Arsenal (0) 0 - 1 (1) LiverpoolHighbury, Sunday 13th February 2000. kick-off 4pm (live on Sky)FA Carling PremiershipPreview
Arsenal (0) 0 - 1 (1) LiverpoolHighbury, Sunday 13th February 2000. kick-off 4pm (live on Sky)FA Carling Premiershipscorers: Camara 18
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Keown Grimandi Silvinho
Parlour Vieira Petit (Overmars) Ljungberg (Luzhny)
Henry Bergkanp (Suker)
subs not used: Manninger, Winterburn
Will we ever beat Liverpool in a non winner take-all match?!We're fine against 'em in cup finals and end of season championship climaxes but in run of the mill league games they definitely have the voodoo sign over us. Yesterday once again Arsenal were unfortunate on a few occasions throughout the game, where either the ball would not bounce quite right or a deflection would go to them at important times and to us when it was in an insignificant area of the pitch. Liverpool played well enough, a well taken goal and organised defending, but were never actually impressive! But then Arsenal for all their possession [again], just did not make any of it tell, which has been a problem all too frequently certainly this season, but also last season at times. Henry played well and many other players had reasonable games, with no one being outstanding, but on the other hand no one had a real stinker... although Dixon needs to forget about shooting, to say it's woeful is a helluvan understatement. On the goal we were caught out by a poorly organised offside trap again, which is happening with alarming frequency of late. Patrick Vieira's late shot slapped against the underside of the bar but cannoned back out and was cleared as Liverpool rode their luck and it was then that my fears were confirmed, that once again we were just not gonna get anything from the Scousers this season.
Result : Arsenal (0) 0 Liverpool (1) 1
Scorers: Camara 18
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Silvinho, Keown, Grimandi; Petit,
Vieira, Ljungberg, Parlour; Bergkamp, Henry
Subs: Overmars (Petit h-t), Suker (Bergkamp 59),
Luzhny (Ljungberg 77), Winterburn, Manninger
Booked: Parlour
Liverpool: Westerveld, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Matteo, Smicer,
Hamann, Gerrard, Berger, Meijer, Camara
Subs: Heggem (Gerrard 33), Murphy (Meijer 55),
Staunton, Nielsen, Traore
Booked: Camara
Att: 38098
Ref: Steve Dunn (Bristol)
Well, if there was a glimmer of hope offered by Saturday's result, it
was virtually extinguished by Sunday's. Liverpool's hit and run visit to
Highbury offered further proof of the problems Arsenal have coping with
opposition which comes with defence as their prime objective. Though to
be fair to the visitors on this occasion they also came with an incisive
counter attack which might have brought them further goals.
With Bergkamp starting his first game in 9 weeks, Arsenal started quite brightly and dominated the early possession with some crisp passing. Henry almost surprised Westerveld with a swerving 25 yarder which the keeper just got a hand to, with his defence on hand to clear the rebound. Parlour had a couple of half-chances from long range too, but typically slashed them well wide. However, Liverpool started to look dangerous when a long cross from the left found Meijer unmarked beyond the far post, but fortunately Smicer's shot from his knockback was well blocked by Keown. It was on another break with 18 minutes gone that the visitors took the lead. Ljungberg was dispossesed 20 yards inside the Liverpool half, Gerrard picked up the loose ball and released an early long pass forward. Arsenal's attempt to play an offside trap was woeful and Camara was sent racing clear from the half way line. He calmly stroked the ball round Seaman from just outside the area and into the net. So the pattern of the match was set. Arsenal dominated possession, Liverpool sat back and defended deep in their own half but were always ready to break quickly when allowed. One good Arsenal move ended when Petit set up Dixon for a half chance on the edge of the box, but his snap shot drifted a couple of feet wide of the far post. The Gunners came close a couple of minutes later when Parlour got to the byline and his cross looped up into the box off a defender, Henry cleverly hooked it on into the middle where Ljungberg turned turned one defender and skipped round another to leave himself with a clear chance. However, he wasn't quite quick enough getting his shot away and Gerrard got back to get in a superb tackle. He injured himself in the process though, and had to limp off to be replaced by Heggem who went to right back, Carragher moving into midfield. Bergkamp almost got through after a good combination I think with Silvinho, but Matteo slid in with a blocking tackle as Bergkamp tried to manouevre the space for a shot. Then Henry broke through into the left side of the area after his pace and a lovely first touch from Petit(?)'s pass took him past a defender, but the angle was tight and Westerveld was out quickly to make a good block as Henry tried to flick the ball past him with the outside of his right foot. It was Liverpool though who had the best chance late in the half. Camara's pass down the left beat Arsenal's malfunctioning offside trap again and left Meijer clean through on Seaman. This time though the keeper came out and made a good block with his right foot from Meijer's shot. Overmars came on at halftime to replace the injured Petit, but rather bizarrely went onto the right wing, with Ljungberg staying on the left and Parlour moving into the middle. However, for the opening 30 minutes of the half Arsenal were even less penetrative than in the first half and struggled to create a worthwhile chance. Bergkamp was replaced after 15 minutes by Suker and a few minutes later the Gunners did have a good appeal for a penalty turned down when Smicer clearly pushed Henry in the back as he climbed to try and head Parlour's cross from the right, but it was Liverpool who had the first clear chance of the half, 25 minutes in. Keown tried to head a long ball forward back towards Dixon, but Murphy was behind him and intercepted. He had only Seaman to beat, but failed as the keeper produced a brilliant save, somehow getting a hand to the ball to turn it aside for Liverpool's only corner of the game. It was only after Luzhny came on to replace Ljungberg, going onto the right wing with Overmars moving to his more accustomed left wing, that Arsenal finally began to create some decent chances. Luzhny himself might have scored a couple of minutes after coming on. Overmars cleverly played the ball on for the overlapping Silvinho, and his deep cross to the far post found Luzhny running in, but his goal bound shot was blocked by Matteo's arm. Assuming he saw it the ref must have ruled it accidental, but as it would have been a goal had it not hit his arm Arsenal were unlucky not to have got the penalty. However, it at last roused Arsenal and the home crowd. From the resultant corner Henry rose unmarked to head Suker's cross, but put the ball just over the bar from about 10 yards. A Luzhny cross from the right then went just over Henry's head on the 6yd line, and then another of the Ukrainian's crosses reached Overmars unmarked about 12 yards out. The ball was bouncing at an awkward height but he should still have done better than to put a volley a foot or two wide of Westerveld's right hand post. A couple of minutes later Arsenal went even closer to salvaging a point. Another Suker corner from the right was flapped at by Westerveld and reached Vieira beyond the far post. From an acute angle he hit a terrific volley which crashed against the underside of the bar and out to safety. In the closing minutes Arsenal pressed more desperately forward, Keown spending the last few minutes up front, but didn't manage to break the Liverpool defence down again. Indeed Liverpool could have rubbed salt into the wound by scoring again on the break. First Hamman broke clear down the left from the halfway line, but with no support from an acute angle his shot went wide of the far post. Then Camara went clear again but this time his finish wasn't so cool and he blasted the ball high and wide with only Seaman to beat. Needless to say, a desperately disappointing result for Arsenal, and a performance which fell some way short too. I don't think we played as badly as some are making out though - Liverpool must be given some credit for carrying out their game plan almost perfectly. I didn't think Arsenal played too badly in the first half and the the really disappointing aspect of the game was the failure in the 2nd half to really get going until the final 15 minutes. And we were somewhat unlucky not to have got a goal during the finale.
Seaman 7.5 Two superb saves seem to indicate he's getting back
towards his best.
Dixon 6.5 Didn't think he played as badly as some people seem to
think. As ever he did at least keep trying.
Silvinho 7.5 I thought he had a reasonable game too, putting over
a couple of decent crosses. He does sometimes get
caught out of position, but more often than not
recovers quickly.
Grimandi 7.0 Didn't play too badly overall, though I thought his
passing was more awry than usual.
Keown 7.0 Seemed hampered by a knock he took midway through the
2nd half.
Petit 7.5 I thought he looked significantly more determined
and up for it than has been usual this season.
Ljungberg 7.5 Possibly our most willing and effective player in the
first half, but seemed to drift out of it a bit in the
2nd.
Parlour 7.5 I thought he had quite a good game overall.
Vieira 7.0 Certainly didn't look fully fit, and gave the ball
away more than usual, particularly in the 2nd half.
Henry 7.5 Looked pretty sharp and dangerous in the first half,
though I think when Arsenal are chasing the game
against a packed defence he tends to stop making runs
and stands about waiting for the ball to come to him.
Bergkamp 6.5 Look quite sharp and up for it early on, but struggled
to make an impression later on.
Overmars 6.0 Didn't have much of an impact apart from missing one
of Arsenal's decent chances. A little strange that he
played on the right when he first came on.
Suker 6.5 Never quite got into the game, though he put over a
couple of decent corners.
Luzhny Did pretty well in the short time he was on as an
unlikely right winger. A couple of really good crosses.
Derek
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