Wenger's wonders rock White Hart Lane with a dynamic performance
Myles Palmer hails The Eleven Samurai
Tottenham 1 Arsenal 3
Wednesday 5th May 1999
Very satisfying for three reasons.
First, we got three results tonight. Three points against Spurs, Liverpool pulled back to draw 2-2 against Manchester United, and Chelsea beat Leeds 1-0, so Leeds will finish fourth whatever happens. So Leeds have nothing to play for on Tuesday night.
Secondly, I had told everybody, emphatically, that we would win. Told them that I've seen Spurs 16 times this season, and so I know exactly what Spurs can do and can't do. And there was no way Spurs could win this game. They might score a goal, but they could not win. I expected 2-0 or 2-1. I was very confident. I knew the boys had been holding back in Sunday afternoon's heatwave game against Derby. And I knew Wenger had played a slower game against Derby, starting Kanu, because he had always planned to play high-tempo football at Spurs, a night game which would be faster and fiercer.
Thirdly, this was the dynamic Arsenal that I love. Power, pace and one-touch passing. That combination of energy and skill, of maximum collective commitment and maximum precision. Razor-sharp power football which slices surgically through defences like Argentina did in 1978.
That kind of football excites me. Like Milan against Steua Bucharest in Barcelona in 1989, and Milan against Barcelona in Athens in 1994. Both European Cup Finals, both 4-0, both demolitions, both Milan teams untouchable, the first with Van Basten and Gullit, the second with Desailly and Savicevic.
This handsome, thrilling 3-1 victory was produced by Arsenal at their most dynamic. It was a highly-rehearsed, precise demolition job by eleven samurai.
My first impressions? As the Spurs players came off after the warm-up, they looked very apprehensive. Just an impression, not a lot to compare it with because I often arrive too late to see the warm-up.
The press box is behind the dug-out at White Hart Lane, and the tunnel is a few yards away, so I could see their faces clearly. The Arsenal players looked serious, but more relaxed.
Must have been weird for some of them to see Stewart Houston oragnising the Spurs calisthenics !
When the game started it was so ferocious that I became worried.
Ginola skipped past Dixon, crossed, it hit Tony Adams and went for a corner. Suddenly, I felt a tension that I had not felt on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
Bergkamp broke away, heading on, passed to Overmars, Walker saved, a left wing corner at the other end.
Then as Overmars zipped inside Freund, the German, startled by the Dutchman's supercharged scuttle, grabbed his shoulder. No yellow card from referee Steve Dunn.
Then Parlour whacked Ginola after 12 minutes for the first yellow. A good Arsenal move, Anelka to Parlour to Petit, low shot on target, Walker saved, corner.
Then, after 16 minutes, the first of three defence-splitting passes by Bergkamp. I saw Petit take off on a powerhouse sprint in the inside left position, control Bergkamp's devastating pass with one touch and lift it over Walker for 1-0.
A split-second later I realise that I had banged my notebook with my fist and shouted, Yes!
At that moment I believe that Petit is the only player in the world who could have made that run and scored that goal. On reflection, maybe Bryan Robson scored a few like it.
Lee Dixon is short with a backpass, but Chris Armstrong fires wide of the advancing Seaman. Luke Young is booked for a foul on Vieira. Anelka goes round Campbell promisingly on the bye-line. Overmars makes a break, passes to Anelka, Campbell and Young both go to ground for the block, buying the dummy, but Sol makes a lightning recovery to disposses Anelka after he takes an extra touch. Berkgkamp cruises forward, zigzags back, beating Freund, but scuffs his shot low past the post.
Then, 33 minutes, Bergkamp's pass splits Spurs again. Anelka powers through and finishes with a flourish, right-footed, straight, imperious, a killer finish from a killer pass, 2-0.
Anelka made his mind up early, a faultless flicked shot that looked casual, as if he had done it 200 times. Goodnight, Tottenham !
Four minutes later it is almost 3-0. Bergkamp picks out Anelka's left-to-right run, but his right foot hits Walker to win a corner.
From Petit's inswinger, Anelka heads against the bar. An Anelka header! That is news! That tells you how pumped up he is. This is one of Super Nics best games for Arsenal. Spurs are pressing, pressing, pressing, just ball-chasing, trying to close the gap in class with sheer energy.
Overmars has a rocket shot just wide. Then, 42 minutes, Vieira puts an arm on the dribbling Ginola, the PFA Diver of the Year crumples, a harsh free-kick. Indirect. Anderton scores.
His shot from 25 yards is very well placed, bouncing and skidding low past Seaman into the bottom corner. When those shots bounce it is hard to predict how high the ball will come up, but Seaman should have saved it.
He goes down so slowly that he must be injured, maybe with a rib injury on his left side. Seaman should have got his body behind it but maybe he was in so much pain he did not want the ball to hit his body.
Sherwood then elbows Dixon and throws the ball in his face.
Half-time, 2-1.
Two seconds into the second half Sherwood should have been sent off. From the kick-off, Anderton tangles with Vieira, who falls, and Sherwood steams in, with the ball six feet away, kicks Vieira, maybe in the groin, while he is on the ground.
Petit is outraged, as you would be, and gets a yellow card in the scuffle. Vieira has treatment for two and a half minutes. An obvious vendetta, left over from the Blackburn-Arsenal game last October?
Or was George Graham throwing tea cups in the dressing room, winding Sherwood up to play with manic spite? Because Sherwood's foul would have been bad enough in the heat of the moment, after other incidents.
But it was the first five seconds of the second half. Sherwood had been off the field for 15 minutes. What happened during those 15 minutes to put him in such a hostile mood?
A good move, Petit, Overmars, Bergkamp, Overmars, one on one again, Walker saves again. Then Anderton slides in and fouls Overmars with a rough tackle from behind, a tackle out of range, and gets a yellow card.
A Spurs mix-up, Overmars in again, left foot shot straight at Walker. After 57 minutes, Vivas for Parlour, maybe tactical, but then I see Ray, as he approaches the dug-out, half-signal his injury, putting his hand, almost absent-mindedly, into his groin.
Remarkably, Dennis Bergkamp is heading the ball tonight! In this match Dennis has already, in an hour, headed the ball more often than he has in all of the 26 Premiership games that he has started this season.
This is a high-definition performance from Dennis. He is playing like he did in the two semis against Man United. Fiery, focused, explosive, scalpel-sharp, a blond samurai splitting defences apart with devastating vision and skill.
Winterburn then steams into Freund in the box as Freund craftily lets the ball run and waits for his tackle. Technically, a penalty, but it would have been a soft one.
Overmars has a shot blocked which spins off for a corner. Petit hits a long pass for Overmars and Carr's header back almost wrongfoots Walker.
After 68 minutes, Dixon gets a yellow card for fouling Ginola. Vieira breaks away supporting Overmars, and wins a corner.
Wenger calls for Kanu to come back from warming up. After 75, Kanu for Bergkamp, then Sinton for Taricco, Dominguez for Ginola.
I would have brought on Dominguez for Armstrong. George keeps taking off Ginola. He is not a fan, and neither am I. But Ginola can sometimes lash one in from 25 yards, even if he is playing badly. And that is Spurs only hope.
Dominguez crosses but Iversen blasts wildly into the crowd. Kanu only gets one kick in 11 minutes. The game is passing him by. Suddenly, 86 minutes, he supplies the coup de grace.
Vieira knocks a free kick up to Kanu, who controls it on his chest, lets it bounce, flicks it up over Young, and rams it between Walker and his near post for 3-1. Sensational. Kanu ! Kan u believe this guy?
Poor Young, a little boy lost. And poor Sol Campbell, who has been carrying Spurs for three years and needs a long holiday. He is facing an Arsenal team which is pumped up and flying at him from all angles.
The 4,000 Gooners in the corner to our right are celebrating, singing:"We beat the scum three one, we beat the scum three one!"
Grimandi comes in for Overmars after 88 minutes, and suddenly the Gooners are going bananas. Pandemonium reigns in the corner. A wild mass of jumping bodies and laughing faces. This can mean only one thing: Liverpool must have drawn! I plug in my radio earphone. Liverpool 2 Manchester United 2. And Carragher heads wide from six yards. The Gooners chant Champions! Champions!
Final whistle. Fantastic professionalism by the Arsenal players. A performance of tremendous steel and nerve.
Spurs were due a spanking after that dismally negative 0-0 at Highbury in November, when Baardsen made four good saves. George Graham, the master tactician, got it wrong. You should never defend that high up against pace. It is suicidal. He asked for trouble.
Referee Steve Dunn had a steady game, not over-reacting to early fouls, but why did he not book Sherwood for stamping on Vieira?
Arsene Wenger was calm as usual in the press conference. He says its easy to be calm when you win.
"We had a great first half today. Our passing was excellent, our runs were great, and every time we got through the first defending of Tottenham we were dangerous. So to go back with 2-1 was very difficult.
"We needed to be very strong mentally. We came back to the dressing room thinking it should have been 4-0, and it is 2-1.
"Of course we expected a reaction of Tottenham in the second half. They fought very hard and we had to be strong and well-organised in the second half and wait for our chance. Again we missed chances in the first 20 minutes, but after Kanu came on we scored the third goal. That killed it."
"Do you have a psychological advantage going into the last week?"
"I don't know. We are consistent for a long, long time now, and we have to keep that consistency till the end. But we are not the only one who is consistent because Man U has lost only three games, Chelsea as well lost only three games. It's difficult to predict now who will win it, and how they will win it."
But surely its in your own hands again. If you keep winning, and win by enough goals, you will win the championship.
"That's what we have to try. But don't forget that they have one more game to play, so if they win their games they have more chances to score goals. So that's why I think its still in their hands."
Wenger was asked by Brian Woolnough if there was a key to the victory.
He said:"The key was that maybe they played very high, and we found the space behind them with Dennis dropping off, and finding Marc Overmars, Ray Parlour and Nicholas Anelka with their runs. Because they played in a very high position. So as long as we could find Dennis when we won the ball, and he could feed our strikers, we were very dangerous."
George Graham took it the chin. He was realistic, and generous in defeat, with flashes of anger when he talked about the first and third goals conceded by his side.
"A very good game. I thought Arsenal in the first half, were outstanding. On the break they were real, real quality tonight, especially in the first half. We got into the game just before half time with a good free-kick, gave us a lift.
"I told the boys, second half, to be more positive. Second half, for a half an hour, 35 minutes, I thought we did well. I thought we did very well. And then they broke again with real quality players."
Who would you like to win the championship, George?
"To be quite honest, I'm so focused on the job here, I don't care who wins the championship. I don't know who will win it. Its not even entered my head. I'm more concerned about getting it right here, which is gonna be a long hard job.
"Because the quality that you see from the teams at the top, they are way ahead of the rest of us. Whover wins it, wins it. And whoever wins it deserves to win it. But the best teams, I think, are way way ahead of the rest of us. Whoever wins the championship, good luck to them."
I asked:"Dominguez, do you wanna keep him next season?"
It's an interesting question. He's played very well when I've brought him on. I thought he did well tonight in little spasms. But there's a lot of work to be done here.
"Next season, to get into the top six, there's gotta be a lotta changes. I anticipate a lot of changes, hopefully. And the next stage will be to get into the top six. Tonight we saw the opposition, the quality of the players, that's how far we've got to go."
Just Arsenal and Man Utd?
"I would throw Chelsea in. I think Leeds have a lovely little team there. Whether they can get the squad of the other teams, I can't answer that. But they've got a good side just now, Leeds. Very good.
"I thought some of the defending tonight was schoolboy. I really did. I thought it was disgraceful. I thought the first goal - on the training pitch I would sort it out in no time. And the last goal, terrible defending. There were too many chances. Arsenal had lots of chances tonight. I thought the back four were not good enough.
"But I'd give Arsenal credit for assembling a very strong squad there. Not only talented, but physically very strong, so they can take you on, whatever way you wanna play it, they've got the answer to you."
Exactly right, George. Remember that next season, my old mate. Do NOT press the pressers. Sit deeper with three centrebacks. Or get one of your midfielders to mark Dennis.
Personally, I'm philosophical about winning the Premiership. I think we can, and I think we will. But I'm not worrying about it. I have enjoyed this season. The football has been fantastic at times, and it may be the swansong of the finest defence the world has ever seen.
I'm told that at Highbury there was a huge crowd watching on the Jumbotrons. Maybe 15,000, filling the North Bank and the Lower West, with Spurs programmes being sold. And an electric atmosphere.
May 7th 1999.
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