By Myles Palmer
Arsenal’s first goal came from a mistake in the 17th minute and United’s came from a mistake in the 64th.
Gilberto tried to thread a pass through to Pires but the ball was intercepted and rebounded to Bergkamp,whose instant pass sliced Aston Villa wide open.
Pires had continued to run and Bergkamp’s pass, so quickly seen,so sublimeley weighted, allowed him to accelerate into the box and score with a first time shot low across Eckleman.
Jerzy Dudek’s blunder handed three points to Man United after a long hour of workmanlike play by both sides.
Carragher placed a routine backpass-header to the keeper but the Pole,incredibly, fumbled the ball through his own legs to give Diego Forlan a tap-in.
After Dudek’s boobs against Middlesbrough and Fulham we have to wonder whether the unforgiving Houllier will try Chris Kirkland now.
It’s a great shame that such a classy keeper should make such a howler in Liverpool’ biggest domestic game of the season.
THIERRY HENRY made it 2-0 with a free-kick which was even better-placed than his Juventus stunner last season.
And then he pulled off an amusing Paulo Di Canio floated-down-the-middle penalty after Ljungberg tumbled over Staunton’s leg just inside the box.
Those two strikes were in the 49th and 82nd minutes.
In between Hitzlsperger collected a short corner on the right while the Arsenal defence was asleep, and rifled a truly thunderous shot past Rami Shaaban.
So it was 2-1 after 64.
Shaaban had made a sensational save from Darius Vassell, blocking his powerful early shot in 8 minutes.
Arsenal could have been 4-0 up at halftime, with Pires and Bergkamp missing chances.
Still, Pires looks very,very strong, as if he has done a helluva lot of running in rehab before he started kicking a ball.
Bergkamp’s technique,concentration and vision are exemplary.And, I reckon, almost irreplaceable,as the goal demonstrated.
The ball rebounds to him and he plays a flawless first time pass into the stride of Pires, so that the ball has almost stopped rolling as Pires reaches it.
Pure genius!
Architects are masters of geometry and Dennis has spent the last seven years showing us that he is one of football’s finest architects.
DB10 is big fan of Robert’s and loves playing with him.And I’m sure that’s mutual.
Overall,the defence still looked vulnerable and they switched to a back three when Keown came on, as he did in Rome.
Luhzny and van Bronckhorst played well, but Sol and Cygan were nowhere near as assured as they should be.
TOURE started wide right instead of Wiltord and was wrongly denied a good goal by the linesman when he followed up an Henry shot which came back off the post.
I’m told that many travelling Gooners were surprised at Southampton when Shaaban was dropped and Seaman came back.
Like me, they wanted to see the Swede given a run in the side.
Now everyone is wondering whether Seaman’s groin injury will improve enough for him to play at Old Trafford in next Saturday’s 12.15 am kick-off.
My preference has been made crystal clear, so I’m not gonna nag on about it.
It’s Arsene’s call, not mine.
That’s his job and fans should repect his decisions. So should hacks and pundits,even when we don’t agree with everything he says and does.
He has earned that respect by winning two doubles without spending mega-money.
GERARD HOULLIER should have started RIISE and attacked United earlier in the game this morning.
I was pleased to see that he started Barros, who hit a ferocious shot after only 79 seconds.
Barthez made a terrific save and Dudek then made a fabulous stop from Solskjaer after 6 minutes
After 25 minutes the weekend’s biggest game was 0-0 and it was not obvious who was gonna win.
But since the Liverpool back four seemed positionally superior, I thought they were going to keep a clean sheet.
Both attacks lacked rhythm and flair, so it looked a bit like a superior Nationwide game, a contest that needed a Dalglish,Cantona or Bergkamp to produce an incisive pass.
FORLAN was energetic,patchy,sometimes almost imbecilic.
But he got lucky when Dudek dropped the ball to give him an early Xmas present.
A mindboggling mistake in a game like this!
Then Giggs gave Forlan a great quick pass, and he took two touches and hammered it past Dudek.
United had barely penetrated the Liverpool back line until Dudek’s blunder.
After 82, Riise lobbed in a high throw and the ball broke for Hyypia to wallop into the bottom corner.
There was pressure after that, some excitement, but 2-1 was about right.
Man United were the better side and Silvestre, playing at centreback, was awesome again.
Next Saturday Silvestre will provide a real test for the in-form Henry.
I’m bracing myself for six days of Ruud v Thierry features, and articles about Henry deserving to be European Footballer of the Year.
I invariably declare that 90% of the fun of big events is the anticipation. But then I also say that 90% of big events are disappointing.
THE TITLE RACE IS NOT OVER IF ARSENAL WIN AT OLD TRAFFORD, so let’s be sensible.
It’s only December.
There are many twists and turns left in this season.
At Old Trafford, Keown will be in for the suspended Sol- and he is on four yellow cards.
Vieira is also on four yellows.
Maybe I should not preview the game, or predict the outcome.
I’ve got a few big ones wrong this year….
December 1st 2002.