Arsenal (1) 3 - 1 (1) BlackpoolHighbury, Monday 13th December 1999FA Cup 3rd roundPreview
Arsenal (1) 3 - 1 (1) BlackpoolHighbury, Monday 13th December 1999FA Cup 3rd round
scorers:
Grimandi 24 Clarkson 39
Adams 65
Overmars 90
Arsenal:
Manninger
Dixon Adams Luzhny Silvinho
Ljungberg (Hughes 71) Grimandi Petit Overmars
Henry Suker (Kanu 71)
One of those "if only we could finish" games. Arsenal
should have scored about 10 in the first half, having
spent 45 minutes making chance after chance with nice
creative football. But they defended well, to be fair,
and bizarrely it was 1 all at half-time with a nice goal
for each side but both coming right out of the blue.
It was a strong Arsenal side, with Adams apparently playing "through the pain barrier" to ease the defensive shortage. Silvinho was in to give Nige a rest (presumably) and Ljungberg took Parlour's place on the right. As it happened Freddie tended to drift all over the place, and often it was Grimandi popping up on the right wing to fill in. Mind you, it was often Grimandi everywhere on the pitch, the third man proving once again that he makes a fantastic deputy for his more illustrious teammates Vieira and Petit. If Bergkamp is fit, as reported, it was decided to give him a bit longer. Seeing as Suker Henry and Kanu were all available this was hardly a gamble, and the Frenchman and the Croatian started. After 4 minutes Henry was put clear by a pass form the half-way line. Charging downfield just to the left of centre he beat 2 players but as he took the ball to a narrowish angle the keeper came out to meet him and did well to block. It went out for a corner, and from that the ball came out to Overmars outside the penalty area on the left. His shot swerved viciously and the keeper made a great save jumping high to his left to tip the ball wide. Then the visitors had a couple of moments. One of them managed to head the ball over the defence for another to run onto, but it was too strong and went through safely to Manninger. And then from a corner someone was allowed a clear header but directed it high and wide. On 10 minutes Henry made space for a shot on the edge of the box but scuffed it soft and low to the keeper. Just after this he turned brilliantly as he collected a pass on the right, beating the offside trap in the process. He brought it on and passed nicely across the field to Overmars on the left. Marc cut back inside his man and then pulled his shot wide of the near post. Then Petit chipped beautifully to Overmasr in the box again. He chested it down but had to reach up with his foot to get the shot in. He did well to flick it over the keeper but it cleared the bar. Ljungberg and Henry linked up nicely on the left. Thierry fooled his marker by feigning to cross, and got past to the goal-line. He chipped it into the box but as so often seemed to be the case there just weren't the bodies in there (although we were attacking in numbers almost constantly for long periods), and it was headed over his own bar by a defender. After about 15 minutes Henry took a corner from the left which Grimandi flicked on at the near post. It came to Suker, a few yards beyond the far post. He tried to direct it goalwards as it landed but could only hit it straight off the pitch. Henry picked up a nice ball forward from Overmars but his shot was blocked. It came back to Marc who blasted low (again) and wide of the near post (again). Manninger was showing his weak spot again, with some extremely dodgy clearances after back-passes. One went straight to David Lee (looking much the same, but thinner on top) on their right. He nutmegged Silvinho and ran into the space beyond, but fortunately he played it too hard and the ball came through for Alex to gather. On 24 minutes Silvinho took a throw on the left to Overmars who played in infield for Grimandi in a not very dangerous-lookng way. Gilles touched it on, wound himself up, and whacked the living daylights out of the ball. From a few yards outside the box it flew into the far corner of the net moving about sideways as it went, giving the keeper no chance. His form so far makes him a good candidate for "find of the season" and 3 goals in 3 games is just the icing on the cake. Well played Gilles. The French coach could do a lot worse (I'd have him in the England side any day on this form!) At the other end they nearly came back into it straight away. Adams went for a ball in the air with Murphy and missed it, the ball falling to young Nowland. But Luxhny got a toe in at the last moment as Nowland created a shooting chnace for himself. Then came a classic example of how useful sometimes Grimandi makes himiself, often without touching the ball. Dixon received it on the right wing a few yards inside their half and came forward a bit weighing up the options. While other players milled around a bit trying to make themselves available (including Ljungberg who as Parlour's deputy might have been expected to be providing closer support), Gilles charged right over from the other side of the pitch, and overtook Lee down the touchline pulling a defender away from him. This allowed Dixon to coem infield, and he unleashed a nice shot which forced a good save at the near post. Speaking of Freddie, he had a tricky chance shortly after. A nice cut back and cross from Silvinho came to him in the middle of the box, but it was slightly behind him so he had to reach back for the header and couldn't keepit down. Then with 5 minutes to go in the half they won a throw on their left wing about half way into our half. It was played back a bit and then whipped in goalwards. Phil Clarkson was on hand just in front of Adams, and he got a good touch to deflect it past Manninger into the inside of the side netting leaving the keeper with no chance. The Pool fans starting sining "you're not singing anymore" which was met with the perfectly accurate but still strange "we weren't singing anyway". Hardly something to crow about..? Arsenal upped the tempo again for the rest of the half. Overmars had a nice run and cross but it went just behind Suker who couldn't gather it. Then Ljungberg won a free-kick deep on the right, only a few yards in from the goal-line. With Adams et al milling around in the box everyone was expecting a cross, but instead Petit whipped it in low towards the near post. The keeper got down to it but couldn't hold it, and they bundled it away for a corner. Grimandi almost got a goalbound header at the far post from the corner, but having fought past/over a defender to get to it at all he didn;t have a clear enough opportunity to get proper weight on the header and it was scrambled away. The half ended with Henry and Overmars linking up again, with the Frenchman putting Marc clear only for him to lash it (narrowly) wide. This time, perhaps aware that he'd missed low at the near post rather often, he blasted it high and wide of the far post. Never mind Arsenal should have had a hatful, Overmars could have scored about 8 in the first half. We didn't pile it on quite as much in the second half, especially the first 25 minutes until Kanu and Hughes came on. Grimandi got a great cross in from the right which Henry received with back to goal. He poked the ball back under pressure but there wasn't anyone there. Then there was another move down the right. Ljungberg laid the ball back to Dixon who played it forward and inside to Suker who flicked it on first-time for Ljungberg to run onto down the wing. But his cross was blocked and cleared. Overmars won a fre-kick, being pulled back a few yards outside the box just to left of centre. Henry cureld it over the wall to the left post but the keeper was alive to it despite Adams's efforts to stand in front of him to block his line of sight. Adams got jeered and "eey-ored" a bit as he shepherded the ball out for a goal-kick in front of the visiting fans, leading to another nice song "you're just a town full of donkeys". Someone tried to start up "we all agree Brighton is nicer than Blackpool" which, having been born in a Brighton suburb, I was keen to support. But it never got off the ground. 10 minutes into the half Grimandi whacked the ball goalwards again from about 35 yards. I say "goalwards", actually it went well high and wide. In his defence, we had been screaming at him to shoot whenever he got the ball, and this was one of the more sensible of those times. Suker got us another free-kick, being tripped by the Blackpool skipper Hughes as he dummied and jinked his way across the edge of the box. This time Petit chipped it over the wall from the right hand side of the box and it just cleared the bar. Then Petit fed Henry beautifully from the left wing and Thierry tried to side-foot it in first-time in the middle of the box but could only watch it clip the bar as it went over. Overmars had a shot charged down, and then missed another good chance craeted by Silvinho. Suker did a classy lay-off to Hneyr, back-heeling the ball on the volley after it had been somewhat fortuitously deflected to him. Henry took it on down the right and shot low at the keeper from the edge of the box. Then Dixon popped up in the box and had a shot blocked for a corner. Petit flighted it in from the right towards the far post where Henry tried a scissor kick from 10 yards out. He onlyt succeeded in deflecting it on to Overmars further out on the left. Marc drove it low into the box and Adams turned it into the net to regain the lead. On 71 minutes Wenger made the double substitution, Kanu as a direct replacment for Suker and Hughes coming on for Ljungberg but moving to the left of midfield (with Overmars going over to the right). We had a few more chances in the last 20 minutes but to be honest I never thought we'd score again, and it felt a bit unreal when Overmars finally put one in on the stroke of 90 minutes. Rather, it had the feel of one of those Cup nights when fate is against us, and although they didn't have many good attacks it seemed almost inevitable that Blackpool would equalise. They had a corner awarded for a cross which seemed to go straight off Lee's boot and off the pitch clearing everyone in the box (that's David Lee, not Dicko). The corner was cleared but it came back in and Luzhny had to pull off a great tackle to prevent the goal. The resulting corner was cleared and we broke, but when Overmars drove a cross square from the right wing to Hughesy in the centre he couldn't control the pace and it bounced forward to the keeper. They came forward again and Manninger did well to pluck a long cross out of the air at a stretch near his left-hand post. They had a free-kick to the right of the box, level with the far edge of the D. Rather than bang it goalwards they tried a clever one slipped outside the wall for someone to run onto. It looked like they'd screwed it up when the guy got there too late and played it off the pitch but again a corner was given (it looked to me like Grimandi had only played it after it had crossed the line), Fortunately we got a free-kick as the corner came in for a foul in the box, and seconds later Overmars got the 3rd goal at the other end so we could finally relax for the 2 minutes of injury time. report by Rupe. Other reports
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