Arsenal (3) 5 - 0 (0)Highbury. Saturday 4th October 1997FA Carling Premiership
scorers:
Bergkamp 25, 32
Parlour 45
Platt 63
Wright 76
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Adams Bould Winterburn
Parlour (Anelka) Petit Vieira Overmars (Platt)
Wright (Boa Morte) Bergkamp
At 2 nil up Arsenal fans started singing "It's just like watching
Brasil". Well, I don't know if Brasil ever played like that, but
if you can imagine them on a really bad day, but with Pele playing
well so it didn't matter, that gives you some idea of the first 30
minutes! Once we got ahead however it was almost all Arsenal, and
in the second half Barnsley appeared to have given up.
Our first goal came completely against the run of play. Barnsley had had a few good attacks and we were looking shaky. Seaman had to make a great save, diving down to his left to reach a free-kick that had been headed back across him towards the bottom corner. Bergkamp's first was similar to his first against Leicester earlier in the season, the one from the corner that was beaten into 2nd place in MotD's goal of the month by his third in the same match. Incidentally Dennis has just followed his unique hattrick in that competition by becoming the first player ever to win Player of the Month outright in 2 consecutive months. Winterburn slipped the ball to Bergkamp on the left, a bit outside the area. He brought the ball inside a little and with his next touch curled it beautifully just inside the far top corner. His second was created by Vieira, whose crunching tackle won the ball on the half-way line. He then threaded the ball through 2 defenders into the path of Bergkamp who took it on and as he approached the outrushing goalie flicked it beyond him with his right foot. He could have had the third too. Wright's ball forward was deflected but Bergkamp saw what was happening and got to it first. The keeper came out to meet him earlier and this time he slipped it sideways where Parlour, in acres of space, couldn't miss the open goal. Earlier Parlour had missed a chance when put clear on the keeper, whose fingers just got enough of the shot to push it onto the post. Wright, who had been offisde when the original ball was played through for Parlour, got to the rebound but, hitting it on the turn, could only blast it high over the bar. The second half was more comfortable, but the goals had stopped coming so Parlour and Overmars (who had been doubtful for this match after going off imjured against PAOK but had a very good game) were replaced by Anelka and Platt. Anelka was disppointing, taking much too much time on the ball like he only wanted to score himself. But soon after coming on Platt won a corner with a shot that ballooned off a defender and (just) over the bar. He then met Petit's corner with an unstoppable header into the ground that bounced up into the goal. It was all the more impressive for the fact that we was surrounded by 3 much taller Barnsley players. Later Wright made it 5 with a typical goal on the break, latching onto a ball frm Winterburn which a defender intercepted only to play it into a good position for Wrighty. Wright then came off for Boa Morte. Seaman had to make another superb save in the second half but we weren't troubled much, most of thier shots in the match going well off target. The Barnsley fans were cheering their corners. So, it was only Barnsley, and 5-0 at home to them might seem the minimum we should expect. But after Tuesday's disappointment it's nice to see them getting the result we expect again. Arsenal stay top of the table, Man Utd keeping one point behind with a home win over Palace. Tottenham lost to a late Newcastle goal. Next game is the Coke cup tie with Birmingham. Also worth mentioning is the fact that we got through another match with no yellow cards. Bergkamp and Bould need to stay clean for another 2 matches to earn themselves a reduction to 3 bookings and lessen the risk of them being unavailable for our forthcoming big matches (Man U, Liverpool, & Newcastle). It's worth noting that a player needs to go unbooked for 5 matches to get the reduction, and that they have to be on the field for the full 90 minutes in those matches. This is presumably why Bergkamp never gets subbed. I'd have thought that otherwise, at 5-0 nil up it would have been sensible to sub him, partly to rest him and partly to find out if we can play without him. We've only had to try once this season and it didn't go too well. Rupe.
FA Carling Premiership
Arsenal vs Barnsley Sat Oct 4 1997
Result : Arsenal (3) 5 Barnsley (0) 0
Scorers: Bergkamp 25,32, Parlour 45,
Platt 63, Wright 76
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Bould, Adams, Winterburn, Petit, Vieira,
Parlour, Overmars, Bergkamp, Wright
Subs: Platt (Overmars 58), Anelka (Parlour 58),
Boa Morte (Wright 78), Grimandi, Manninger
Booked:
Barnsley: Watson, Sheridan, Moses, De Zeeuw, Redfearn, Thompson, Liddell,
Tinkler, Krizan, Barnard, Ward
Subs: Bullock (Sheridan 58), Eaden (Moses 64),
Hristov (Liddell 67), Marcelle, Leese
Booked: De Zeeuw, Thompson
Att: 38049
Ref: P Jones (Loughborough)
A convincing scoreline, though not a totally convincing performance.
Against the Premiership's worst defence, for 25 minutes Arsenal
struggled to put anything cohesive together and indeed might have been
behind by the time Bergkamp took charge and started the Gunners off with
another wonder goal.
It was praise be to Seaman this time for preventing the visitors from taking the lead. A free kick from the left was headed superbly down by De Zeeuw and looked a certain goal until Seaman brilliantly got down to turn it aside. The rebound was then put back into the middle but Adams was in the right place to clear. After that the Dutch master decided it was time to take over. Winterburn knocked a ball into him a few yards outside the area, and an almost casual flick of his right foot sent the ball arcing round Watson and curling inside the far post. A few minutes later Vieira won a tackle in midfield and sent Bergkamp racing clear of two defenders, and another sublime touch with the outside of his right boot sent the ball past the keeper and just inside the far post. Call me a sick man if you like, but Bergkamp is in such awesome form at the moment that going to watch him play football is like being in love. I get butterflies in my stomach at the very thought. Even his relatively simple second goal was a thing of beauty, the way he stroked the ball home precisely where he wanted to. Another flick of his sent Parlour away down the right, and some good work by the latter set up Overmars for a shot from the edge of the box which he hit straight at Watson. Can't actually remember whether Bergkamp was involved when Parlour broke clear into the box, one on one with the keeper. Watson did well however, just getting a touch on Pizza's attempt to chip the ball over him, the shot rebounded from the post and Wrighty spooned his attempt from the rebound over the bar from a difficult angle. Watson also denied Bergkamp his hattrick coming out quickly to block when the Iceman was sent clear for a shot from an acute angle on the right. Bergkamp did set up the 3rd goal on the stroke of half time. Wright's attempt to find him on a quick break was deflected even more perfectly into his path by a defender and he beat the keeper to the ball and touched it unselfishly to his right to give Parlour an easy chance to knock it into an empty net. The second half was mainly a question of how much effort Arsenal could be bothered to put into scoring more goals. The moment Arsenal fans have been waiting for all season arrived soon after Platt came on as substitute. He won a corner after Bergkamp sent him in for a shot which took a looping deflection onto the roof of the net. He then timed his run at Petit's corner to perfection and a downward header beat the keeper and the ball was in the net. A goal from a corner, the holy grail of this season. Arsenal's first headed goal this season as well, I think. It seemed a little incongruous that a rout like this should end without Wright's name on the scoresheet, but he put that right with a replica of his second goal against Coventry. This time Tinkler didn't cut out a pass from Winterburn properly and Wrighty was through on the keeper on the left and passed the ball inside the far post with his right foot.
To be fair to Barnsley they should have had at least one goal in
consolation late in the 2nd half. Seaman made another great save from
Redfearn, and then Hristov had a lovely little dribble into the area
which set up a chance on a plate for Ward. He lashed it over the bar.
Seaman 7.5 A welcome return to form.
Dixon 7.0 Unremarkable game.
Winterburn 7.0 Good game again.
Adams 7.0 No noticeable blunders this time.
Bould 7.0 Little to do either.
Petit 7.5 Another good game, pick of the midfield.
Vieira 7.5 Getting back towards his best.
Parlour 7.0 Played reasonably well again.
Overmars 6.0 Only real disappointment. Should have had a field day
against that defence.
Bergkamp 8.5 See above.
Wright 7.0 Slightly lacklustre maybe, but typically cool finish.
Platt 7.0 Did pretty well in the time he was on. Good to see a
goal from a corner at last.
Anelka 6.0 Perhaps was trying to do too much and consistently
wanted too much time on the ball.
Derek
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