By Myles Palmer
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Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1
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CHELSEA will take more than a week to get over this defeat.
On Sunday Arsenal were 1-0 down when Edu came on for the injured Parlour.
That was 51 minutes into this FA Cup 5th Round tie.
Edu raised the tempo a lot.
He was fast and tidy and never wasted a ball. He tackled sharply and was always thinking one move ahead..
Within ten minutes, Arsenal were winning 2-1.
First half, Jose Reyes struggled. But he made good runs and he chased every defender.
But Arsenal’s lightning pass-and-move bewildered Reyes.
Nothing he did was coming off.
But Reyes was determined to work himself into the game.His attitude is fantastic. He is a hard-working kid, a real team player, a gutsy competitor. Reyes worked and worked and worked.
He proved that if you graft, you can work your way into a game that is passing you by.
Soon after Edu came on, Reyes scored with two left-foot shots.
The first was from 25 yards and the second was from 10 yards.
The first came after a Edu corner was headed out by Terry to Lauren, who volleyed to Edu, who played a square ball infield.
Reyes took three touches and smashed a Harry Kewell-type rocket from 25 yards. The technique was phenomenal. The shot had a low trajectory, but rose slightly towards the far corner.
Cudicini got a touch as it went in.
Cudicini had not taken goalkicks in the first half and was replaced by Neil Sullivan.
Second goal came soon on 61 from tempo, pressure, energy.
Vieira beat Parker and, before Makelele could get to him, stabbed the ball inside Melchiot as Reyes ran outside the full back – and sidefooted firmly past Sullivan for 2-1.
PV4 is becoming an assist-meister.
And his awesome performance was the platform on which this fightback was built.
LEHMANN’s miscued clearance had led to the first goal in 40 minutes.
He miskicked the ball out of his hands to Parker, who was just inside the halfway line.
Parker volleyed forward to Mutu and Toure was on his heels, unbalanced.
Mutu showed his class with a thunderous left foot shot that flashed between Toure’s legs and gave Lehmann no chance. A world class strike.
A boob by the German, but the only thing he did wrong all day.
The crowd love Lehmann because he is off his line like a rocket for through balls, unlike Seaman.
The defence knew Seaman was not gonna come out much.
Elderly keepers lose their bottle and stay at home.
Now we can see that the defenders trust Lehmann, so they can push up more, press forward, use their athletic power, as they did back in 1998, when the Petit-Vieira style of interception-and-thrust was so revolutionary.
As I figured, Arsenal were collectively too fast, too powerful, too solid for Chelski.
SCOTT PARKER is a barracuda who was showing all his teeth.
Very tenacious, tried to make a name for himself.
Parker is as spiky as Dennis Wise, a ball-winner with an inside forward’s tidy passing skills.
REF PAUL DURKIN booked six in the first half when one yellow would have been enough.
Durkin also disallowed a Gronkjaer header from Lampard’s cross in 36. Replays proved that the “goal” was onside.
Four minutes later, Mutu scored.
As soon as he scored, it looked like a job for Edu.
Edu came on and made a big difference.
As soon as Reyes scored, he started playing like Pele. There is plenty more to come from this kid. He can do a lot of things we haven’t seen yet.
An exciting game, one of those games that has a real buzz about it, and some tremendous performances : Bergkamp, Pires, Cole, Sol.
Sol got some great tackles in. Including the tackle he was booked for – he won the ball !
Bergkamp played 90 as if Cardiff was everything to him.
Strong in possession, holding it up, anchoring the attack, using every ounce of his vast experience, nudging crafty passes between Gallas and Terry.
BERGKAMP WAS BETTER than Ronaldo last weekend.
Ronaldo was rubbish against Valencia on Sunday night.
Valencia contained the Zidane-less galacticos well because Ayala had Ronaldo and Raul in his pocket.
Then Ayala scored with a thumping header from a corner and it was all over.
But no !
This was Spanish football.
The ref gave Madrid an injury-time penalty which was far, far worse than the Kanu penalty, when he ran into Aston Villa centreback Mellberg.
The most ridiculous penalty I have ever seen.
A ball came overfrom the right and Raul leaned into centreback Marchena and they both missed it and the ball went under Raul’s armpit and bounced. It was a foul by Raul.
But the flag went up!
The linesman gave a pen, Figo slotted for 1-1.
Disgusting !
Shameful !
Valencia would have gone top.
This travesty kept Real two points ahead of Valencia.
But, as we know, Real Madrid have always been backed by the king, the government, the banks and the refs. So that farcical decision was normal.
A level playing field? Don’t be silly. Fair play? Not a Spanish concept.
MEANWHILE, ASHBURTON GROVE looks busy.
Cranes, bulldozers, a breezeblock site office. The road to the industrial units is now closed.Demolition appears imminent.
But the club can’t say anything officially till Feb 20.
17th February 2004.