Arsenal (1) 3 - 0 (0)Wembley, Sunday August 9th 1998. kick-off 1pmCharity ShieldWe may get to see new signing Vivas, but can also expect some of the World Cup players to be rested. We may see youngsters such as Vernazza and Hughes, and hopefully such players will feel they need to show something of themselves. At this point, Arsenal go into the new season with a weaker squad than we ended the old one with (depending on your view of Platt I suppose) so it looks like the emergence of one or two of our second-string players could be the key to the season.
Arsenal (1) 3 - 0 (0)Wembley, Sunday August 9th 1998. kick-off 1pmCharity Shield
scorers: Overmars 33,
Wreh 56,
Anelka 71.
Arsenal: Seaman
Dixon Keown Adams (Bould 79) Winterburn
Parlour Petit (Boa Morte 72) Vieira (Grimandi 84) Overmars (Hughes 67)
Bergkamp (Wreh h-t) Anelka
Man Utd: Schmeichel
Neville G Stam Jonsson Irwin
Butt (Solskjaer) Keane (Berg) Beckham Giggs (Neville P)
Scholes (Cruyff) Cole (Sheringham)
Despite what the AFCi report might say, Man Utd were looking
well on top for the first half hour. They didn't create too many
clear chances though and once Arsenal took the lead we started
to dominate more. Shame not to get to see Vivas in action, but
it's also nice to see the old guard handle United so well.
Keane is back for ManU, andf typically started his rehabilitation with 2 fouls in the first few minutes of the match. Arsenal played the offside trap to effect repeatedly catching Cole out, but thery were getting plenty of crosses in when they went wide, and if they had a taller striker against our towering defence things might not have been dealt with so effectively. After Adams skied the ball in our box one time, it was nice to see Scholes's control & swivel end with a shot that troubled only the corner-flag. We had a couple of tame drives towards goal, and one piledriver from Petit that was saved by Butt's face. Arsenal had been trying to play on the break, but consistently playing the ball too strong so we ended up giving it back to Schmeichel. But the first goal came from some very nice football, Bergkamp back-heeling a pass from Vieira towards Anelka, who battled well, the loose ball running to Overmars whose fierce shot left the kepper no chance. Woryingly, Bergkamp was replaced by Wreh at half time due to a tightening of his hamstring - the same thing that kept him out of the end of the season and the start of the world cup. I'm afraid I haven't seen the second half yet. Apparently Wreh was set up by Overmars and Anelka, and beat Schmeichel at the second attempt. Anelka's third was a solo effort, aided by United's record signing Jaap Stam. Beckham was simply booed every time he touched the ball. An appropriate and not over-the-top approach, I thought. Strangely, the ManUtd fans didn't make any attempt to counter by cheering him. But the best of the Gooners' wit and vitriol was reserved for Mr E Sheringham. There were some new chants added to the likes of "Oh Teddy Teddy, went to Man Utd and you (now should be "they") won f**k all". While he was warming up it was the Arsenal fans who could be heard shouting "we want Teddy" (and Ferguson obliged). Once he was on it was "give it to Teddy", and when he went up to collect his (loser's) medal it was "Teddy's got a medal". So when the papers tell you about the Arsenal cauldron of hate directed at Beckham, please take it with a pinch of salt. Beckham'll get worse at Elland Road and any number of other places, and Sheringham got much more stick than Beckham in this game. The other point to make is that Arsenal fans were laughing at them, not threatening to kill them or stringing up effigies. More here soon. Check out the other reports...
Other reports
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