By Myles Palmer
On Christmas Day 2000 Arsene Wenger had to ask himself two
questions.
Do I drop Manninger for Lukic?
Should I drop Henry for Wiltord?
Before the game I thought Anfield was pivotal. And I will alway remember that morning, that 11.30 kickoff.
We got back from the supermarket with the turkey and champagne at 11.20 and found Sky’s team caption telling me that (wonder of wonders)Arsene had picked the team that I wanted to start this game.
He had dropped Pires and Kanu and switched Ljungberg to the left.
I thought : If we win this one I’ll be in line for an Online Journalism Award !
BUT ARSENAL STILL LOST 4-0.
Shows how much I know because I expected to win the game with that team.And I still thought we would win at 1-0 down because Bergkamp was playing perceptively and aggressively.
Why did we lose 4-0? Four reasons.
A BAD, SLOW PITCH
You cannot play Arsenal’s pace-based beautiful game on a cabbage patch.
TACTICS
Gerard Houllier did what he does at Highbury: got eight men behind the ball. Liverpool played as if they were the away team, inviting Arsenal to come at them.
Liverpool were smart, very defensive and rough. Heskey was the roughest of the rough.A brute, a huge wild beast, who put Silvinho into the advertising board, barged Keown out of his way,and left Kanu limping after a 50-50.
THE RESHUFFLE AFTER LUZHNY WENT OFF AT HALF TIME
He moved Grimandi back, brought Pires on, moved Parlour inside and put Ljungberg back on the right.One injury had caused four changes. The team had missed the craft of Pires, the man I said should be dropped, and his arrival improved the shape and passing. Bergkamp held the re-shuffled side together and was unlucky to be taken off at 2-0.
LIVERPOOL WERE CLEARLY SUPERIOR IN FIVE POSITIONS(and three important positions)
WESTERVELD was better than Manninger, who spilled Heskey’s shot for the Owen tap-in that made it 2-0.
HYPPIA was better than Keown because Luzhny was not his partner.
HENCHOZ was better than Luzhny, who is not a centreback.
HESKEY was much more effective than Henry, although he did not score.
BARMBY was better than Parlour, despite that vicious knee into Luzhny’s back, because he scored one goal and made another.
VIEIRA was as good as Gerrard, who scored a superb 20-yarder for 1-0. But was it a throw? I thought Heskey fouled Silvinho.
GRIMANDI was as average as Biscan, the new Croatian.
LJUNGBERG was no worse than Murphy.
BERGKAMP was far better than Owen : most players are.
SILVINHO was far better than Carragher.
DIXON was better than Babbel, who should have been sent off for kicking Henry’s knee when the ball was five feet away.
SUBS?
SMICER was better than Pires because he made a goal.
FOWLER was better than Wiltord because he scored the fourth.
NEXT TWO GAMES?
At home to Leicester and Sunderland.
Good news?
Leicester don’t have Heskey any more.
Bad news?
Sunderland have Kevin Phillips and Stefan Schwarz, two players Arsenal needed at Anfield. A poacher and a left-footed midfielder who can tackle and slow the game down.
What would I do?
Drop Henry, look at Wiltord for three matches, and maybe bring Henry back for Chelsea.
Wiltord might get them playing a short-passing game. Give him 270 minutes to score a goal. If he scores he will improve.
Arsenal need more options, more variation, because their attacks are so predictable.
Tame shots from 20 yards by Bergkamp, by Henry, by Parlour, by Lungberg – please ! OK, one of Bergkamp’s shots was a thunderbolt and the keeper did well to parry it. But, being Dutch,Westerveld knew where it was going.He had an easy day at the office!
Until Arsenal mix it up more (get into the box, stop shooting from 20 yards) they will not score goals.
And restore John Lukic, who kept clean sheets against Man City,Middlesbrough and Derby.
Hands up anybody who thinks Manninger will ever keep a clean sheet for Arsenal again?
25th December 2000.