(3) 4 - 0 (0) ArsenalAnfield. Wednesday 6th May 1998FA Carling PremiershipPreview
(3) 4 - 0 (0) ArsenalAnfield. Wednesday 6th May 1998FA Carling PremiershipIt's hard to care really, isn't it?Lots of Arsenal players were rested, as expected. Wenger has been quoted as saying that the side that goes out at Villa on Sunday will however be the FA Cup team. We can only hope that this doesn't mean Bergkamp is out of the final. The most significant event of this match was the particularly surly Paul Ince's assault on Wright's ankle. Apparently it's not as bad as feared when he was taken off to hospital last night.
Liverpool vs Arsenal Wed May 6 1998
Result : Liverpool (3) 4 Arsenal reserves (0) 0
Scorers: Ince 28,30, Owen 40,
Leonhardsen 87
Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Grimandi, Bould, Upson; Platt, Hughes,
Parlour, Boa Morte; Wreh, Wright
Subs: Anelka (Wright 65), Vieira (Parlour 65),
Mendez (Wreh 70), Marshall, Lukic
Liverpool: Friedel, McAteer, Harkness, Babb, Bjornebye, Ince,
Carragher, McManaman, Leonhardsen, Riedle, Owen
Subs: Thomas (McAteer 54), Murphy (Riedle 90),
Gudnason, Roberts, James
Att: 44417
Ref: A B Wilkie (Chester-le-Street)
A rather strange but entertaining evening last night as Liverpool gained a hollow 4-0 victory over a shadow Arsenal team. From Arsenal's point of view the entertainment came mostly from the fans, but Liverpool saw Owen score and miss a penalty, and Ince score twice and do his best to put his "best mate" Ian Wright out of the Cup final and World Cup. Arsenal had come out to a guard of honour from their opponents and a generous ovation from the Liverpool fans, but made eight changes from the side which clinched the championship on Sunday, which added to Bergkamp's absence meant only two of the current first choice XI started the game. However, for the first 20-25 minutes it appeared not to harm their chances too much as the Gunners coped comfortably with Liverpool's curiously desultory attacks. Probably the best early chances were Arsenal's. Grimandi chipped a ball forward to pick out Wright's run down the middle. The striker tried to hit it on the volley as the ball dropped over his shoulder, but skied it over the ball. WWW's lack of sharpness also showed when he had what looked a reasonable chance at a corner. Boa Morte's cross reached him unmarked at the far post, but he completely missed his attempt to volley it with his left foot. At the other end Liverpool eventually sparked into life. Riedle woke the home fans up, dragging a shot just wide of the far post though the offside flag was up and then he fired a 20 yard shot just over. Soon after that Liverpool took the lead. Wreh gave the ball away 10 yards inside his own half and McManaman broke towards the area before feeding McAteer on the right. The ball then reached Owen who cut across the area but lost control of the ball which then defelected out to Ince on the edge of the area. He fired in an instant left foot shot through Platt's legs and just inside the near post to give Manninger little chance. Less than two minutes later Ince scored again. This time a free kick from the left wasn't cleared properly and Bjornebye shot from the edge of the area. Manninger kept the shot out down at his near post but couldn't hold the ball, and McManaman squared from the left to the unmarked Owen in the 6yd box. With Dixon on the line, the 18 year old couldn't get a decisive touch, but the ball screwed square off his attempt and reached Ince on his right. From two yards and with Dixon and Manninger both grounded and helpless he couldn't miss. Liverpool were now rampant, and should have gone 3-0 up when Babb was left completely unmarked at a corner, but headed over from 10 yards. They did go 3-0 up following another corner. I think it was Ince whose header glanced on to Owen, completely unmarked at the far post. He brilliantly swivelled to fire home a volley from about 8 yards, though Manninger had possibly left too large a gap at his near post. At the other end Arsenal should have reduced the arrears. Hughes chipped forward to find Boa Morte unmarked in the area on the left. Friedel came out to meet him and the winger did the right thing, lobbing the ball over the keeper, but it drifted just wide of the far post and Wreh and Wright both arrived just too late to knock it in. There was still time before the break for Liverpool to be given the chance to go in 4-0 up. McManaman broke and pushed the ball past Upson and tried to run past him into the area. When he didn't succeed he pulled the young defender back by the shoulder and then by the sleeve of his shirt to finally get in front. By the time he did get past he was in the area and a slight nudge in the back from Upson was enough to elicit a dramatic fall, and the ref obliged by pointing to the spot. Justice was done though because Manninger produced a brilliant full length save as Owen took the well-placed but not sufficiently powerful spot kick. The second half was a rather different story as, apart from opening and closing flurries from Liverpool, Arsenal dominated in terms of both possession and territory. The home side should have scored again when an early attack produced a corner which again wasn't cleared properly. McManaman chipped a cross back in which found Ince in yards of space at the far post, but from just outside the 6yd yard box he headed over the bar. Arsenal eventually began to get back in the game when Boa Morte did well to get past McAteer down the left and cut in along the byline, before looking up and trying to cut the ball back for the inrushing Platt. A defender managed at full stretch to cut the pass out though. Soon afterwards Boa Morte's final ball was somewhat better as he curled a pass behind the defence for Wrighty to run onto, but he couldn't get enough weight behind his angled left foot shot and Friedel made a fairly comfortable save. Another Boa Morte run into the area ended when he tried to pass the ball on for Upson as he overlapped, but the pass was a bit short and McAteer was able to get back to block Upson's attempt to square the ball. The Liverpool defender injured himself making the tackle and had to go off to be replaced by Michael Thomas who came on to big cheers from the away fans. A pass from Platt then found Parlour beating the offside trap and racing clear down the inside right channel into the area. He fired in a low shot from an angle which Friedel did well to block, though the ball rebounded out wide and Parlour knocked it back into the middle where Wright volleyed a first time shot back towards the far post. Friedel had recovered his ground though and made another good save, although in fact the flag had gone up as the linesman judged the ball had crossed the line before Parlour cut the ball back following the original save. Ince then appeared to take it onto himself to inject a bit of edge into the game. First he had a bit of a set-to with Wreh, and then as Liverpool were given a free-kick on the edge of the Arsenal area, apparently had some sort of disagreement with Wright. A minute or two later he took it further by subjecting Wright to a nasty foul, catching the striker on the ankle with a studs-up lunge. As WWW was carried off on a stretcher he was replaced by Anelka, and Vieira replaced Parlour, changes which cemented Arsenal's control of the half. Hughes had a couple of good efforts from range. The first a well struck shot was going fractionally wide though Friedel made sure with a spectacular flying save to push the ball aside for a corner. The second Hughes didn't catch quite so well, but was on target this time and the keeper needed to make a smothering save down at his near post. A few minutes from time Liverpool scored a rather undeserved 4th goal. A deep diagonal cross from the left was weakly headed out by Bould under pressure from Riedle, and Leonhardsen ran in unmarked onto the loose ball and hammered a volley into the roof of the net from about 12 yards. At the other end there was still time for Arsenal to miss another good chance. A long pass from Vieira picked out Anelka's run down the inside right channel and the young French striker took it clear into the area, but he dragged his angled shot wide of the far post. Rather a surreal experience all in all. Rather disappointing to lose 4-0, but as we sang "We don't give a fuck" (though admittedly not as loudly after it was 3-0). The goals were mainly down to lack of organisation and concentration in defence, and to be fair Liverpool really only controlled the match during the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. As it was virtually a reserve team I don't think even a 4-0 thumping will affect confidence at all, and judging by the effortless way Vieira controlled the game after he came on, if the full team had been out we'd have comfortably won ;-) The Gooners were in good form though - some of the songs even had pockets of the Liverpool fans applauding. A few of the better ones:
"Shampoo, he only wants shampoo" - when McAteer was receiving treatment.
"Tottenham, it's just like watching Tottenham" - after we went 3-0 down
in the 1st half
"It's like a morgue in here, it's like a morgue in here" and
"Is this Highbury in disguise?" and
"You'll sing again, don't know where, don't when, but I know you'll sing
again some sunny day" as the scousers sat mute.
"We're not singing any more" and "We're supposed to be away" after even
the Arsenal fans fell relatively quiet early in the 2nd half.
Manninger 6.5 Great save from the penalty, and little chance from
most of the goals, though in the first half his old
habit of chasing crosses he had little hope of reaching
re-emerged.
Upson 6.0 Caught out a few times, particularly in the first half
when he tended to be dragged too far infield a few
times. Improved in the 2nd half when Arsenal did less
defending.
Dixon 6.5 Reasonably solid but unspectacular.
Bould 7.5 Solid and competent as usual for the most part.
Grimandi 7.5 Had a pretty good game I thought, particularly when he
was on the ball, though he was certainly guilty of ball
watching for the last goal.
Hughes 6.5 Did reasonably well I thought, though as people have
mentioned doesn't give the defence the cover Petit does
Platt 6.0 Well, I think the most eloquent comment would be to
point to the difference made when Vieira came on and
Platt moved out wide on the right.
Parlour 6.5 Fairly quiet game again, though unlucky not to score.
Boa Morte 6.0 Looked completely out of his depth for a lot of the 1st
half at least, though he had some good moments in the
2nd
Vieira 8.5 Head and shoulders above the rest. The best player on
the pitch by a country mile.
Wreh 6.0 Struggled to make any impact and his touch seemed worse
than on most of his recent appearances.
Wright 6.0 Not surprisingly looked rusty and out of touch, though
he had very little service to work with.
Anelka 7.5 Made a difference when he came on, with the ball
sticking and him able to hold off defenders, something
Wright and Wreh rarely managed. Couple of good runs too
Mendez Came on for Wreh with about 20 minutes left, and sort
of supported Anelka but didn't get many touches.
Derek Other reports
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