By Myles Palmer
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AFTER EIGHT YEARS of playing 4-1 football, Arsenal are learning how to play 1-0 football.
In a fine cut-and-thrust game at Man City, with chances at both ends, Arsene was able to show Sir Alex and Jose Mourinho that he can play 1-0 football.
Arsenal can pass the ball round from left to right, and right to left, taking their time, using the whole width of the pitch – and dawdle on free-kicks as well, if they want to.
It’s a bit like basketball with a longer time-frame.
You know you have to shoot, or should shoot, but if you are winning, what’s the rush?
Main thing is to avoid a turnover, an interception, a break to score at the other end.
If the other team have SWP and Anelka, you fear an interception, so you pass the ball carefully when you pass sideways.
Arsenal are improving at that kind of ball-circulation.
IT’S ABOUT TIME !
If you can have killer spurts and power-plays, AND control the tempo for big chunks of the 90 minutes, you will not lose many games.
City had a good spell for 20 minutes, started to get behind Reyes, looked like scoring, so Arsene took Reyes off and put on Clichy and closed the game out.
In that spell, City would have scored against any other Prem team.
Arsene got Sol Campbell back just in time.
Cygan v Anelka would have been risky.
It’s now 47 undefeated in the Premiership – incredible, historic stuiff !
Sol was rusty but rock solid, using his experience. He never got caught in no-man’s land.
They were fouling Anelka outside the box, but not inside the box, apart from a moment when, I thought, Toure kicked away Anelka’s standing foot.
The incident was so fast I couldn’t tell whether it deliberate, or a mistake.
After 13, Ashley Cole picked up a loose ball when a Reyes pass didnt find Henry’s run, and Ash buried it near post with great aplomb.
A FANTASTIC FINISH !
Near the end Cole hit the near post with David James having moved early fore a cross, opening a narrow gap between the posts which Ash could not quite find.
Keegan has finally owned up (not verbally) that Robbie Fowler was a mega-mistake – and that has made a huge improvement.
Keegan looks a lot happier and his team is playing some good stuff.
Mighty Mouse has taken a massive albatross off his own back and started to live and breathe again.
He is now two players short of a decent side.
And McManaman is now irrelevant, a sub with a dodgy achilles.
ARSENAL wanted to save a bit for Trondheim on Wednesday night.
Rosenborg don’t have anybody as lethal as Anelka but the club is 500 miles from the Arctic Circle and the players will know they are not in Seville or Monaco.
With Pires injured, Bergkamp not flying, there may be a case for Fabregas starting.
Or it may be time to release the King of the Cage, van Persie.
Legend has it that Robin van Persie was the toughest kid on the block, knew how to look after himself in the inner city football “cages” where street football was played by teenagers in Rotterdam.
They called him the King of the Cage.
As I exclusively reported long ago, Van Persie trained with Arsenal for a week at the end of last season
And Clichy said, “He’s a beast!”
I have a feeling we will see the beast quite soon. And it will be fun because van Persie has exceptional skill and power.
RIO FERDINAND looked as cool as Beckenbauer and as determined as Jack Charlton in United’s win at Spurs.
That dodgy penalty, when Edman tugged O’Shea, was only the third goal Spurs have conceded !
CISSE AND DROGBA both scored clever goals from indirect free-kicks as Liverpool beat Norwich 3-0 and Chelsea won 1-0 at Boro.
Why do Arsenal never score from clever free-kicks?
Because they never take clever free-kicks.
It’s a good way of scoring, but they never practice such routines.
MAY NOT be here for a while.
This computer is almost dead and must be replaced.
Will submit this piece experimentally, see if it works.
26th September 2004.
MAN CITY : James; Mills, Dunne, Distin, Sun Jihai;Shaun Wright-Phillips, Barton, Bosvelt(McManaman, 76), Sibierski; Macken (Flood, 76), Anelka.
Subs not used : Waterreus (gk), Jordan, Bradley Wright-Phillips.
ARSENAL : Lehmann; Lauren, Touré, Campbell, Cole;Ljungberg (Fabregas, 88), Edu, Vieira, Reyes (Clichy, 64); Bergkamp (Van Persie 88), Henry.
Subs not used : Almunia (gk), Cygan.
Referee: Neale Barry (Scunthorpe).
Booked: Bosvelt.