Arsenal (1) 1 - 1 (1) SunderlandHighbury, Saturday 4th January 1997FA Cup 3rd round
Teams
Arsenal: Lukic Parlour Adams Bould Keown Winterburn
Vieira Morrow (Shaw) Bergkamp
Merson Hartson
Goals
Hartson (10) Gray (20)
Another match which we should have won, again dominating
the first half by a mile. Hartson scored from a header
after 10 minutes from a Merson cross, and even after
Gray equalised with a first time shot drilled throuhg
some players from the edge of the box in a rare break
for the visitors, we always looked more likely to win it.
There was one time in the first half where it seemed that we had won it, the keeper made a save in a crowded area, and Bould's follow-up was cleared from the goal-mouth. The players appealed for handball in vain, but from behind the goal it looked to me like the ball had crossed the line anyway. Their keeper kept them in it a few times, including one double save and some important gathering of crosses. Arsenal looked pretty inventive in the first half, with Merson on excellent form again, and Parlour continuing to provide the kind of wing play which he looked incapable of a year ago. Keown however was having a mare, his passing woeful even by his standards. And as time went on it was the other players who followed his example rather than the other way round. Despite the fact of our giving the ball away so much, we still dominated, and the only scares in the second half were a couple of crosses that went low across the face of the goal with no-one particularly near to them, and a coupel of long range efforts well wide. Vieira had a couple of chances laid on by Bergkamp. The first came from a flick over the top reminiscent of the ball that put Kluivert through to score at Wembley in the summer, but Vieira, who had started the move and charge through, couldn't quite reach the ball before it went through to the keeper. His second chance, in the second half, came after a good flowing move with Bergkamp finding Vieira on the overlap on his left. It looked like the shot from just inside the box was tipped over but a goal-kick was given. It wasn't far off, let's put it that way. I thought we were unlucky not to win, but you can't keep going on being unlucky like this. We have to score goals when we've got the advantage. The sooner Wright's back the better, he will always give us the edge in a match like this. Despite scoring the goal and showing some good touches, Hartson fell well short of the man he was deputising for, and several times showed himself to be on a different wavelength to Bergkamp, whose possession play was superb but was too often frustrated by not having a man making good runs for him. All too often Hartson seems to go into hiding when we're on the ball. The replay will be at Roker Park on Wednesday January 15th, and tickets are available to season ticket holders now from the box office. Wright will miss the replay as the third match of his suspension (and I believe that this will also be the first match of Hartson's suspension). The good news is that Wright now plays (if picked!) in the Everton match, and so will only have to miss one Premiership match (against Sunderland at Roker Park next Saturday). This means that he will serve his 3 match suspension with 3 matches against the same team, one to remember for future footy quizzes! Most of today's matches were off because of the weather. Check out the draw and results (when I put them up) on the ArseWeb FA Cup page.
Result : Arsenal (1) 1 Sunderland (1) 1
Scorers: Hartson 10 Gray 20
Arsenal: Lukic, Parlour, Adams, Keown, Bould, Winterburn,
Morrow, Vieira, Merson, Bergkamp, Hartson
Subs: Shaw (Morrow 70), Linighan, Bartram
Sunderland: Perez, Kubicki, Hall, Bracewell, Melville, Gray, Ord,
Agnew, Kelly, Bridges, Mullin
Subs: Williams (Agnew 53), Russell (Mullin 59),
Aiston (Bridges 76)
Booked: Williams, Melville
Another disappointing 3rd round FA Cup tie at Highbury on Saturday as
Arsenal were frustrated by a combination of their own indifferent form,
an opposition keeper in top form and bad luck. Since winning it in 1993
the Gunners have won only one FA Cup tie and this year again could only
draw at home despite an undefeated domestic home record stretching back
nearly a year. With the help of some inspirational saves from their
goalkeeper Perez, Sunderland worked hard and the longer the match went
on the less likely Arsenal looked to break them down.
It was nearly a perfect start for the home team. Hartson, deputising for the suspended Wright, produced a lovely flick to send Bergkamp through in the left side of the area. From an acute angle he flicked a right foot shot goalwards but the French keeper Perez responded with the first of many great saves and parried the ball to safety. Early Arsenal pressure then brought a series of corners on the right and from one of these the opening goal eventually arrived. Winterburn's inswinger to the near post was headed back out to him and he knocked it back to Merson, lurking just outside the area. The Magic Man curled in a cross and Hartson rose at the far post to bang in a header which gave the keeper no chance and went in off the underside of the bar from about 8 yards. Hartson then mistimed a header from what looked an easier chance as Winterburn crossed from the left, before midway through the half, Sunderland equalised more or less out of the blue. Adams left his position in an attempt to intercept on the left hand touchline, but Sunderland did well and worked the ball free to Bridges a few yards infield. He chipped a lovely little ball forward to his co-striker Mullin as he made a run towards the area. Perhaps momentarily put off by Adams' absence, Bould and Keown left Mullin to each other which gave him space to carry the ball into the box. He seemed to have a good chance himself but was eventually closed down, but then did well to hold the ball up before touching it back into the path of Michael Gray. He seemed to almost stumble into a shot from the edge of the area, but it was well hit and drifted just inside the near post. Hartson and Bergkamp then performed fairly creditable impressions of each other to manufacture Arsenal's next chance. The Welshman turned well on the half way line and then hit a superb cross-field ball which dropped perfectly over the defender's head into Bergkamp's path as he ran into the area. Following the path of the ball wide, the Dutchman rather awkwardly knocked a left foot shot past Perez as the keeper came out, but didn't get enough on it and Melville was able to get back and kick the ball off the line. Merson then came to the fore and caused the Sunderland defence all sorts of problems in the final 10 minutes of the half. First he broke from his own half, exchanging a series of 1-2s with Vieira, was held up on the edge of the box, exchanged passes with Parlour and went on a tight little dribble into the area beating 2 or 3 defenders before stumbling over as Gray mistimed a desperate attempt to try and dispossess him. Soon afterwards Merson again cut into the area on a diagonal run in from the left and this time struck a waspish shot back across the keeper which Perez saved brilliantly. Melville completed the clearance, heading over his own bar as no red shirts were in the right place to complete Merse's work. At the other end Sunderland looked dangerous on occasion but I can only recall Lukic being called into serious action once, comfortably fielding a well struck shot from just outside the area by Bridges. Just before half time Arsenal should have taken the lead again but were denied by the short-sighted referee. Hartson produced a downward header from another Winterburn corner, which Perez again did well to parry. Bould stretched to the rebound and hooked a stinging half volley goalwards. With Perez on the floor, the ball hit Melville on the line and Keown stabbed the rebound over the bar. From my position at the other end I couldn't tell, but the TV pictures apparently showed (and the Sunderland players apparently admitted) that the ball had hit Melville on the arms as he instinctively put them up to protect himself. As he was standing just behind the line the ball may even have crossed the line as well, but the ref waved aside the Arsenal protests and Melville stayed on the pitch. In the 1st minute of the 2nd half Arsenal were denied again, this time legitimately by an astonishing save by Perez. Hartson knocked a ball back to Merson from the edge of the area and Merse stabbed a superb first time pass back into space in the area for Hartson to run on to. The Welshman took it to the byline before chipping back a little cross to the near post which picked out Merson's run. He half-volleyed an instant shot goalwards from about 5 yards, but Perez was already plunging across his goal and somehow got his hands to it. Agnew went off after appearing to hurt his arm when he blocked a volleyed shot from Morrow at close range, but Sunderland didn't appear seriously disrupted though they again had Perez to thank for keeping Arsenal out. He denied Merson again as he ran into the area on the right following some good work by Vieira in midfield. The shot from an angle was well hit, though what was perhaps not a difficult save was turned into a good one when Perez held on to the ball with Hartson closing in. The French keeper then topped that with another great save from Hartson. The Welshman received a pass on the edge of the area and should have played Bergkamp in as he lurked in space on his right. However he carried on and in the end did well to get in a shot which Perez saved brilliantly with his right leg. The ball bounced straight out to Bergkamp's feet but his instantly returned left foot shot went straight into the prone keeper's arms. As the match moved into the closing minutes Arsenal didn't really manage to put any sustained pressure on the Sunderland goal, though one lovely move almost brought reward. Merson broke from the halfway line and whipped in an early ball to Bergkamp as he ran through the middle. The Dutchman had to stop to collect, but then held the ball up before touching a short pass to his left to pick out Vieira as he stormed forward. The young Frenchman steadied himself before firing in a left foot shot from the edge of the area which beat Perez but screamed just over the crossbar. There were possibly signs of tiredness in the last few minutes. Merson played a loose pass square to Winterburn which Gray nipped in to intercept and run clear into the Arsenal half. However, Merson redeemed himself, chasing back to stop the Sunderland left winger with a superbly timed tackle in the area, and Winterburn eventually managed to clear the danger. Another ultimately below par performance from Arsenal, with possibly the most disappointing aspect being the way they failed to put Sunderland under serious pressure in the 2nd half. Having said that they were rather unlucky. Perez made 5 or 6 great saves, and another ref might have awarded a penalty at the end of the 1st half and reduced Sunderland to 10 men. The replay could be interesting, with Wright and Hartson both suspended and Bergkamp possibly not fit. However, to look on the bright side, it means Wrighty only misses one league match - against Sunderland next Saturday. One or two newspapers and Martin Tyler on Sky claimed that Tony Adams was making his 500th senior appearance for Arsenal on Saturday. However, having carefully checked my records, I'm reasonably convinced it was only his 497th, so I'm not sure where the discrepancy arises.
Lukic 7.0 Not a great deal to do. Fielded the odd shot and cross
reasonably well.
Parlour 6.5 Had a good first half again, but less seen of him in the
second.
Winterburn 6.5 Still looking slightly less confident on the ball than
previously this season.
Adams 7.0 Spent most of the last 5 or 10 minutes forward.
Bould 7.0 Perhaps shares the blame with Adams and Keown for the
goal.
Keown 6.5 Gave the ball away rather more regularly than usual.
Morrow 6.0 Another fairly tidy though unspectacular game.
Vieira 8.0 For me stood out as Arsenal's man of the match. Only
Gunner to consistently play near the top of his game.
Merson 7.5 Brilliant at times, gave the ball away sloppily at
others. Still looked most likely to break down the
Sunderland defence.
Bergkamp 6.5 Not up to his recent standards. One or two of the usual
brilliant touches but possibly hampered by not being
fully fit.
Hartson 7.0 Had some good moments, but Arsenal possibly missed
Wright's more dynamic style of play.
see also today's ArseWeb Review with Ian Grant's match report. copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here |