Stoke City vs Arsenal. 23/10/96

Stoke City (1) 1 - 1 (0) Arsenal

Stoke, 23rd October 1996

Coca Cola Cup, 3rd round

See also:

Teams
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Bould, Adams, Winterburn, Platt, 
         Vieira, Merson, Wright, Bergkamp
         Subs: Hartson (Bergkamp 73), Morrow, Lukic 

Stoke: Muggleton, Pickering, Worthington, Sigurdsson, Dreyer,
       Forsyth, Whittle, Wallace, Keen, Sheron, Kavanagh. 
       Subs: McMahon (Pickering 90), Gayle, Macari          
Result : Stoke City            (1) 1   Arsenal                (0) 1
Scorers: Sheron 26                     Wright 78

Bookings:                              Hartson, Vieira, Winterburn
      
Att     : 20804
Referee : K Burge (Tonypandy)

Rather a relief to get the draw in the end as a motivated Stoke side battled and, for most of the 1st half at least, outplayed Arsenal. Macari played Sheron more or less on his own up front and the 5 in midfield chased and harried to leave Arsenal very little time on the ball. A somewhat improved second half for the Gunners earned the draw though, thanks to Ian Wright's killer instinct in front of goal.

As might have been expected Stoke started the game at 100mph, and dominated the opening exchanges. Arsenal barely put together an attack worthy of the name in the first 15 minutes or so, but despite their possession I don't think Stoke managed to force Seaman into any serious action.

It was thus rather a shock when Stoke went in front. A free kick on the right was swung into the box, Keown headed out and Merson lost control of the ball a few yards outside the area when he probably should have hoofed it clear. Keen picked up the loose ball and chipped it forward. >From my vantage point in the corner at the other end it looked as though Seaman was coming out to make a comfortable catch, but Sheron nipped in behind Adams and nicked it past him into the net.

Arsenal now began to get their act together and had the better of the last 15 minutes of the half. They looked certain to score when Winterburn had a run down the left and crossed. Vieira challenged for the ball in the middle and it spun off his head into Merson's path as he charged in at the far post. His goal bound shot was somehow deflected wide by Worthington's desperate lunge in front of him.

Bergkamp then had a run from his own half, where he somehow dribbled his way out of a knot of 3 or 4 Stoke players, which I think ended when he pulled the ball back into the box from the left. Wright missed it but the ball ran on to Dixon on the other side of the box and from his cross back in Wrighty tried a spectacular overhead kick which sailed over the bar.

Wright then tried to loop a header back over the keeper when Keown picked him out unmarked with a cross to the far post, but Muggleton was able to make an easy catch. Wrighty then looked odds on to score when he looked as though he'd outpaced 2 defenders chasing a long ball down the middle, but Dreyer somehow got back to deny him with a superb tackle. Bergkamp also had one shot on target, a 20 yarder which went straight at the keeper.

The Gunners did improve distinctly after the break, presumably as a result of Wenger's half time talk. There was a noticeable attempt to keep more possession and play the ball out from the back. It almost paid off straight away as within a couple of minutes Platt found some space just inside the area to turn and fire in a shot which again the keeper saved comfortably.

It was then Merson's turn to test the keeper. A defender muffed a clearance to present the ball straight to Merse's feet, but his instant shot, though well hit, went directly at Muggleton and didn't unduly trouble him.

At the other end Stoke could have put the tie beyond retrieval. Sheron received the ball down the left channel and cleverly beat both Adams and Keown with a touch inside which presented Keen with what seemed a clear opportunity on the edge of the area. A poor first touch took the ball away from him though, and he ended up stretching to drag a weak shot straight at Seaman. Sheron then threatened to get clear for a shot as he broke into the area, but Keown somehow got back to superbly block his shot.

At half time I must admit I'd been pondering whether this wasn't a match which suited Hartson better than a not fully match-sharp Bergkamp, and about 15 minutes from time Wenger did replace the Dutch master with the Welsh mucker. Within a couple of minutes he'd been booked when his usual flailing arms caused Whittle to collapse in a heap. Couldn't really see what happened from where I was. Vieira soon followed him into the book for a late tackle, and Winterburn soon after that on the linesman's say-so, for what seemed to me a fair 50-50 challenge.

Meanwhile Wright brought Arsenal back into the tie with a typical equaliser. A Keown boom forward wasn't cleared properly and Merson vollied the loose ball neatly forward to pick out Wrighty's run into the box. He controlled the ball on his left thigh (with the accidental help of a hand) and then turned brilliantly inside the defender to poke the ball past the keeper and just inside the post with his left foot from about 8 yards.

After that both sides pressed for the winner but without much serious danger of it arriving. The biggest scare at the Arsenal end was when Seaman came charging out of his goal to clear a ball through the middle which caught the Gunners' defence square and almost let Sheron in.

Overall a rather disappointing performance from Arsenal, particularly in the first half. Having said that, credit is due to the home side for the way they unsettled Arsenal with their tireless running. There was an improvement in the second half and I think in the end the draw was a fair result.

Seaman     6.5  My impression was that he was a bit slow reacting for 
                goal, and the way he shaped to catch the ball suggests 
                he wasn't aware of Sheron's threat. It may just be me 
                being overcritical but he has seemed relucant to come 
                off his line on occasion in some recent games.

Dixon      6.5  Fairly unremarkable game for Dixon. Didn't do a lot 
                wrong and didn't do a lot of note. 

Winterburn 7.0  Another pretty good game from Nutty.

Adams      6.5  Had quite a handful to deal with in Sheron, but on the 
                whole coped reasonably well. Still not quite back to his
                best though.

Bould      7.0  Another reasonably solid game. Perhaps less to do than
                Adams.

Keown      7.5  My man of the match. Made some outstanding tackles and
                blocks and did quite well distributing the ball from
                the back too.

Platt      5.5  I agree he had a pretty poor and quiet game. Don't know
                whether this is partly due to the role he has.

Vieira     7.0  He did seem caught out by the pace that Stoke started 
                at, but got better as the match went on. Put himself 
                about a bit in heartening fashion and made some nice 
                runs forward in the second half.

Merson     6.5  Seemed to have a slight off day for the most part, but 
                came more into it in the second half and was still the
                man most likely to create something for Arsenal.  

Wright     6.5  Was kept quiet by Sigurdsson for most of the match and 
                gave the ball away several times with misdirected lay 
                offs. But popped up with the goal and earned himself 
                cheers late in the game by twice racing back 50 yds into
                his own half to make a defensive tackle.

Hartson    6.0  Didn't really have time to do a lot, and didn't, apart 
                from getting himself booked.

Bergkamp   6.0  Not surprisingly his touch looked a bit off key, and for
                the most part struggled to get into the match.

report by Derek Brownjohn

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