Arsenal (0) 0 - 0 (0)Highbury. Saturday August 29th 1998FA Carling PremiershipPreview & news
Arsenal (0) 0 - 0 (0)Highbury. Saturday August 29th 1998FA Carling Premiership
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon (Vivas) Adams Keown Winterburn
Parlour Petit Vieira (Hughes) Overmars
Bergkamp Anelka (Wreh)
sent off: Petit
A slightly off-the-boil Arsenal team did well in the end
to get a point form a game where we played much of it
against 12 men, and some of that with only 10 ourselves.
We should have scored in a first half which we dominated, but a massive number of offside calls got in the way of our chief tactic hitting balls for Anelka to run onto. Early on Overmars broke well and hit a lovely cross-field pass for Bergkmap just inside the penalty area on the right. He controlled it well and hit a perfect cross for Parlour in the middle of the box ... only Parlour made his run to the near post and there was no-one following up behind him. A Winterburn slip gifted a chance to Mendonca, Adams made a chanllenge but Seaman still had to come out to force Hunt wide down the goal-line. He turned it back for Kinsella whose shot from outside the box went well wide. Kinsella had a better effort later with a volley, again from outside the box, which just missed the post. Parlour did well down the right, winning a few corners rather than hitting crosses in (perhaps a better tactic since we weren't getting men into the box). From one of these Adams made room for a free header which he directed down but wide. A long spell of possession play by Arsenal led to another chance, Berkamp flicking the ball into the box where Petit took two difficult touches to control and flick it on to Overmars on the left, but the keeper Ilic smothered his shot. Ilic again did well when Anelka and Overmars worked the ball to the right for Dixon to shoot, his rising drive looked to be going in but the keeper tipped it over at a stretch. Anelka showed great control with some excellent turns and dribbles outside the box, but it was very congested around there. One time Bergkamp took the ball off him on the edge of the area and turned it back to Petit whose shot was blocked. The ball came to Winterburn and his shot wasn;t particularly well struck but forced another save. The linesman who was giving all the offsides against us (he was getting howled at for this by the East and West stands but from my vantage point I can't be too critical) looked distinctly like Christian Gross, perhaps looking into career development opportunities.He made one or two howlers, including one where Dixon did brilliantly to play the ball off a defender for a corner only to see a goal-kick given, one of those errors that's particularly frustrating to see. Another good bit of work by Anelka brought the ball into Charlton's box, and it looked like it was coming to Parlour when a defender intercepted, the ball ricocheting up off his foot to his hand. Sadly, one of those penalty claims that only the crowd appeals for. Charlton were just looking to hit us on the break and basically failed in the first half. There was another chance for them when someone got a good cut-back into the box from our goal-line, but it missed the striker who was in plenty of space to score if it had come to him. The first half ended with another shot from Arsenal. Created by Petit, this one was hit wide by Anelka. Charlton offered a bit more in the second half. Redfearn turned and beat Adams a little too easily, but his near post shot hit the side netting. Adams looked a little shaky at times but still made some telling tackles, and did some excellent approach work bursting into midfield. One example of this ended with an excellent long pass to Overmars, and an Arsenal free-kick. Then came a couple of incidents that really changed the game. First Anelka went on a run and appeared to be brought down. Then Vieira did the same. Nothing was given for either. It's hard to say from where I was, but of the two it was the second that looked the more likely to be a penalty, although Vieira may have been outside the box at the time. Petit was particularly incensed by the decisions and made it clear to the ref in no uncertain terms. It was hardly surprising to see the yellow card come out (he'd been brandishing it quite a bit but mostly to Charlton players before this). Petit was obviously still wound up because very soon after this he launched himself into a tackle, got there late, and was shown a second yellow and then the red. No question about it, really. Overmars switched to the right wing, and Winterburn started doing the work of both of them down the left. But on the other side Dixon looked to be flagging, and Vivas was brought on for him. The Anelka was brought off to be replaced by Wreh. He did well apart from a couple of badly misplaced passes, and got a decent shot in soon after coming on. Fortunately, all the chances they got were either put wide or straight at Seaman. Examples came from Vieira and Adams giving the ball away respectively, the latter going to Redfearn who was getting into the attacking play more and more. Seaman also denied Newton's shot, and Mortimer (who had come on to a great reception from the already vociferous Charlton fans, and one could see why). Hughes came on for Vieira towards the end, and we had a shout for a free-kick when Ilic appeared to catch a pass-back. Looking from the start of the season, this would appear 2 points dropped, but on the day Arsenal did well to hang onto it, even though at times after the sending off Charlton's defensive approach combined with our encouraging spells of attacking dominance made it look like they were the depleted team. Vivas looked ok but as someone else said he's no David Platt. No overhead kicks. Adams looked like perhaps he's ready for a 3 week rest like after the Blackburn match last season. Bergkamp looked like he's having his rest now, and Petit looked like he wanted a rest. For a couple of minutes he seemed intent on getting sent off, and the ref was not the type to refuse. Nigel Winterburn, though, what a geezer. He'll go on for ever, surely? And although he didn't have any veryt hard saves to make, Seaman was a key factor in hanging on to the point, which I hope will help silence his (few) detractors. Other reports
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