By Myles Palmer
Arsenal 5 Newcastle 0
The goals came in the 13th, 16th, 53rd, 86th and 90th minutes.
1-0 HENRY : SIMPLICITY
Tony Adams played a 55 yard pass down the left, Henry’s first touch took it inside Griffin, and he finished with a typical right foot shot low past keeper Shay Given.
Typical Thierry, but very few players in the word could have scored that goal. Shevchenko maybe. Most strikers are not fast enough or skilful enough to make it look so easy.Not that Henry is half the footballer Shevchenko is.
2-0 PARLOUR : THUNDEROUS
This was he best goal Ray Parlour has ever scored for Arsenal.
Ljungberg won possession with a good tackle and carried the ball to the half way line. He passed inside to Kanu, who jabbed his foot under the ball, a highly original forward pass with backspin.
Parlour zoomed towards the box, controlled it neatly and lashed a thunderous right foot shot across Shay Given, just inside his right hand post and yard off the ground. A phenomenal bullet-shot, slightly dipping.Toldo would not have saved that shot. Kahn would not have saved it either.
3-0 KANU : NONCHALANT
Ljungberg chipped the ball down the middle of the field from just behind the centre circle. Kanu strode forward and took one touch with his right foot before sending an early but casual-looking left foot shot across Given and just inside the other post.
Kanu and Rivaldo are the only tall footballers who can consistently conjure miraculous moments from apparently awkward positions . I saw signs at Leeds, when Kanu came on as a sub, that he might be coming back to his best.
4-0 PARLOUR : ASTONISHING
Luzhny sent Henry spurting down the right wing and he crossed at head height. Parlour had run into the box and stopped.He was standing still on his left foot.The cross was fractionally behind him so he leaned back slightly and sent a glancing header flashing into the net.
A very slick finish that looked like the work of someone who could head the ball like a professional footballer. Cannot remember Ray ever heading a goal before. For all of us who have watched Parlour head the ballfeebly for the last eight years, this was a truly astounding moment.If
it had been 0-0, would he have scored?
5-0 PARLOUR : NONCHALANT
Pires waited for an eternity of seconds before lifting a lobbed pass through the middle for Parlour, who had sprinted from well behind Pires.
Parlour controlled the bouncing ball on his thigh and swept it home beneath the delighted North Bank Stand, which was in uproar.Romping Ray had scored his first Premiership hat-trick !
Newcastle’s raw young team had been destroyed and 5-0 was about right because 3-0 would not have reflected Arsenal’s superiority and 8-0 would have been sadism.
Can Parlour score more goals?
Yes, if he partners Vieira and plays with Kanu.
Parlour has the speed and energy to get into the box, but lacks the confidence to score regularly. His finishing usually reminds me of Stewart Robson, another youth product who had the drive to get into scoring positions, but lacked the skill to finish moves off.Parlour is a better dribbler than Robson.
At 27, Parlour is still improving. All credit to him for that, and all credit to Arsene Wenger for getting more out of him.
But this was only Newcastle, and not the real Newcastle.
Clearly, Parlour is never going to be an instinctive goalscorer like Paul Scholes. But Scholes only scored 8 Premiership goals last season and 6 the year before.
If Parlour plays in most of the remaining 21 Premiership games, he should be able to score another 5 goals.
He was red-hot on Saturday. He had missed the Bayern game through suspension so he was fresh and really, really up for it. He played without inhibitions.
Parlour should do that more often and believe in himself a lot more. He can build on this performance.
He knows damn well that one of Arsenal’s biggest failings is a shortage of goals from midfield. He has the engine to make the runs and he has Kanu, Pires and Ljungberg who can feed those runs.
Where this leaves Bergkamp, we don’t know.
Because Parlour’s partnership with Bergkamp, cutting in from the right flank, was an essential component of Arsenal’s teamwork and momentum for the last three years. Those two were good for each other in very specific ways, but their understanding did not lead to Parlour scoring
goals.
Now the team is evolving, re-shaping itself, finding the new structure that it needs in the post-Petit/Overmars era. That process was always gonna take till Xmas.
But maybe Xmas came early this year. We will find out for sure at White Hart Lane on Monday the 18th.
Teams :
Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Vivas ;Ljungber(Luzhny 82),Parlour, Grimandi (Lauren 58)Pires; Henry, Kanu
(Bergkamp 67).
Subs Not Used: Wiltord, Lukic.
Newcastle: Given, Barton, Acuna, Caldwell, Hughes, Speed
Griffin (Domi 66), Solano, Lee (Glass 66), Dyer (Cordone 79), Lua-Lua.
Subs Not Used: Bassedas, Harper.
Booked: Caldwell, Speed.
Att: 38,052
10th December 2000.