Much ado about 0-0
Worst game for 3 years?
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
Ukrainian powerhouse Oleg Luzhny played well in this scrappy bore-draw against a Newcastle side fighting for Premiership survival.
The sooner Luzhny plays regularly the sooner he will forge an understanding with his fellow defenders.
The No.22 was one of the few bright spots on a profoundly disappointing afternoon.
Some fans thought this was the worst game of football in three years under Wenger.
Petit and Parlour were injured so Wenger had to make two changes.
But instead of making two changes he shook up the team by making six changes.
That did not work, so he brought Bergkamp on, then Overmars, but that did not work either.
Grimandi and Ljungberg came in for Petit and Parlour. Fair enough. Clearly, Kanu was exhausted after playing 90 minutes in the monsoon at Stamford Bridge and another frustrating 90 against Fiorentina.
So the King of Nigeria was rested. But why did Wenger drop Overmars for Silvinho and Berkamp for Henry?
Arsenal's last three goals were scored by Kanu at Chelsea. If Kanu was not playing they needed goals from somewhere, and their previous two goals were by Bergkamp and Overmars against Barcelona.
Suker needed Overmars and Bergkamp in this match, especially against Dumas, Marcellino and Dabizas, although the manager did not know Newcastle would play three centrebacks.
This was the first time they have used that formation. And surely three Premiership points were more important than a win in Stockholm on Tuesday in a meaningless game.
Bergkamp will not travel to Sweden, so he should have started against Newcastle.
Newcastle have obviously found a new steel and fighting spirit under Bobby Robson. Ruud Gullit was a joke appointment in the first place and I predicted here last October, when Arsenal stuffed the Newcastle 3-0, that Ruud would not last till Xmas 98.
Gary Speed and Rob Lee were fired up to kick lumps out of Patrick Vieira because they realised he is Arsenal's most important player.
Dabizas joined in by flattening Vieira with a late tackle as he broke down the left wing after 25 minutes.
Thierry Henry may turn out to be a £10 million winger, but he is a £500,000 centre forward. Henry is not a David Trezeguet and never will be.
However, he did OK at times in this match. He was wide with a snapshot after two minutes. He took two good inswinging corners, finding the heads of Adams and Vieira. Adams' header was well saved low down by Dutch keeper John Karelse, while Vieira's header bounced and hit Pistone and was cleared off the line by Dumas.
Replays showed it was over the line but no player appealed and nobody in the stand thought it was a goal.
Suker showed enough craft in this match to suggest he should have started against Fiorentina. The Croatian doesn't normally do much that is memorable of the halfway line, but he made a superb through pass after half an hour, sending Henry racing through against Dumas.
He jinked and shot left footed, but Karelse fingertipped out for a corner.
By this stage Arsenal were dominating completely with Tony Adams on the halfway line directing operations, squeezing the play.
After 46 minutes Ljungberg ran onto a Suker reverse pass but the keeper saved well at his feet. When Ljungberg crossed low into the box, Silvinho miscued his shot.
At halftime Bergkamp came on for Henry, who had been injured early on, gone off for treatment and then seemed to run it off.
Luzhny played a one-two with Bergkamp, but just failed to reach the return on the byeline.
Luzhny was very lucky when he headed across his own penalty area towards Kevin Gallagher. Five years ago Gallagher would have jumped up and volleyed past Seaman. But the the ball went loose and Seaman grabbed it.
Shearer chased a ball down the middle, pushed Keown after he had headed the ball back to Seaman, and Keown then held him back with an arm across his throat. The ref consulted the linesman and gave Keown a yellow card, even though the ball was long gone and the striker could never have reached it.
Shearer never goes past anybody these days, preferring to play for fouls.
At this stage Arsenal were not showing enough craft to work the ball out to Overmars, who should have been able to win the game for them, even though Newcastle were sitting deeper and deeper with more and more bodies filling the box.
Overmars did well to catch a Vieira pass by the corner flag and cross low into the six yard box but Suker could not make contact at the near post.
So 38,106 people were watching a grim, messy, scrappy, rainy match which was going nowhere. As Shakespeare said on his website, much ado about 0-0.
The fact that Matthew Upson had replaced Keown (66) meant that Kanu could not come on and provide a late winner.
Luzhny hit a really good cross low into the six yards box, but that chance went begging as well.
We should know by now that Arsenal never score from crosses.What do they do all week at their new £10 million high-tech training ground?
Don't they practice racing in on balls like that? Don't they practice stabbing them into the net?
Silvinho kept slipping over on the wet pitch, and his crossing ability is wasted without a real centre forward.
Silvinho is in the wrong team. He should be playing for Man Utd, where Cole, Yorke and Scholes can all head, volley and overhead kick with reckless disregard for personal safety.
A good crosser is wasted when his strikers are wimps.
Let's face it, Man Utd did not win the treble because Bergkamp missed that penalty. They won the treble because they have more ways of scoring a goal than Arsenal.
Wenger should have signed Pahars from Southampton in the summer, or Machlas, the Greek who went from Vitesse to Ajax, or Roy Mackaay, the 28-year old Dutchman who was relegated with Tenerife and is now scoring for fun with Deportivo La Coruna.
At least one of your front two has to be fast and fiery and aggressive and good in the air.
It is obvious. It is not rocket science.
Bobby Robson is loving being back in English football. He was a sporty middle-aged man when he managed England for eight years until 1990.
He is now an old man.
He looks ancient, but he is the most energetic, enthusiastic 66-year old around.
He hasn't forgotten what it was like to work underground as an electrician in a coalmine.
He is a smashing guy who used to take his Dad, a miner, on Ipswich's UEFA Cup trips in the Seventies.
Experience has made Robson a realist, and he readily admitted his pragmatic approach to this crucial away game.
He said:" It's a massive point for us. We've not conceded a goal for two games now. We've been to Manchester and lost five, been to Leeds and lost three, went to Coventry and lost four, and that can't go on, really.
"I didn't think we could play an open game and make it interesting for everybody and win, or get a point.
"I knew that Arsenal would, after Wednesday, be determined to re-establish their league position.
"I came with a defensive plan which worked. I thought Kanu would play from the beginning, so we've been talking about Kanu for the last three days. And then he didnt play! I think that was my best move !
"And I was pleased when they used their three subs. Then they couldn't get him on the pitch at the end. I was quite delighted. Premiership status is absolutely crucial , it's our priority.
"We just have to fight away from home. And maybe play like that sometimes, against top opposition. Not against teams where we think we can play more open and have a chance of winning. But against teams that might give us a pounding if we think were as good as they are. Because, basically, we're not."
Arsene Wenger had thankfully recaptured his sense of humour after the Fiorentina disaster which had left him stunned and semi-coherent last Wednesday night.
Wenger did not whinge about the goal that never was. He just mildly said:" It would have helped us today because, in fairness, we didn't create many chances.
"We needed that kind of decision today.
"Because Newcastle didn't try to go forward, and just frustrated us. Our spirit was right, our organisation was right, our desire was right, but you could see that Wednesday night had left some damage in our brains and legs.
"And that we missed the spark to score.
"In the first half we had some chances and just couldn't finish, especially on the goal we scored. And when Thierry Henry went through.
"And in the end we created two good chances we didn't exploit well. Two crosses from Luzhny just behind the defenders - we should have done much better there."
Wenger was asked about Martin Keown's yellow card in the Alan Shearer incident.
"The first foul was from Shearer, and an obvious one. The second could have been red. Or yellow. But on the first I expected a foul for Arsenal."
He was asked about the Champions League exit and aftermath of the Fiorentina game.
"As long as we are not seeded we'll struggle every year to qualify. Every year we'll play two seeded teams, two big clubs. I personally believe that before thinking too much of changing the team we have to get points in Europe, and get back to the Champions League in a much better position in the first round. Every year, if you are in with two seeded teams first, you will always be in trouble, and you'll need that little bit of extra quality and luck which we didn't have in the last two seasons.
"That happens as well.That's why its important to be there every year, and to accumulate the points to be seeded. It happened to Man Utd at the beginning."
Brian Woolnough asked about Bergkamp, who made his frustrations obvious by waving his arms in the air.
"He had a great game against Barcelona, but then he had some small injuries. That's why I gave him a rest against Chelsea. He played again against Fiorentina and didn't score, so it was a huge disapointment for him.
"The boys were very down yesterday and Thursday. At some stage you feel that we haven't suffered on the overall quiality of our game, but we have suffered in not killing the games.
"We were never dominated by anybody in that Champions League. I think we suffered more against Dynamo Kiev than this year."
Lee Clayton asked if Wednesday night does long term damage that will last all season.
"I don't think so. I think it is the first three days that are very difficult, and the game straight after.
"When you have such a huge disappointment the important thing is not to lose the next one. That's a basic target that I had, personallly. Of course we want to win the game. But especially not to lose it today.
"Did Wednesday change your feelings about maybe not playing Dennis and Kanu together?"
"Basically, we need some runs behind the defenders. But at the moment we have no-one who can play that role in the team. So we have to find good combinations.
"All four of our strikers are special players, but for different reasons at the moment, Thierry Henry is more comfortable on the flanks, because it is new for him.
"Davor, Dennis and Kanu are players who like to have the ball to their feet."
"Will you look for a striker who can run behind defences?"
"Not at the moment."
Wenger was at his most droll when answering Woolnough's question about whether the European exit, bad publicity and Vieira's suspension, were creating a crisis at Arsenal.
He smiled and said:"You know that people would always love to have a crisis at the club. But I can't create one if we don't have one."
Wenger said that expectations are high, and he aims to be in the top three every year.
"One year you win it, one you have a little less luck. And you have to accept that many big clubs, who have as much potential as Arsenal, have finished behind us in the last three years."