Arsenal 2 Barcelona 4
Saving space for later
by Myles Palmer
FEATURES
THE ARSENAL AGM - FULL WRITE UP
FIVE REASONS: ARSENAL COULD WIN IN BARCELONA
CARLTON AND ITV UPSET US AGAIN
JEKYLL AND HYDE PLAY THE NOU CAMP
Six things have to be said about Tuesday night's exciting disappointment.
1 Arsenal don't have any home games. They played their best football of the season in the second half against Everton and won 4-1.Then they moved to Wembley three days later and were thumped 4-2 by Barcelona.
Arsenal are the only team in the Champions League who don't have any home games.Big disadvantage.
2 Tony Adams had a bad night. He was unlucky conceding a penalty, slipped on the second goal, then scuffed a left-foot shot into the ground from five yards. He might have done better with two headers.
The second was a difficult half-chance when Bergkamp's freekick
deflected off the
wall, just before Bergkamp made it 2-1.
3 Arsene Wenger had a bad night. He picked the wrong team. He did not use his subs till he was 4-1 down.
Wenger should not have played Ray Parlour in central midfield. He did that against Man Utd and it did not work. Parlour was at fault for the winning goal when Giggs took it off him and his shot was deflected for Keane to make it 2-1.
Parlour's man, Cocu, made two runs which produced two goals. Parlour is a third midfielder, not a second midfielder. He is good at tucking in with Vieira and Petit, working forward off them, linking with Bergkamp.
Manninger had a good game in the Nou Camp, after recovering from the mistake that led to Vieira's boob gifting Luis Enrique the goal in that 1-1 draw. Manninger should not have been dropped against West Ham.
Seaman is 36, looks slow, and has never been as brave since his rib injuries. Against Preston he punched a high ball in the six yard area with nobody near him. Six years ago he would have caught it with one hand.
Van Gaal shocked us by dropping goalkeeper Hesp after the 3-3 v Numancia, and playing his youngster, Arnau, who was superb.
The second turning point of the game, after the Cocu penalty dive, came at 2-1 when Bergkamp put Ljungberg through with a brilliant pass. Arnau came out fast to prevent the Swede from shooting, jockeyed him to the corner of the six yard box and the chance slipped away.
Seaman has had a long and magnificent innings. He is up there with the all-time great goalkeepers. For at least four years he was better than Schmeichel because he was calmer, less temperamental.
If Barcelona can play Arnau in goal at Wembley and win 4-2, Arsenal can play Manninger against Fiorentina.
4 The counter-attacks by Barcelona were devastating. Guardiola's passes down the channels were superb, and target man Kluivert's one-touch / two-touch play was class. He was very good, but not as good as Kanu, who was magnificent.
Rumour has it that former West Ham and England manager Ron Greenwood was coaching some kids and said, "When you see a space, for Christ's sake don't run into it. Because it won't be a space anymore."
Arsenal v Barcelona was a bit like that. A pitch full of spaces Barcelona decided not to run into because they wanted to save them for later.
As an exercise in selective attack this game would make a textbook video. The near misses were as good as the goals: Figo's left foot rocket which Seaman tipped onto the post to prevent 0-3, and Figo's header just over the bar from Kluivert's cross on 49 minutes.
Figo made it 3-1 seven minutes later.
Louis van Gaal had learned more from the Nou Camp encounter than Wenger. So Barca had a superior game plan and would have won anyway, without the penalty gift.
They were cool, shrewd, relaxed, didn't support their attacks, didn't use overlappers, didn't flood the box, and only won one corner against Arsenal's 13.
The Arsenal back four had no crosses to deal with, no balls to compete for, so there was an element of Muhammed Ali rope-a-dope about the night.
Arsenal wore themselves out and never saw the punches coming. It was the same old same old same old same old same old failure by an English club. A lot of huff and puff, then picked off by slick counter-attacks and precise finishing.
Yes, there was tremendous skill shown by Kanu, Bergkamp, Vieira and Overmars.
But Barcelona's mathemetical and geometrical style was so economical. Incredibly economical. Very little energy was wasted, very few passes were wasted. They seemed to have 13 players to smother every Arsenal move and counter-move.
At one point Ljungberg was being forced to dribble in the centre circle with three grey shirts round him.
5 The Arsenal crowd was fantastic. I have never heard the crowd so supportive.When the penalty was awarded they sang, "Seaman! Seaman!" because big Dave has been the penalty-saving hero so many times against, Millwall, Sampdoria, Scotland.
When Luis Enrique made it 2-1 they sang "We love you Arsenal, we do!" At 3-1 they sang, "Stand up for the Arsenal, stand up for the Arsenal."Very loudly. They got behind the team when Overmars made it 4-2 after 84 minutes, even though everyone knew in their heart of hearts that a draw was science fiction.
Barca had only 3000 fans there. The rest were Gooners who cheered, sang and encouraged their team. They were passionate, optimistic, faithful and marvellous.
I would give each of those 70,000 fans an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in a Documentary Horror Film.
Five years ago Juventus coach Marcelo Lippi said, Ajax's greatest virtue is their patience. Ajax were willing to pass the ball sideways for 83 minutes, then score.
Ajax have moved to the Nou Camp now.
If Lippi had been at Wembley he would have said, Barcelona's greatest virtue in a Champions League away game is their patience.
6 Barcelona are cynical masters of the strategic foul, 40 yards from goal, where the trip/bodycheck/handball is less emotive and the free-kick less of a threat.
We had fair warning last weekend in that candid quote from Frank De Boer when he admitted whacking Overmars.
He said, "The Barcelona mentality is a lot more ruthless than that of Ajax or Arsenal. Against Arsenal I floored Marc Overmars when he threatened to break through. It was a strong tackle. Bang, wallop. Marc was left on the ground and I was given a yellow card, but in Spain these methods are used. It was a professional foul in the heat of the game.
"Marc was furious and I was told Dennis Bergkamp tried to get me sent off later. It was bad sportsmanship on his part but, maybe, he felt justified. Bergy shouldn't complain too much, though. If there was one player who should have been sent off it was him for an horrendous foul on Rivaldo. He kicked Rivaldo after the ball had gone. Dennis is my mate in the Holland team. That's why I couldn't believe it."
After nine seconds, Guardiola grabbed Kanu, who had dispossessed him, and threw him on the ground. Their cynicism took only nine seconds to surface.
After 14 minutes Cocu cheated with that dive.
Swiss referee Urs Meier fell for Cocus dive because it was a dive of genius, the most subtle, most beautifully-timed, most understated, most elegant demonstration of cheating that you will see in the entire Champions League season.
Even Louis van Gaal said, the next day, that Adams did not touch him.
Meier gave a penalty and Rivaldo scored superbly with a power-shot into the corner.
Arguably, that refereeing decision cost Arsenal two goals, not one.
Keown was off the field having treatment behind the goal, and the team, shell-shocked and furious, conceded a second 90 seconds later.
Figo made a terrific stretch to beat Winterburn and flick on for Luis Enrique, whose finish was perfection.
After 18 minutes, Figo fouled Vieira and got a yellow card. After 21, when Bergkamp juggled the ball past Abelardo, the defender handled and got a yellow card.
After 42, Reiziger obstructed an Overmars run but escaped a booking.
Arsenal's four midfield players only committed three fouls in the game.
Barcelona's four committed 10 fouls. Not a big total, but it shows their strategic ruthlessness.
Today I talked to loyal fan Kelvin Lewis from Essex, who agreed that Wenger made mistakes.
He said,"Everybody thought he got it wrong. My heart sank when I saw the team he put out. We needed somebody like Silvinho to prop up the left side. He should have brought Suker on much sooner."
So there you have it. The manager got it wrong. He got his arse kicked, so maybe he will learn the lessons.
As Wenger stood up from the bench at the final whistle, and we saw his face on TV, he looked humbled.
We all do it. We all make mistakes. We know the Champions League is a learning curve for the club, the players and the manager. And the fans and journalists.
We all sympathise with Wenger because we are sure that he did not want to play at Wembley last season, and we are 100% certain he didn't wanna go back this season.
But the club did it for the money.
Arsenal (4-4-2): Seaman; Dixon, Keown (Upson, 74), Adams, Winterburn; Ljungberg (Suker, 77), Parlour, Vieira, Overmars; Bergkamp, Kanu (Henry, 77). Substitutes not used: Manninger (gk), Vivas, Silvinho, Luzhny.
Barcelona (4-3-3): Arnau; Reiziger, Abelardo, Bogarde, Sergi; Cocu (Zenden, 90), Guardiola (Dehu, 90), Luis Enrique (Gabri, 73); Figo, Kluivert, Rivaldo. Substitutes not used: Hesp (gk), Litmanen, Dani, Puyol.
Wednesday 20th October 1999