Sheffield_Wednesday (0) 1 - 1 (1) ArsenalHillsborough, Monday 3rd January 2000. kick-off 3pmFA Carling PremiershipPreview
Sheffield_Wednesday (0) 1 - 1 (1) ArsenalHillsborough, Monday 3rd January 2000. kick-off 3pmFA Carling Premiership
scorers: Sibon 56 Petit 40
Arsenal:
Seaman
Luzhny Adams Grimandi Silvinho
Ljungberg Vieira Petit Overmars (Winterburn 26)
Kanu (Suker 71) Henry
Arsenal had the better of the first half and probably
should have scored more than the one, but we looked to
be in second gear until the goal went in, and didn't
really deserve any more.
Grimandi made some good blocks as Wednesday pressured in the opening minutes, but was then caught in possession by Sibon and was lucky not to get shown a yellow card. From the free-kick Alexandersson had a shot which he dragged wide. As things went on Arsenal came to dominate more, and we had a few decent chances, mostly falling to Ljungberg and Henry. On 20 minutes Overmars went down injured but Kanu picked the ball up and put Ljungberg clear on Srnicek in the Wednesday goal. It was a great chance, free on the right hand side, but Freddie only managed to put the ball at a nice height right into Srnicek's arms. Meanwhile Overmars was obviously in some discomfort. He was stretchered off and before long Nigel Winterburn was coming on. But before that could happen Petit got caught in possession and Adams had to make a great tackle to recover the ball. Tone tried to make a big clearance but he only succeeded in crashing it into a Wednesday player. It bounced forward but fortunately their striker was called offside. Winterburn came on as left-back and Silvinho went up into Overmars's position in midfield. Reports (on the radio) from the dugout suggested that it's an ankle that Marc's injured, and that it may not be too serious. Henry tried a couple of curlers, and Kanu had a shot from a danegrous position which ballooned high and wide thanks to a timely touch from Andy Hinchcliffe. On 37 minutes Sibon headed wide after beating Grimandi to a cross. But almost immediately we were ahead. Petit did a one-two with Henry, then burst through into the box. It looked like he'd poked it too far but Srnicek was a bit slow getting off his line and Manu was able to poke it through his legs into the net. The half then finished with an exciting few minutes, the ball breaking from end to end, with the best opportunities squandered by Arsenal. Henry played the middle man in another one-two, this time with Kanu, but the Nigerian was blocked on the edge of the box. Looked a clear foul but the ref did nothing. At the start of the second half Henry forced another save from Srnicek when he really should have scored, and then Adams blocked Jonk cleverly (foul but no card) to prevent a dangerous Wednesday break. Hinchcliffe blasted a shot high over the bar from the free-kick. 10 minutes after the break Wednesday pulled level. It was a simple cross from Nolan on the right. Sibon was clear on the far post and direceted his header back across goal and past Seaman for 1-1. Terrible defending. Luzhny was having a noticeably poor game, especially after the very impressive performance against Leeds the other day. He did get a decent ball into the box eventually, and Kanu headed wide. One of few chances that fell the way of the Nigerian today, playing his last match for us before heading off the help Nigeria's cause in the African Nations Cup (ArseWeb wishes you the best of luck, Kanu!). Then Luzhny got booked for a nothingy foul. Wenger changed things up front on 71 minutes, bringing Kanu off for Suker. This partnership of Suker and Henry might have to be it for a few weeks, if Bergkamp's protracted come-back continues. It'll be interesting to see if young Barrett gets a chance from the bench if Dennis in't back for Sunday's FA Cup tie. Then Silvinho lost his man and the ball was headed for Alexanderssen, whose volley across the goal bounced back out off the foot of the far post. Ljungberg and then Petit headed goalwards to make Sricek dive and put it out for successive corners. The last minutes were very nerve-wracking. We had a string of corners, but the ball was breaking the other way too and it was end-to-end for a while. A bit of a come-down after beating Leeds in such impressive style. With Leeds falling (at home) to Aston Villa, todays winners were Man Utd. They're be clocking up games-in-hand (2 so far) and they're still a few points clear of us. What a peculiar holiday period. Can we really only perform against the good sides? Leicester will be hoping...
Result : Sheffield Wednesday (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 1
Scorers: Sibon 56 Petit 40
Arsenal: Seaman, Lunzhny, Silvinho, Adams, Grimandi; Petit,
Vieira, Ljungberg, Overmars; Kanu, Henry
Subs: Winterburn (Overmars 25), Suker (Kanu 74),
Dixon, Keown, Manninger
Booked: Luzhny
Sheff Wed: Srnicek, Nolan, Atherton, Walker, Hinchcliffe,
Alexandersson, Jonk, Sonner, Briscoe, Sibon, De Bilde
Subs: McKeever (Briscoe h-t), Cresswell (Sibon 78),
Pressman, Staniforth, Nicolson.
Booked: Nolan
Att: 26155
Ref: Mike Reed (Birmingham)
There seems to be something about Sheffield that doesn't agree with
Arsenal. Perhaps there's something in the air that drains the life from
the Gunners - doesn't do too much for the local football teams or
Italians come to think of it, but that's probably just my own sour
grapes. Five times in the last 5 or 6 years I've made the fruitless
trip up there, and yesterday's dire match yielded the best tangible
result, ie a point and a goal, but possibly the worst performance I've
seen from an Arsenal side in the last 3 years
On paper it was the same 11 that started the match against Leeds. On the pitch it seemed completely different, and I can only think it was complacency and perhaps pity for the team which has made the worst start in Premiership history which was to blame. The first half in particular was a turgid affair with Wednesday lacking in confidence and Arsenal lacking any impetus. It was however the home side which created the first real goalmouth excitement when a flick by Sibon found Alexandersson free to the right of goal but he dragged his angled shot wide of the far post. Thereafter Arsenal controlled much of the rest of the half, though only infrequently threatened a goal at the other end. The Gunners' first real chance came when Overmars rode a couple of tackles on a run through the middle and slipped a pass forward to Kanu who in turn put Ljungberg in on goal just inside the area on the right. The Swede had to hit an instant shot which Srnicek did well to cling on to. Meanwhile Overmars had gone down injured after Alexandersson had fallen onto him as he tried to stop the run, and the flying Dutchman had to be stretchered off with what looked quite a severe ankle injury. Winterburn came on as sub, and went to his normal left back position with Silvinho moving up onto the left wing. There was a certain amount of excitement in the last few minutes of the half. Sibon headed Alexandersson's cross a couple of feet wide of the near post, but then soon afterwards Arsenal took the lead. In one of the few good moves of the half Ljungberg played the ball forward to Henry who played a beautiful first time flick through for Petit to burst onto, clear of the defence. He took it on into the area before stabbing the ball through Srnicek's legs as he dashed out, and into the net. The goal prompted the home side into somewhat more concerted effort at the other end, but a couple of threatening attacks were snuffed out and it was from a break that Arsenal had the chance to increase their lead. Kanu dribbled forward at speed and passed forward to Henry in space on the edge of the area. He looked to have time and space for a shot but chose to try and play a return pass as Kanu continued his run. It was probably slightly too far in front of the Nigerian though, who anyway tumbled to the ground claiming he'd been baulked by a defender. The ref waved play on. Kanu was was slipping over a lot in the first half, seemed to have the wrong studs on... A couple of minutes into the second half Arsenal should have gone two up. Kanu played the ball forward to Henry on the edge of the area. The Frenchman produced a lovely turn to get away from his marker and leave himself with only Srnicek to beat. His left foot shot was telegraphed and weak though, and the keeper was able to drop gratefully onto it. That proved the turning point of the game, and the Owls surprised their fans 10 minutes later with an equaliser seemingly out of nothing. Nolan curled a high hopeful cross to the far post were Sibon materialised beyond Luzhny and Vieira to head powerfully past Seaman from the corner of the 6yd box. Wednesday then grew in confidence and looked marginally the likelier winners until the closing minutes. Petit did have a half chance but Srnicek saved his 20 yarder fairly comfortably, and Kanu had more than half a chance but put a free header from Luzhny's cross a foot or so past the angle of post and upright. It was the other end though that saw the closest thing to a goal. The ball reached Alexandersson in space a few yards outside the area, Silvinho slipped as he tried to close him down, and the Swede swivelled to hit a 20 yard volley which bounced out off the outside of Seaman's left hand post with the keeper nowhere. In the closing minutes the Wednesday fans were howling for a penalty when Adams misjudged a bouncing ball and both he and Cresswell went down in a heap. As far as I could see though it was Cresswell who initially pulled Adams down, and the ref waved play on. Arsenal finally got some sort of concerted pressure on the home goal in the final few minutes and went very close to snatching the winner from a couple of corners. First Henry's kick from the left found Ljungberg unmarked about 12 yards out but Srnicek made a plunging save to push the header round the post. From the resulting corner Suker's kick was flicked goalwards at the near post by Petit, but the keeper was again equal to it, doing well to push it over the bar. Match of the day on TV later highlighted the fact that Sonner flicked a hand at the ball which took a bit of pace off Petit's flick, so Arsenal should have had a penalty, though as nobody else in the ground seemed to see it, unsurprisingly the ref didn't either. All in all a particularly disappointing result and performance from Arsenal, especially following the manner in which Leeds were beaten by the same team 6 days previously. I can't help thinking that a lot of them just turned up expecting to win, and never really managed to rouse themselves to find the inspiration to achieve that result. The one bright spot I can think of is a measure of danger from corners again. Arsenal seem to have settled on the near post corner as favourite again, with Petit managing to flick on several times (noticeable in the Leeds game too).
Seaman 6.5 Hard to mark - made a couple of good catches but apart
from the goal where I'd be inclined to mildly
criticise him, he didn't have a difficult save to make.
Luzhny 6.0 Looked sloppy and slow defensively and only rarely got
forward.
Silvinho 6.5 Did reasonably well overall particularly from fullback
in the first half, though I think his positioning is
sometimes suspect.
Winterburn 6.0 Seems to have lost confidence and certainty.
Grimandi 7.0 Looked the most solid defender on the whole I thought,
though both he and Adams seemed way out of position
for the goal.
Adams 6.5 Somewhat uncertain at times, but was doing his best
in the closing stages to drive Arsenal forward.
Petit 7.0 Slightly mixed game, seemed to be making a conscious
effort to get forward, but at times seemed a bit
lackadaisical.
Vieira 6.5 Looked a bit rusty and sloppy at times, but otherwise
did a quiet job of the holding midfield role.
Ljungberg 6.0 Worked reasonably hard as ever, but I find his tendency
to wander all over the pitch and his frequent poor first
touch somewhat frustrating.
Overmars Arsenal lost a bit when he went off as he'd looked the
most threatening player.
Henry 6.0 Rather a hit and miss game, a couple of lovely touches
set up Arsenal's best chances but otherwise he didn't
do much right.
Kanu 6.0 Looked lackadaisical again, wanting too much time on
the ball. Both he and Henry were too static most of
the time.
Suker Didn't really see much of the ball, apart from when he
drifted wide.
Derek
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