By Myles Palmer
SPURS FANS were leaving in droves at 2-0 on Saturday. And at the end, when it was 3-0, there were only 300 Spurs fans left in the ground.
Predictably, the hardcore nutters gave Sol some shocking abuse.
Predictably, Sol was fired up.He ran the length of the field to celebrate when Henry scored the first goal.
Predictably, Spurs played a niggly game, trying to spoil the game and narrow the gap with fouls and gamesmanship. They tried to rough Arsenal up and make them forget how superior they are.
A shame, that. Let’s hope it doesn’t carry over into something nastier at the Lane on December 15th.
Arsenal played maturely, ignoring the provocation, just focussing on their quick-passing game.
It was the biggest match of Shaaban’s career and he did well,holding a Redknapp shot, coming off his line at pace, two-fisting an Anderton free-kick, and fielding a 40-yarder when Sheringham tried to do a Beckham.
For a first Premiership game,Shaaban looked solid and capable of playing in Rome.
Overall, the game was men and boys. I thought it might be a lot closer but on the day Ledley King was the only Spurs player who would get unto the Arsenal side.
Spurs have missed Ledley, a sharp defender who can pass well under pressure.
Steve Carr’s body language was that of someone who did not want to be there.He did not seem to have much rapport with his teammates.
Carr struggled against two fiery oppponets, Cole and Ljungberg,as any right back would.
Carr has recently changed agents, joining Jerome Anderson, as Jefffers did before signing for Arsenal.
Robbie Keane miscued a header from eight yards and went through Ljungberg near the touchline, a wild tackle that might have been a red card in another game.
Cole’s antics got Simon Davies his first yellow card, when he jumped away from a very mild challenge.
Davies was harshly sent off by Mike Riley after going for a 50-50 with Vieira. Pat’s legs are longer and he got there first and Davies kicked his foot, not maliciously.
The red card has since been rescinded by Mike Riley, so at least the ref owned up that the first yellow card was not deserved.
Sub Poyet’s sneaky smack on Vieira’s shin was a far worse foul than either of the Simon Davies tackles.
Thierry Henry had scored a Shevchenko goal after 13 minutes.
Very few players could have scored this particular goal : George Best, George Weah, Ryan Giggs, Anelka, not many others.
Vieira heads the ball clear at one end, Henry controls it on his body, explodes away from Etherington, one of Tottenham’s quicker players, leaves him trailing, swerves past Carr and King on the edge of the box – and AIMS a left-foot shot just inside the post.
A phenomenal do-it-yourself goal.
Never underestimate how difficult it is to conrol a football perfectly while running at that speed.He is one of the best I’ve ever seen at that.
As we have noticed during the last three years, Thierry Henry is so fast that he outsprints both teams.He leaves the defence behind, but he leaves his teammates behind as well.
But this time that did not matter. It was a great goal, an early goal, the first goal of the game, a goal that ended his barren spell(if you don’t count his free-kick in Dortmund) and a demoralising goal for Spurs, who may have entertained notions of a draw during those first 13 minutes.
For once, Henry’s electrifying breakaway was matched by a left-foot finish which was not blasted, let’s stress this, but AIMED.
He knew exactly where he wanted to put that shot and he curved it into the only gap that keeper Kasey Keller could not reach.
Absolutely fabulous!
Bergkamp relishes every game these days.
He won’t play in many more games like this, so he was up for it, putting himself about, not ducking any challenges . He got a severe smack in the ribs from a Dean Richards elbow and had to go off.
Henry did very well on the second goal to set up Freddie, who now has a knee injury and is doubtful for Southampton
Wiltord went through a dodgy patch after Bergkamp went off.
Pires came on to play on the right, so Wiltord went up front,where he struggled. But he deserved to score on what he had done earlier, and eventually he did .
The third goal came when a Pires shot rebounded and he coolly passed to Wiltord who scored at last, having had two early efforts disallowed for offside.
The Vieira-Gilberto pairing might turn out to be better than the Vieira -Petit partnership.
Butch Cassidy and the Ponytail Kid were best buddies, on and off the field, and their ability to search and destroy, to hunt the ball together and win it, was awesome. The best I have ever seen, even better than AC Milan in their pomp.
Nobody could pass round Pat and Manu, or through them, or dribble between them. If one didn’t nail you, the other would.Always.Often with help from Parlour.
But now, four years after the 1998 double, Pat Vieira is a far better player than he was when he played with Petit.
He is more mature, a better passer, a better reader of the game,has more vision and confidence.
And Gilberto is a different player.A canny powerhouse,not so eye-catching, but very efficient, a man who rarely wastes a ball and never gets stranded.
Gilberto can score a few headers, as Caesar Sampaio did for Brazil in 97-98.
That’s a handy skill and I think the big man has it. But we haven’t seen that click yet. Not quite. It’s coming.
So 3-0 was a good win. The goals flowed and the blip was consigned to the history books.
But – this has to be said- it was nothing new.We know that Arsenal can blitz bad teams with stylish power football.
They’ve been doing that for five years and they did again last Saturday and romped to to their biggest win over Spurs since 1978.
What made it significant was that Sunderland chiselled out a point at Anfield and Man United could only draw 1-1 at West Ham.
Shaaban has not had much to do yet. And we don’t think Arsene would play Seaman if he was half-fit.
Many fans now think Seaman is a liability, a keeper who might cost Arsenal a goal a game, or two goals in every three games.
It’s a big decision for Arsene to drop him.Since Sven took over England,I have wondered who would drop Seaman first,
But Arsene can’t drop Seaman till he’s fit. And if he does drop him, he is dropping him from the England team as well.
When Alex Manninger was in the side, Adams, Dixon and Winterburn preferred playing behind Seaman.
We don’t know whether Arsene will seek the views of Sol, Cygan, Luzhny or Cole on the subject of whether Seaman should be restored as soon as he is fit. We doubt it.
But we do know that the old guard canvassed for Seaman and the old guard, apart from Keown, have now gone.
It’s a massive decision.A historic moment,maybe.
I would like to see Shaaban given a chance against Southampton and Roma.
19th November 2002.