(0) 0 - 1 (0) ArsenalOld Trafford, Saturday 14th March 1998. kick off 11.15 amFA Carling PremiershipPreviewWhile the championship won't have been decided after this match, whichever way it goes, there's no doubt it's the biggest game of the season so far for any club. The simple fact is that if either club wins all their remaining matches they'll win the league, and this match is the one that decides which club can do that.Arsenal keeper Alex Manninger took a battering on Wednesday and may have to sit this one out (on Thursday Wenger said he had a 70% chance of playing), which would mean a recall for John Lukic. Seaman is close to a return but not close enough, it would seem. It sounds like Manninger's picked something up from Seaman - apparently he's saying he wants to play on Saturday even if he needs pain-killing injections. Now, if he can learn a bit more about distribution from big Dave he could be challenging for his place a bit earlieer than most of us thought. Nigel Winterburn is also doubtful and faces a fitness test on his foot. There is a possibility that Ian Wright will return, but if he does it will presumably be on the bench. We expect Wednesday's hero Chris Wreh to keep his starting place. Man Utd will be without long-term injuries Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane. Phil Neville and Nicky Butt are also out of the reckoning. At the time of writing AFCi don't have preview up, but I expect it'll be there sometime Friday afternoon. Soccernet have a tactical analysis of the clash here.
There's also an ANR preview of the
match,
and I'd like to take this opportunity to disassociate myself totally from
the scandalous description of Wreh's sub appearances in the past
as "clueless". ;-)
Overmars! Overmars! I think I'm coming, I think I'm coming, Overmars!
(0) 0 - 1 (0) ArsenalOld Trafford. Saturday 14th March 1998 (11.15am kick-off)FA Carling Premiership
scorer: Ovemras (80)
Arsenal:
Manninger
Dixon Adams Keown Winterburn
Parlour (Garde) Petit Vieira Overmars
Bergkamp Wreh (Anelka)
A fantastic win from a fantastic performance, all the players giving their
all with the one exception of Bergkamp who looked rather less sharp than
usual. Maybe he's still lacking fitness after his flu. Anyway, the rest
of the team were superb and he had a part in the goal so we'll let him off ;->
Man Utd started best and gave us a few scares in the first 10 minutes or so, but after that Arsenal took control a bit and had a lot more chances. Our main outlet was balls for Overmars to run onto, and he had 3 good chances in the first half. First he was put clear on Schmeichel, who came out to close him down and managed to push Marc wide on the left from where he clipped the ball towards goal from a very difficult position, but was unlucky to see the ball just miss the far post. Next time he was clear one of the ManU youngsters, Curtis (? the 31 shirt) caught him from behind. At half time the ref said he thought the defender got the ball but replays showed him missing it by some distance, and taking Overmars's standing foot away. A definite penalty and possible red card offence. They put a couple of defenders on him, which didn't create the opportunities for others that it might have, if only because the others found it hard getting up to support. But one time he somehow managed to squeeze through two of them inside the area and get a shot in under pressure from Schmeichel and another, but he poked it just wide. Parlour also had a good effort, again running onto a throuighball on the break, this time down the right. He steamed on and his powerful drive went just over. Cole had a golden chance to get the champions ahead, when he was fed by a long kick from Schmeichel. The defence were guilty of stopping for the offside only to watch Cole scampering away from them towards goal. Manninger came out and managed to turn the shot wide, and again the replay showed the decision should have gone our way. He was offside, but only just in our half of the pitch. The other notable event of the first half was a possible handball by Petit inside the box. He was making an crucial interecption, and running onto the ball leaning forwards. Pictures were unclear: from one angle it looked like he chested it, from the other it seemed to roll down his arm a bit. At Old Trafford, one might have expected this decision to go against us as well. But some credit must go to the ref Alan Wilkie for the fact that this high pressure match between two physical teams didn't get out of hand, and there were few free kicks. I've been reminded of another incident, just before half-time Gary Neville raised his boot on Chris Wreh and appeared to clip him quite hard in the side of the head. We got the free-kick, but it probably would have been a booking too if he hadn't already picked one up. The second half started as the first, with Arsenal letting ManU play again. But we came back into it again. Manninger made some good saves, as in the first half, and looked great on crosses too apart from one slightly dodgy moment in the first half. He seemed to be wasting the ball a lot less too, and genrally seems to get better with each match. I wouldn't want to see Seaman go but looking at the ages of the players you've got to say that if Manninger's development continues it might well not be him that we're saying goodbye to in a couple of years (to allow his development as a first choice keeper, as Wenger suggested might happen earlier in the week). Overmars had another chance when the ball was lobbed cleverly into the box by Petit, over a crowd of players. Overmars pounced on it but the flight of the ball made it hard to keep track of, and he ended up doing a full 360 turn under the ball as it dropped and bounce before he could make contact. He managed to lift his foot to get to it just before Schmeichel, but again poked it just wide. But on 80 minutes or so the breakthrough came. A long high ball forward from Keown was flicked on by Bergkamp's head, and then again by Anelka into the path of Overmars, cutting into the box from the left. He nodded it forward and slotted it underneath Schmeichel's body. Download an MPEG of the goal! from Gustav Nygren's site (for site URL see other reports list below). Anelka had come on for Wreh a while earlier. Wreh had another good game with some clever first-time lay-offs and plenty of closing down, although never looking so likely to score as Anelka did with a couple of chances. He had a good shot from outside the area, and a really good chance on the break when Schmeichel came out to block a low shot that went much too close to him. Anelka seemd to have a bit more fire in him today, I think the competition from Wreh will do him good. He did pick up a daft booking today for kicking the ball away when Man Utd were given a free-kick, not even in a dangerous position. The other sub, Garde, also had a good effort when Overmars fed him on the right. His rising shot was saved well be Schmeichel. Meanwhile they pressed forward for the equaliser and we had a scare or two before the whistle. Cole was put clear and brought down by Keown inside the area, but fortunately Wilkie had spotted that Keown started the foul about 15 yards back. A yellow card for Keown, and a fre-kick from Beckham that was comfortably caught by Manninger followed, small price to pay really. One of many excellent moments from and Arsenal centre back this morning. Sheringham and, I think, Dixon, were also booked for arguing or something before the free-kick was taken. Finally, we had the pleasure of seeing Schmeichel come up into attack a few minutes from the end, and even having a shot blocked, before limping back in some discomfort (they'd already nade 3 substitutions) and having to be shoulder-carried from the pitch at the end. We've still got plenty of tricky away games coming up, including Liverpool and Blackburn, but as things stand we're 6 points behind United with 3 games in hand, and more importantly, looking confident and solid at the back, with key players such as Wright and Seaman still to come back. I've just heard on the radio that Schmeichel will definitely be out for a few weeks, one of the Nevilles is also in trouble. Also Spurs have goen ahead against Liverpool. Mixed feeling about that one...
Manchester United vs Arsenal Sun Mar 8 1998
Result : Manchester United (0) 0 Arsenal (0) 1
Scorers: Overmars 79
Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn; Vieira, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Wreh
Subs: Anelka (Wreh 66), Garde (Parlour 70), Hughes,
Grimandi, Lukic
Booked: Anelka, Keown, Dixon
Man Utd: Schmeichel, G Neville, Irwin, Berg, Curtis, Johnsen,
Beckham, P Neville, Scholes, Cole, Sheringham
Subs: Thornley (Curtis 52), Solskjaer (P Neville 77),
May (Johnsen 79), McClair, Van Der Gouw
Booked: G Neville, Sheringham
Att: 55174
Ref: A B Wilkie (Chester-le-Street)
A perfect day's football on Saturday as Arsenal's convincing win against
Manchester United leaves real hopes of a first league title since we
last won at Old Trafford in the 90/91 season. It was a superbly
controlled and disciplined performance from the Gunners in which they
completely outplayed an admittedly understrength United side who were
without Butt, Keane and crucially, Giggs.
Arsenal started the game rather nervously though, giving the ball away several times and allowed United to dominate possession in the opening 10 minutes. However a couple of confident catches by Manninger helped to settle the rest of the team and after 15 minutes it was Arsenal who created the first clear opening. Bergkamp curled a lovely long pass forward into Overmars' path as he streaked clear down the left. He touched the ball past Schmeichel as he rushed out, and from an acute angle hit a shot which bounced a whisker wide of the far post of the empty goal. With May lacking match fitness Ferguson chose to rest him and move Gary Neville into the centre alongside Berg, and brought in the youngster Curtis at right back. This turned out to be a tactical error as Curtis' inexperience was repeatedly exposed by Overmars in the 1st half, most notably after about 20 minutes when another long ball, this time by Petit, allowed Overmars to outpace Curtis again, and the fullback's challenge on the Dutch winger as he raced into the area brought him down. The ref, possibly also caught out by Overmars' pace, waved play on though the TV replay clearly showed it should have been a penalty. At the other end Arsenal's goal was only being threatened by a defensive and a refereeing blunder. First Dixon played a pass (which I think he mishit) across the face of his own area which went straight to Cole's feet. Fortunately Adams reacted quickly to block Cole's shot, and when the ball rebounded to Sheringham on his own on the edge of the area, Manninger pulled off a brilliant save. Cole was offered another gilt-edged opportunity when Schmeichel kicked quickly from his hands following an Arsenal corner to release Cole from the halfway line. Dixon and Winterburn were marking him, both standing just inside the United half and appealed for offside. At the time I wasn't convinced and thought Cole might have been in his own half too, but the TV pictures later showed he was in Arsenal's half when Schmeichel released the ball. Anyway, Dixon was so confident he was offside that he stood there with his arm in the air watching Cole race away. The flag stayed down though and fortunately Winterburn gave chase and indeed showed sufficient (and hitherto unrevealed) pace to persuade Cole that he didn't have much time. The striker hit a left foot shot from an angle just inside the area which Manninger again was the equal of, and he produced another brilliant reaction save to deflect it over the bar. Meanwhile Overmars was still tormenting the right side of the Man United defence. He hit one shot from 20 yards which seemed to surprise Schmeichel, and the keeper could only parry it aside. Then he again ran at Curtis and Neville in the area, somehow managed to squeeze between them and then just beat Schmeichel's rush off his line but stabbed a shot a few inches wide of the near post and into the side netting. It wasn't all one-sided though. ie Arsenal were attacking down the right as well as the left. Bergkamp cleverly headed on into Parlour's path as he chased down the right, and Pizza cut into the area before firing in a shot from an angle which beat Schmeichel but dipped inches over the crossbar. Then Wreh did some good work down the right and held the ball up before knocking a pass square to pick out Petit's late run into the area. The Frenchman hit a tremendous shot on the run with the outside of his left foot which bent terrifically but not quite enough and the ball screamed a foot or two past the angle of post and crossbar. The home supporters meanwhile were reduced to penalty appeals as their way of getting back into the match. Beckham hooked a ball over his shoulder to the corner of the 6yd box, and Petit running across, chested the ball down and took it away to clear. I must admit with my view from behind the goal I had a horrible moment when I thought it might have hit his arm, but the TV pictures later suggested that it was on the chest just beneath his left shoulder, and the ref was of the same view. And it made the rest of the half hugely enjoyable for the Arsenal fans as they taunted their opposite numbers with shouts of handball! every time an Arsenal player touched the ball. Man United reorganised towards the end of the half, bringing Phil Neville across from the left wing to swap with the hapless Curtis, who was then substituted early in the 2nd half by Thornley. And it worked up to a point as Overmars was kept slightly quieter early in the second half and Thornley gave the home side slightly more of a threat down the left. Early on he had a snap shot from the edge of the area which drifted a foot or two wide of Manninger's left hand post, and then produced a cross from the left which picked out Scholes who was unmarked beyond the far post. Fortunately he blazed a volley high over the bar and wasted the only real chance that United created themselves in the whole match. Overmars wasn't out of the game for long though, and he had another good chance when Petit chipped a lovely lob over the defence to beat the offside trap. For a split second though Overmars seemed to lose track of the ball as it dropped over his shoulder a few yards inside the area and he ended up having to turn on it and hook a high volley past Schmeichel as the keeper dashed out again, and the ball bounced wide of the far post. Midway through the half Garde replaced Parlour, and a few minutes later Anelka came on for Wreh. Surprisingly it was the former who had Arsenal's next good chance. Overmars picked up the ball in the middle and picked out Garde's run down the right with a lovely pass inside the fullback. With only Anelka up with him and not really in a good position Garde chose to shoot from an angle just inside the box, and Schmeichel was again caught by surprise but the shot was straight at him so he managed to parry it up, and then stopped it crossing the goal line for a corner. Anelka then had a strong run across the edge of the area and fired in a vicious shot which whizzed inches over the bar. Finally, about 10 minutes from time the goal Arsenal deserved arrived. Keown hoofed a long pass forward, Bergkamp for once won a header and flicked the ball on and Anelka did likewise. Overmars zoomed into the area anticipating the flick-on, nodded it down into his path to leave himself with only Schmeichel to beat, and he duly did so, stroking a left foot shot through the keeper's legs and into the far corner of the net to spark unrestrained and pandemonious delight amongst the Gooners behind the goal. The Gunners might have extended their lead soon afterwards as United were forced to chase the game. Bergkamp played a delightful pass forward to pick out Anelka's run and the young Frenchman showed startling speed as he outpaced Gary Neville into the left of the area. Schmeichel came out quickly though and did well to block Anelka's shot with his legs. The final few minutes were rather nerve-wracking, though Arsenal's lead was really only threatened once, ironically just after Arsenal had missed another possible chance to score again. Schmeichel had gone up for a corner, and then tore his hamstring as he chased back to try and challenge Bergkamp as the Dutch master brought the ball out of defence. Bergkamp tried to pick out Overmars with a long pass when he might have had a go at the empty goal and the United defence managed to get back and clear the danger. From the clearance the ball broke down the middle with Cole threatening to chase clear. Under challenge from Keown he eventually fell over in the Arsenal area, but the ref judged that the foul had started outside the area. Keown was booked as were Dixon and Sheringham for a scuffle, and there was a hold up as Beckham waited to take the free kick when a spectator ran on and started prancing about the pitch. A few of the highly efficient Old Trafford security staff wandered on in their black suits to try and catch him, but they never got close. One who did was deflected from the chase when he dropped his mobile phone and stopped to pick it up, and it was left to Winterburn and Petit (? or Keown, can't remember) to give serious chase and Nutty duly caught him straight away. You'd have thought the United players would have been more anxious to get on with the game but they all just stood around watching. Fortunately Beckham put the free kick over the bar, and that was more or less it. Arsenal might have attempted to put some pressure on the crippled Schmeichel but seemed content to settle for the 1-0 win, and after about 5 minutes of injury time the ref blew for time. I thought it was a highly impressive performance from Arsenal, most particularly in the middle where Adams & Keown and Petit & Vieira were quite outstanding and virtually completely snuffed out any hint of danger from the likes of Beckham, Sheringham and Cole, while Overmars was consistently menacing at the other end. Just got to keep it going for another 10 games now...
Manninger 8.5 Some very confident catching at corners and crosses, and
two quite brilliant saves in the first half which
prevented United from taking an undeserved lead.
Winterburn 7.5 Exactly the performance you'd expect from him.
Dixon 7.0 Almost disastrously gave United a goal, and had a rather
error strewn first half, but showed his usual willingness
to chase everything.
Adams 9.0 Back to his commanding best. Easily his best game since
returning from injury.
Keown 8.5 Also had a brilliant game at the back, with his pace and
speed of recovery instrumental in subduing Cole.
Vieira 8.5 Quite superb in the middle of the park, with some
brilliant tackles and superb covering.
Petit 9.0 Also in brilliantly commanding form in the middle and
got forward well quite frequently too.
Parlour 7.5 Relatively quiet, but did his bit and had some a couple
of dangerous runs in the first half.
Overmars 8.5 Repeatedly caused United problems with his pace and was
our most dangerous attacking outlet.
Bergkamp 7.5 I still think he's not quite regained his touch and he
seemed too easily frustrated on occasion, but still has
enough to almost effortlessly create chances for others.
Wreh 7.5 Did pretty well again, particularly in the first half
when he held the ball up well and produced some nice
flicks and layoffs.
Anelka 7.5 I thought he played quite well and showed a bit more
willingness to chase and harry.
Garde 7.5 Did some good work covering on the right and also got
forward well on a couple of occasions.
Other reports
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