Arsenal (0) 1 - 2 (1) Manchester United(1 - 1 after 90 minutes)Villa Park, Wednesday 14th April 1999, kick-off 7.45pmFA Cup semi-final replay (see report page for first match)see below for reports by: Rupe,DerekPreview
Arsenal (0) 1 - 2 (1) Manchester United(1 - 1 after 90 minutes)Villa Park, Wednesday 14th April 1999, kick-off 7.45pmFA Cup semi-final replay (see report page for first match)
scorers: Bergkamp 69 Beckham 17
Giggs 110
Keane sent off
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Adams Keown Winterburn
Parlour (Kanu) Petit (Bould) Vieira Overmars
Bergkamp Anelka
Man Utd:
Schmeichel
G.Neville Stam Johnsson P.Neville
Beckham Butt Keane Blomqvist (Giggs)
Solskjaer (Yorke 90) Sheringham (Scholes)
A fantastic game for the neutrals but a horrifc one
for Arsenal. Man Utd outplayed us slightly for most
of normal time, and missed several good chances.
But with the sending off of Keane and the introduction
of Overmars in the second half, the balance shifted right
over to us and we really should have won it.
But in the end there was nothing to choose between these 2 teams, and if its is any consolation, we were not beaten by a better team, but only by 2 outstanding individual goals from World Class players. On another day it could have been Bergkamp and Overmars. Sadly tonight it was Giggs and Beckham. United started the sharpest. Petit initially looked slightly off the pace but before long he was back up to speed and the midfield battle became quite even. But not before Beckham had put United in front with a cracking shot. It started with a Schmeichel kick, Beckham got a touch, then Solskjaer, and it came back to Beckham some yards outside the box. The shot didn't so much swerve as switch direction, on the replay I swear it hit a solid lump of air in mid-flight and ricocheted past Seaman. Despite being wrong-footed by the late movement of the ball, H did well to get back across to his right far enough to get close. Bergkamp was clearly really up for it both in his attacking play and his fighting for the ball. He broke through the defence on the right brilliantly but with the ball a little far ahead of him in the box could only manage a poked shot which didn't have the pace to beat Schmeichel's dive to his right. Then Sheringham, starting alongside Solskjare with Yorke on the bench and Cole not even in the squad, had a couple of chances. First he shot wide after a good cut-back from Blomqvist and then headed wide from a Beckham free-kick on their left wing. Mainly through Petit and Bergkampwe got into some promising positions. Manu won the ball brilliantly in midfield and did even better to hang onto it with a little lob over his marker. He gave it to Dennis and was screaming forward onto the left to receive it, or create space for Dennis, with things opening up nicely infront of them, when Keane brought Bergkamp down and was shown his first yellow card. Then Petit broke into the empty box for a ball that had run loose towards the right, but Schmeichel saved his near post shot from a narrow angle. Bergkamp fed Anelka on the edge of the box and Nicky turned briliantly and made towards goal. With Schmeicehl bearing down on him he only managed to hit the side netting. Although we had fought our way back into the game towards the nd of the first half, after the break Man U again started more brightly and could have been 3 up within minutes. Solskjaer was the first and most culpable culprit. Perhaps he was a surprised as the Arsenal defence that he'd beaten the offside trap, but really he should have done better under no pressure than to hit a shot yards wide of the far post from not too narrow an angle. Moments later it was Blomqvist's turn to beat the trap, he managed to get his shot on target but by choosing the near post he made it easier for |Seaman to save than it ought to have been. Parlour did well to set Anelka up in the penlty area but he rushed his shot somewhat and put it over. Shortly after, Giggs came on for Blomqvist and Overmars for Ljungberg. And you had to wonder why either of them had been left out. Overmars in particular had been badly missed. Ljungberg's tendency to stray to the right, and the simple fact that no-one's so scared of him that they send 3 players over whenever he gets the ball, made him a far less effective weapon. But United had the next good chance, this time Beckham shooting high and wide in the middle of the box after being set up by great play from Solskjaer. Winterburn has to be given credit for this as he managed to just get in front of Beckham as he pulled the trigger, but at the same time one has to wonder why he had so much space in the first place. Solskjaer then beat Keown in the chase for a through ball, and Seaman did well to save as the low shot looked set to squirm under his body. On 69 minutes, and against the run of play, we were suddenly back in the game when Bergkamp hit a long shot which deflected off of Stam to beat Schmeichel. But they were nearly back in front within seconds when a goalmouth scramble ended with the ball coming to Beckham in the box but his shot went wide. Then another long range Bergkamp effort was parried by Schmeichel and Anelka pounced onto it , rounded the rpone keeper, and slotted it home from a narrow angle on the left hand side of the goal. Along with many gooners, it was some time before Anelka became aware of the offside flag. After a bit of deliberation with the linesman Elleray ruled the goal out, and replays did indeed show that Anelka was offside when Bergkamp hit the shot. But within seconds of the restart Keane had committed a similar foul to the one which earned his first booking, this time on Overmars, and he was off. From this point on it became evident how much Keane means to this United side. His absence affected them both in defence and attack, and in midfield we started to completely boss things. Bergkamp had a shot palmed wide by Schmeicchel, and then in the 2nd minute of injury time Parlour went to beat Phil Neville on the edge of the box (he looked to have beaten his comprehensively too) and was brought down for a clear penalty. Bergkamp stepped up to take it and make his FA Cup final dream come true, but Schmeichel read it well and dived to his left to save the low shot. Not dissimilar to Bergkamp's last penalty - saved by Filan in the match with Blackburn. In extra time it was all Arsenal, although the introduction of Dwight Yorke made their breaks a bit mroe scary. Bergkamp forced another great save from the diving Schmeichel. The keeper landed awkwardly and immediately called for assistance, and a man came on to strap his arse up (really). Bergkamp went wide on the right and pulled the ball back well into the box where there were 3 Arsenal (including Adams, pressing forward more & more) to one defender, but unluckily the cut-back found the one defender who put it out for a corner. And from the corner Schmeichel again did well, blocking a ricochet off of Ronny Johnsson. Wenger showed his intention to win the game before penalties by bringing on Kanu for Parlour. But th enext chance fell to Overmars whose decent goalbound effort swerved just off target, close enough I guess to excuse his not passing to Bergkamp or Anelka, both of whom were in space to left and right respectively. 5 minutes into the second period of extra time Vieira, who again had been by far the most guilty of giving the ball away, did so again in quite unnecessary circumstances as Arsenal were in the process of building up. His casual pass across the centre line was easily intercepted by Giggs, but to be fair to the guy he had quite a bit left to do! He got past Vieira, Dixon, Keown and Adams, perhaps with a slightly fortunate touch off of Keown in there somewhere, burst into the box on the left, and smashed it over Seaman into the roof of the net. There was time for another 10 minutes of Arsenal onslaught and 2 more really good chances. Adams headed a foot wide from a Bergkamp cross, and in the dying seconds Anelka misscued another rushed shot in the box.
Result : Arsenal (0) 1 Manchester United (1) 2
(After extra time, 1-1 after 90 mins)
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Adams; Vieira, Vivas,
Parlour, Ljungberg; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Overmars (Ljungberg 62), Kanu (Parlour 105),
Bould (Petit 119), Vivas, Lukic
Booked: Keown, Parlour
Man Utd: Schmeichel; P Neville, Johnsen, G Neville, Stam;
Beckham, Butt, Keane, Blomqvist; Sheringham, Solskjaer
Subs: Giggs (Blomqvist 61), Yorke (Solskjaer 91),
Scholes (Sheringham 76), Irwin, van der Gouw
Booked: Stam, Keane, Beckham
Sent off: Keane (74, 2nd bookable offence)
Att: 30223
Ref: David Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill)
A night of unremitting drama and tension as the last ever FA Cup
semi-final replay swung first one way, then the other, back again,
reversed once more, and then had one last final twist. That the match is
being described as one of the best in cup history is of small
consolation to Arsenal fans, though the context of Thursday's
anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and the war in Europe may make
the pain seem merely trivial. Sorry, shouldn't really be letting life
intrude on football, but sometimes it seems necessary.
Anyway, a summary of the game would be that United took early control, scored through a Beckham 25 yarder, Arsenal got back into the match midway through the 2nd half through a Bergkamp 20 yarder, seemed to have assumed control when Anelka scored soon afterwards only to see it disallowed, did assume control when Keane was sent off a minute later, seemed to have won it when awarded a penalty in 2nd half injury time, still seemed the likelier winners in extra time after Bergkamp's penalty miss, but ultimately lost when Giggs scored a sensational goal in the 2nd extra period. However, that barely does it justice and there were plenty of other plot twists along the way. Arsenal started with Overmars deemed not fit enough for the full 90 minutes and on the bench, Ljungberg taking his place, and Petit returning from suspension to displace Vivas in midfield. Man Utd apparently rested Cole, Yorke and Giggs, the latter two on the bench, and brought in Solskjaer, Sheringham and Blomqvist. After some intial sparring it was United who looked the sharper and began to look dangerous, particularly down Arsenal's right flank. It was down the right that the first half chance came, Solskjaer hooking a difficult volley from Blomqvist's cross over the bar. Arsenal were struggling to put anything cohesive together at the other end, though Bergkamp very nearly released Anelka, only to see his threaded through pass unluckily hit the young striker's heels as he hared clear. The pressure was building at the other end though, and it eventually paid off in the 18th minute when a quick United break ended with Sheringham knocking the ball back from the edge of the area to the unmarked Beckham, 25-30 yards out. He hit a superb shot which swerved past Seaman's despairing dive and into the bottom corner. Beckham then gave the lie to the claim that he's developed a more mature attitude this season by spurning celebrations in front of his own fans in favour of coming over to the Trinity Rd stand to taunt the Arsenal fans. A few minutes later Bergkamp almost got Arsenal an equaliser, cutting in from the right past 2 or 3 defenders and into the area before hitting a shot with the outside of his right foot which Schmeichel did extremely well to get down to and parry. There was no red shirt in the right place to stick home the rebound, and United proceeded to prise open the Arsenal defence at the other end almost at will during the following few minutes. Blomqvist got free down the right and cut the ball back to Sheringham whose snap shot went a couple of feet wide, Butt had a chance on the edge of the box but Keown got in a last ditch block, and then Sheringham flicked a header from Beckham free kick wide of the far post. However, Arsenal's midfield at last began to get a grip on the game, Keane, Stam and Beckham were all booked within a few minutes and the Gunners dominated the last 15-20 minutes of the half. Parlour knocked a square pass just outside the area for Petit to run onto and burst clear into the box. Schmeichel positioned himself well though and made a good block from Petit's shot from an acute angle on the right. A couple of minutes before half time Bergkamp slipped a pass forward for Anelka who turned past a couple of challenges in the area to make some space, but with Schmeichel coming out quickly Anelka put a left foot shot from an angle into the side netting. Arsenal relinquished the upper hand immediately after half time though, and after a scrappy start it was United who again started to make the clearer chances. Keane's pass found Solskjaer beating the offside trap on the left, but with only Seaman to beat he dragged a shot wide of the far post. Soon afterwards following the breakdown of an Arsenal attack, a quick United break ended with Sheringham feeding the unmarked Blomqvist in a similar position, and he struck a near post shot which Seaman did well to deflect wide. Arsenal then had a pretty good chance when Parlour played the ball in from the left to find Anelka running in unmarked, but he put his side-foot attempt over the bar from about 15 yards. The match started to turn Arsenal's way though with the introduction of Overmars, just over 15 minutes into the half. Giggs replaced Blomqvist at the same time, but it was the Arsenal left winger who had the greater initial impact with his pace and directness on the left immediately causing problems for the United defence. Adams then really got Arsenal going with a rampaging run into the area, past a couple of tackles before Stam eventually stopped him with a last ditch tackle which gave away a corner. Soon afterwards Solskjaer had a chance to stop the revival in its tracks but after being sent clear on the right and holding off Keown he shot straight at Seaman who nonetheless did well to hold on to the ball. A minute later Arsenal had the equaliser. Bergkamp cut in from the left before firing in a 20 yard shot which Schmeichel may have had covered, but it took a deflection off Stam which left the keeper helpless and the ball zipped into the far corner. United almost regained their advantage within a minute of kickoff. Beckham hooked a cross-shot across the face of goal from the right, but fortunately it was twinkle-toes Sheringham at the far post and he was just too slow to get on the end of it. The play then swung back the other end when Bergkamp's pass almost sent in Anelka, but Schmeichel was out of his goal quickly and just got there first to hoof clear. A minute later Arsenal thought they had gone in front. Bergkamp hit a shot from just outside the area on the left which Schmeichel couldn't hold, and Anelka was first to the rebound, rounded the keeper and slotted home. Prolonged celebrations ensued before we eventually realised the ref was consulting the linesman, and the goal was ruled out for offside. A brief viewing of the replay suggests it was a marginal decision. The match however seemed to swing back Arsenal's way a couple of minutes later when Overmars broke down the left only to be hacked down by Keane. The ref had no hesitation in pulling out a 2nd yellow, Keane was off and Arsenal proceeded to dominate the rest of the match. However, United pulled 9 men back. the Gunners struggled to get through to Schmeichel, and it wasn't until injury time that the breakthrough came. Parlour jinked past Phil Neville in the right of the area and the defender tripped him for a clear penalty. In the tensest of circumstances Bergkamp stepped up and hit the penalty well enough, but it was at a good height for the keeper, Schmeichel guessed right and flung himself to his left to make a good save. Heartbreak for Arsenal, but a minute later the match was into extra time and there still seemed a good chance the Gunners could overcome the 10 men. 5 minutes in Bergkamp almost atoned for his penalty miss when Overmars laid the ball square for him on the edge of the area and he hit a superb shot which was arrowing into the far top corner until Schmeichel again foiled him with a brilliant save. The keeper injured had himself making that save, so the disappointment was that Arsenal failed to seriously test him again. There were some close calls - Bergkamp's cutback from the right unluckily went between 3 red shirts in the middle and Overmars then broke with Bergkamp and Anelka both spare in support on either side. The winger though chose to try on his own, and his attempt to curl a shot into the top corner missed by a couple of feet. 5 minutes into the second period of extra time came the moment of agony for Arsenal, estasy for Man United. Vieira played a tired pass into the United half which went straight to Giggs about 10 yards in. He set off on a scintillating run which took him all the way into the Arsenal area, past 3 or 4 tired challenges to leave himself with only Seaman to beat. A blistering angled shot into the rood of the net gave the keeper little chance. We all then knew that was probably that, though Arsenal did have chances to equalise. Bergkamp got clear on the right, but tried the more difficult option of chipping to the far post from the byline when a cutback into middle might have gained dividends. He did better soon afterwards when his cross from the right picked out Adams at the far post but possibly put off by Keown just in front, his header passed inches the wrong side of the post with Schmeichel beaten. Finally in injury time Anelka had a chance but mishit his attempt to place a shot rather than whacking it. For Arsenal it was a cruel way to lose a great match. On reflection United had two short purple patches in the 1st & 2nd halves, and scored two great goals, but otherwise Arsenal played pretty well and dominated after Overmars came on. Hardly seems fair that after all the success they've seen in the last few years, they should then get to win such an epic contest in such a way. A Man United fan couldn't have written a better script...
Seaman 7.5 A couple of great saves, and though harsh judges may
say he could have done better with the goals.
Winterburn 7.5 A typically wholehearted performance.
Dixon 7.0 Seemed to me to be the weak link, in the first half
at least. As usual kept going though.
Adams 8.0 Superb again, and gave Arsenal the impetus they needed
midway through the 2nd half.
Keown 7.5 Pretty solid again. For the Giggs goal he was
distracted by Yorke's run on the left.
Vieira 7.5 Had a good first half and played fairly well overall
apart again from a couple of shocking passes, including
that fateful one to Giggs.
Petit 8.0 Did look a little rusty early on but grew as the match
went on.
Parlour 7.0 Not quite in the form of earlier in the season, though
again kept trying.
Overmars 8.0 Made a big difference when he came on.
Bergkamp 8.5 Hopefully will get over the penalty miss, and otherwise
had a superb game.
Anelka 6.5 I thought he looked quite sharp and did well in the
first half, but seemed to get more dispirited the
longer the game went on.
Ljungberg 6.0 Never really got into the game.
Derek
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