Manchester Utd vs Arsenal. 20/03/96

Manchester Utd (0) 1 - 0 (0) Arsenal

Old Trafford, Wednesday 20th March 1996

FA Carling Premiership

Teams
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Linighan, Marshall, Winterburn, Platt, 
         Merson, Bergkamp, Hartson, Wright
         Subs: Hillier (Bergkamp h-t), Helder (Merson 69), Rose 

Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville, Bruce, May, P. Neville, Sharpe, 
         Butt, Cantona, Giggs, Keane, Cole
         Subs: Scholes (Cole 59), McClair, Beckham

Result : Manchester United     (0) 1   Arsenal                  0 (0)
Scorers: Cantona 66

Bookings:                              Hartson
      
Att     : 50028
Referee : G S Willard (Worthing)

Another rather depressing and frustrating night at Old Trafford, as Arsenal somehow survived United's storming start and looked to be in with a chance of at least a point, only to throw it away with an error in defence. The Moaners could and probably should have been at least three goals up inside the first twenty minutes, but in the end a blinkered Arse fan such as myself, might point out they were indebted to Schmeichel for preserving the points.

I have to admit though, that United started in an attacking frenzy which penned Arsenal in their own half. It must have been ten minutes before we had an attack of any note, while shots and chances proliferated at the other end. I won't bore you with too much detail, but Seaman saved from Sharpe in the first couple of minutes, Keane hit the post, Seaman made a great save diverting an effort from Giggs onto the post, Cantona, Keane and Giggs all shot narrowly wide, Platt gifted Cole a chance which Seaman blocked, Keown cleared off the line, Cole put a free header straight at Seaman, etc, etc.

The three centre backs and Seaman all made some great last ditch and saves, and the ball just seemed to refuse to go in for United. All of which had me just start daring to hope that this might be our night. This was fed by the fact that United's defence wasn't terribly solid, and indeed as the half wore on Arsenal began to make some good chances.

Merson went on a great run from one 18-yd line to the other, but his pass inside the fullback to Bergkamp was marginally underhit and Neville (one of them I think) was just able to touch it away for a corner ahead of the Dutchman. Wright made a chance for himself on the edge of the box, but appeared to mishit it somehow and ended up just dinking the ball in to Schmeichel's arms. Hartson had a free header from a Dixon cross which he connected reasonably well with, but it went straight at the keeper, and Platt had a glimmer of a chance but was denied by a last ditch block.

With Bergkamp not appearing for the second half (apparently suffering from a virus) and being replaced by Hillier, it appeared that any chance we might have had of winning it had disappeared. However, United seemed to have run out of steam somewhat and it was in fact Arsenal who had the best chance early in the second half. Winterburn was found in a lot of space down the left, but his forward run chugged to a halt outside the area. Fortunately he was rescued by Merson who made a run outside him and Nutty gratefully slipped the ball to him. His left foot cross was cleared by Neville, but I think rebounded off Bruce in the direction of Hartson in space beyond the far post. He turned well and produced a well struck shot which Schmeichel had to save superbly with his legs.

Ferguson eventually replaced Cole with Scholes to tumultuous roars from the assembled Lancastrian, Brummie, Surrey, Essex, Irish, Scandinavian, ... masses, and he proved a worthy replacement, cocking up a couple of half chances before United were eventually saved by a mixup in the Arsenal defence. A nothing cross was played in from the left and Seaman came to collect comfortably. Unfortunately he either didn't call or Linighan chose to ignore him, because the big centre half headed the ball away, and it fell to the last person Arsenal wanted it to. Cantona chested the ball down, and knowing Seaman was struggling to get back to his line, unleashed a volley which dipped viciously and went in off the underside of the bar.

Arsenal almost hit back straight from the kickoff as Wrighty just failed to get on the end of a ball into the box. Soon after that Rioch replaced Merson with Helder in what appeared to be a straight swap, as Helder seemed to rove alongside and just behind the front two, occasionally drifting wide to the wings.

It was Helder who had probably the best chance of the half. Platt intercepted a pass, I think, on the half way line and broke towards the box with Helder and Wright in support on his right and left respectively, unfortunately not the other way round. He chose to play Helder in (probably the right choice because he seemed to be in more space, though some might say the respective finishing merits of the two should have been the criteria), and the Dutchman tried to place a sidefoot shot past Schmeichel. The keeper just managed to get an arm to it though, and the ball bobbled wide for a corner.

Schmeichel was again called into action soon afterwards when a Winterburn cross from the left found Hartson in space about 15 yards out. Hartson's first time volley was well hit but unfortunately straight at Schmeichel and the keeper was able to beat it out and a defender just cleared the rebound ahead of Helder. A foot either side and it would have been a goal.

At the other end United were more or less content with holding onto their lead and looked less interested in scoring again. They had chances to get the goal which would have taken them to the top on goal difference though. May blasted wildly over when the ball dropped to him from a corner, Scholes tricked his way clear and had only Seaman to beat but Spunky denied him superbly, and Hillier incredibly managed to keep pace with Butt as he threatened to break clear, and denied him with a superb tackle in the box which had the Moan United fans appealing for a penalty.

All in all a deperately disappointing performance from Arsenal. I blame that blue away strip myself, we just never seem to play like Arsenal when we wear it. The 3-2-1-2 formation tactically didn't seem able to cope with United's attacking play, particularly on the wings. We frequently had either Dixon or Winterburn having to cope with both of Sharpe/Neville or Giggs/Neville, with either one of the midfielders or centre backs having too far to go to get across to help. I think we were probably defending too deep as well, but otherwise the defence played pretty well under some extreme pressure. They all made some superb last ditch tackles, blocks or headers.

It was probably in midfield were we didn't compete enough, particularly in the first half, though perhaps that was down to Arsenal's commendably attacking formation with Bergkamp, Wright and Hartson up front. Nice idea, shame about the execution. Anyway I suppose it left Merson and Platt with rather a lot of ground to cover. I thought Platt had a pretty poor game overall, giving the ball away far too often. The same was true to a lesser extent of Merse, though he did make a couple of nice runs, and I don't know why he was substituted - I presume he was injured or ill as well. I thought Hillier did reasonably well when he came on, and Helder looked pretty lively with a couple of nice runs. Just wish he'd put that chance away.

I thought Hartson had a reasonable game and often had the beating of the United defence in the air. Wrighty had a pretty quiet game, perhaps partly because of the way it went, and again things weren't quite running for him. He made a point of coming over and applauding the Arsenal fans at the end of the match.

report by Derek Brwonjohn

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