By Myles Palmer
Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Aston Villa was a surprise – I thought Arsenal would win.
After beating Everton and Chelsea, they were flying and Vieira was playing magnificently.
But the international break interrupted their rhythm.
That rhythm was impossible to restore in one day’s training last Friday.
BUT I STILL BELIEVED ARSENAL WOULD PREVAIL.
The Villa squad was also decimated by international calls.They had 14 players away.
Having let an eight point lead become a five point lead become a two-point lead, Arsenal are now ahead of Man United on goal difference.
THE UNITED GAME IS MASSIVE NOW.
Highbury,Wednesday, April 16th.
We have seen a few moments of truth lately but none as vital as this showdown
Having watched United beat Liverpool’s ten men 4-0 on Sky, I was reminded of a few old themes, one of which I have not emphasised enough on ANR.
I had hoped Freddie would come back and score against Ajax.But he was not fit enough to play.
A couple of weeks ago I reckoned Freddie was two weeks away from his first comeback goal and when he scored against Villa it was an important moment.
I often say here that Man United have more ways of scoring a goal than, Arsenal, who create one-one-ones with the keeper but don’t score many goals from crosses.
As far as I’m aware, nobody but yours truly has ever really analysed the components of Arsenal’s style or pointed out that theirs is a high-maintenance style.
When Man United were winning everything in 1999 they used high-tempo attacks with a lot of width and scored dozens of goals from crosses and dozens more from deflected shots.
Beckham crossed and Yorke headed in, and if Yorke missed, Andy Cole scored, and if the ball hit a defender and bounced out, Scholes, Keane or Solskjaer smacked it in.
United won a lot of loose balls around the box and scored a lot of goals that looked lucky, but that was part of their style of play.
Arsenal’s style has always been more pace-based, more precise, more sophisticaed, more modern, more central,more narrow, more surgical.
But their way of playing is more vulnerable to small errors,slight malfunctions and interruptions.
Arsenal’s style is spectacular when it works.
But I believe that Arsenal’s style needs daily fine-tuning on the training pitch, where quick counter-attacks are practiced, where variations are developed and perfected.
If you take Henry, Wiltord and Vieira out and give them to Santini for 11 days,and they play a game or two games for France, the rapport they have with Bergkamp and Ljungberg is badly damaged.
By contrast, United’s style is rougher, more robust.
If Beckham crosses the ball and van Nistelrooy goes for a header and misses it, Giggs can run in beyond him and stick his foot out and knock it in, as we saw on Saturday.
It doesn’t matter who gets on the end of that cross, as long as somebody does.
United’s style is more old-fashioned, more Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian, than Arsenal’s, which is a bit more Latin in flavour.
So that’s my theory: that United’s style of play survives an 11-day international break better than Arsenal’s.
Obviously, Arsenal look vulnerable without Keown.
It was 0-0 when Keown was injured at Blackburn and then Duff and Tugay scored and the defence has never been the same since.
Cygan has played in all their defeats and that aint co-incidence.
Sadly, Arsenal don’t win many games 1-0 these days.
The defence is not disciplined enough, so they need a second goal. When they don’t get the second goal, problems occur.
Saturday was another example
FREDDIE LJUNGBERG had to stretch for an Henry pass that just eluded him, then finished off a superb move.
Lauren won the ball and passed to Parlour and got it back and passed to Bergkamp, who played the ball first time into Gilberto’s stride and the Brazilian blasted a lowshot which was blocked by Enckelman -and flying Freddie came sailing in at the back post and half-volleyed a priceless goal after 65.
But with only two of their five first choice defenders playing,Arsenal struggled against corners.
When Villa hooked over an inswinger Arsenal didn’t win the first header and the flick-on hit Cygan on the body and broke for sub Alback, whose shot was dribbling towards the goal when Toure miskicked into his own net.
That was in 71 minutes.
It looked like time for Jeffers to come on, but Arsene waited seven minutes before bringing on Ashley Cole and Wiltord -AND A FURTHER SEVEN MINUTES BEFORE BRINGING ON JEFFERS.
That did not show much faith in Franny.
Two of the main themes of The Professor, and of ANR, are the rivalry with Man United and the learning curve of the Champions League.
Last year’s dramatic capture of the title at Old Trafford was one of the all-time glory days for Gooners.
And now this season has come down to one game at Highbury against the old enemy.
Arsenal have big games every week but this one could be legendary.
The only way it could be more exciting is if it was the last game,as in 1989 at Anfield
The media will go overboard, as always, hyping it up as the clash of the titans, Scot against Frenchman, Keane against Vieira, all the usual tabloid baloney.
So it’s a big opportunity for the team.
It’s great that Ashley Cole is fit again because he is a midfielder and a forward as well as a defender.
It’s marvellous that Freddie now sharp enough to score.
It was his seven goals in seven games that propelled Arsenal to the Double a year ago.
Freddie may have to do the same again. I hope he does.But there is a slight feeling of deja vu.
Having no head for stats (can’t remember them), I consulted page 226 of The Professor, where I was summing up 2001-2002 and wrote:
Freddie Ljungberg had been playing exceptionally well in January when he was injured. He came back in March and was red hot in April and May. He scored the vital first goal so often.Of his seventeen goals, eleven were first goals.Two of the other six goals were in matches where he had scored the first goal.He was the first player to score in consecutive FA Cup Finals for forty years.
Freddie has the guts, the speed, the nerve to score the goals that win the Double again.
Sheffield United will find that out on Sunday.
And every Gooner knows that Freddie scored on his debut against Man United at Highbury.
This United showdown comes on April 16th, Freddie’s birthday.He will be 26.
One question: Who writes his scripts?
Yes, fearless Freddie, the Swedish jack-in-the-box, is no hollow icon, no rabbit-killer.
When it matters most, Freddie Ljungberg, the boyish man of destiny, does the business. He delivers in the pressure games.
I can’t wait.
Neither can he.
7th April 2003