Arsenal vs Sheffield_WednesdayHighbury, Tuesday 9th May 2000. kick-off 7.45pmFA Carling PremiershipPreview
Result : Arsenal (1) 3 Sheffield Wednesday (0) 3
Scorers: Dixon 34, Silvinho 78, Sibon 58, De Bilde 60, Quinn 70
Henry 79
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Luzhny, Keown; Grimandi,
Vieira, Parlour, Overmars; Kanu, Henry
Subs: Bergkamp (Parlour h-t), Silvinho (Winterburn 63),
Malz, Vernazza, Manninger
Sheff Wed: Pressman, Atherton, Walker, Nolan, Hinchcliffe,
Sonner, Jonk, Haslam, Horne, Booth, Quinn
Subs: Sibon (Haslam 56), De Bilde (Sonner 56),
Briscoe (Horne 83), Humphreys, Srnicek
Att: 37271
Ref: Jeff Winter (Stockton-on-Tees)
A somewhat surreal game at Highbury last night. Arsenal had nothing to
play for and for 60 minutes played like it. Wednesday theoretically
still had something to play for, but for 55 minutes played as though
they didn't. When both teams finally woke up in the 2nd half we were
treated to 5 goals in a little over 20 minutes.
In the first half, well I believe there must have been 45 minutes of football, but terminal boredom must have erased my memory of much of it because I don't remember a great deal. To be fair, the Owls did work quite hard at denying Arsenal space and time, but I don't think the Gunners were trying overly hard at overcoming the problem. Needing to win, the Owls played with only one striker, perhaps a subtle tactic which escaped me. We did get a goal about 10 minutes before half time, almost inadvertently. Henry knocked the ball past Nolan on the left and pulled the ball back along the 6yd line. As usual there was no-one in the middle, but the ball reached Dixon as he steamed in beyond the far post. I suspect he was just trying to stop the ball going out, perhaps an injustice, but anyway he somehow squeezed it between the unguarded posts, to cheers of almost shocked surprise. Beforehand Henry had whipped a 20 yard shot against the foot of Pressman's right hand post, afterwards Grimandi forced the keeper into a good save with another 20 yarder, but otherwise that was about the sum total of significant action in the first half. The second half started with Arsenal signalling their disinclination to defend by replacing Parlour with Bergkamp and virtually playing a 4-2-4 formation. It took a while for Wednesday to cotton on, but eventually Shreeves did, bringing on two more strikers, Sibon and De Bilde. Inspired substitution, or obvious one, it paid dividends. Sibon scored with his first touch, climbing above Vieira to head home Jonk's corner, and 2 minutes later De Bilde had put the visitors ahead, taking advantage of some slapdash defending to break clear and sidefoot past Seaman from 15 yards. Shocked out of complacency Arsenal began to make more urgent attempts at the other end, Silvinho coming on for Winterburn to add to Arsenal's attacking options, but it was the visitors who could have gone 2 up. Jonk hit a shot from the edge of the area which Seaman couldn't hold, Sibon picked up the rebound, and chose the difficult option of dinking it over Seaman instead of shooting. He executed the first bit perfectly, but the easy second bit, sidefooting into the empty net from 3 yards diagonally out from the left hand post, he muffed, somehow managing to hit the post. A letoff for Arsenal we might have thought, but not so, because a few minutes later Wednesday did go 3-1 up. Some more sloppy defending just outside the area allowed Quinn to run through, albeit looking offside, round Seaman and tap into the empty net. Arsenal now did rouse themselves. Bergkamp battled in midfield to keep possession and then kept going on a run before hitting a left foot shot from the edge of the area which grazed Pressman's left hand post. That particular post was leading a charmed life - early in the half Henry similarly missed by a whisker when Kanu touched the ball back to him in the area, and later in the half Bergkamp had another couple of shots from the edge of the area which both seemed to bend away at the last moment to go just wide. I think Kanu also missed the same post by a similar margin, and Bergkamp had a goal-bound shot deflected just wide of the opposite post. Just as the visiting fans might have been dreaming of an unlikely victory though, Arsenal did eventually hit back with 2 goals in two minutes. Silvinho ran on to a half cleared corner to hit a tremendous 25 yard shot which flashed diagonally across the area to finish just inside that hitherto seemingly charmed left hand post of Pressman's. Less than 2 minutes later Arsenal were level. Bergkamp sent Overmars away down the left, he checked back in the area before laying the ball back for Henry, and from just inside the area the young Frenchman sidefooted a waspish shot which flew past Pressman and inside his near post. Arsenal could then have won it in the last few minutes, but all those shots went just wide. Hard to criticise Arsenal for not trying too hard, with 2nd place assured and the UEFA cup final coming up. It was nice to see them able to change out of bottom gear when they had to though.
Seaman 7.0 Had a great first half, managing to end it with not a
hair out of place. Bit busier in the 2nd half, picking
the ball out of his net.
Dixon 7.5 One of the few to show willing in the first half, with
that unlikely goal topping it.
Winterburn 7.0 Also tried hard as ever, but I think his lack of match
practise is showing somewhat.
Silvinho 8.0 Ample demonstration of why he's replaced Nutty as first
choice left back.
Keown 7.0 Little to do in the first half, and seemed a little
taken aback that there was more work in the 2nd.
Luzhny 6.5 Not his best game at centre half, caught out during
that brief Wednesday attacking patch.
Grimandi 6.5 Also not his best game of the season.
Vieira 7.5 Casually imperious at times, and kept Arsenal ticking
along most of the time.
Parlour 7.5 Again worked reasonably hard, one of the few in the
first half to do so.
Overmars 7.5 Looking a little bit more like the Overmars of a couple
seasons ago, though he's still not attempting to go
round full backs any more.
Bergkamp 7.5 Worked pretty hard to get Arsenal going in the second
half, would have had at least a hattrick if he'd
adjusted his aim slightly.
Kanu 7.5 The usual lovely touches at times, one or two bits
of over elaboration at others.
Henry 8.0 Looked a little tired towards the end again, spent a
lot of the second half wide on the left, but again
kept trying.
Derek
Other reports
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 |