre backs didn't seem to know who to pick up, and Dixon/Winterburn were constantly having to deal with a combination of McMan/Berger and Bjorn/McAteer.

Perhaps this result will bring expectations down to a more realistic level. Still, the trip home wasn't as morose as might normally have been expected, perhaps because of the news from Burnden Park.

Lukic      6.0  Don't think there was much he could have done about any 
                of the goals

Dixon      7.0  Spent most of the game defending, but in the second half 
                was one of the most notable chasing a lost cause.

Winterburn 6.0  Also put under a lot of pressure in defence and his 
                limitations were more exposed than of late.

Adams      7.0  Less seen of him going forward this game. Still a fairly 
                typical Adams performance though.

Bould      5.0  Harsh first booking, though rash 2nd to get himself sent 
                off.

Keown      6.5  Had trouble along with the other defenders coping with
                Liverpool's forward moves, but otherwise reasonable.

Platt      5.5  Again didn't appear to do much. Perhaps he does do some
                important covering but still seems to me to lack 
                confidence and touch on the ball.

Vieira     6.5  A less impressive game than usual, though he did well on 
                occasion and was still our best midfielder.

Merson     5.5  More the sort of Merson performance we were used to, 
                pre-confession. The TV commentator did say something 
                about him suffering from a stomach upset though.

Wright     6.5  I thought he looked quite sharp early on, and put both
                penalties away superbly, but he did seem to spend a lot
                of the second half sulking.

Hartson    6.0  Did well to win both penalties, but otherwise showed how
                much we miss Bergkamp.

Morrow &   6.0  Neither really had much chance to do anything. Parlour 
Parlour         did have a couple of promising runs which ended 
                disappointingly as usual.

report by Derek Brownjohn