By Myles Palmer
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Roma 1 Arsenal 3
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Cassano 4, Henry 6,70,75
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I think Seaman was dropped.
His body language on the TV shot of him coming into the stadium was that of a man who had been dropped,rather than aggravated a groin injury.
That might be an outrageous guess, a wild remark.I was not in Rome.That’s just how it looked to me from London.
We will never really know how fit or unfit Seaman was tonight, but we do know that the defence looked quite confident with Shaaban behind them.
I had been out all day and when I got home and found Shaaban was playing I was ecstatic.
Wasn’t sure he could handle such a big game, but I wanted to see him make some catches and saves.
Overall, the result was better than the performance in a match that started in exciting fashion and then became a rather strange scrappy,sleepy,cagey league game.
At certain times, as the pendulum swung towards Roma, I wondered whether Arsenal could win while Freddie and Sylvain were so peripheral.
After 4 minutes, Cassano played a one-two with Totti and saw his disguised shot rebound off the inside of the post and along the line and spin over it.
That could have traumatised a less resilient team.
But Henry replied with his trademark goal, the best-ever example of his trademark goal.
Gilberto’s crossfield pass found Henry in space and he knocked the ball so sweetly beyond Panucci, five yards in front of himself, and stroked his sidefoot shot round the keeper and into the far corner.
That’s where he always puts it-and his control and accuracy are amazing.
It was shocking defending by Panucci, who allowed Henry far too much space, then panicked and tried to intercept, giving Henry a clear run on goal.
Panucci, long one of Capello’s darlings, is long past his sell-by date.
The game was nothing like the scrap I had expected.
I reckoned midfield might be a warzone of fouls, shoves,spats and yellow cards, but there was not too much of that because it was mostly a low-tempo game.
Apart from a blatant punch by Emerson on Vieira’s head, on the blind side of the ref.
ODDLY, CAPELLO SURRENDERED MIDFIELD !
They sat back and hit long balls to test Cygan, Sol and Shaaban.
With Totti not being fit enough to play his normal role, they played him as a striker, so he could rest between attacks, with Cassano doing the running and Delvecchio working on the left against Luzhny.
Luzhny was one of Arsenal’s best players!And the team relied a lot on his experience and steadiness tonight.
The final whistle went as the ball was coming towards him,so Oleg blocked the ball with the outside of his foot and clenched his fist and punched the air.
What’s Ukrainian for,”YES!”
Oleg enjoyed that one.He got to the semi in 1999 with Kiev.Wouldn’t he love it,just love it, if Arsenal got to the final?
LUZHNY was said to be very doubtful, with a hamstring iunjury, but played one of his finest games for AFC.
At 1-1 Roma were reading Arsenal’s ideas far too easily and it looked a bit ominous.
Roma are mediocre these days, a long way from being one of Europe’s top eight teams, but they keep a compact formation, as all Capello’s teams do.
TOTTI did a disgusting dive in the box, past Ljungberg, for which he should have been carded,in 26 minutes.
Moments later Cafu found Totti and he chested the ball down and blasted past Shaaban, but Cygan made a phenomenal block, stopping the ball on the line with his right thigh.
GILBERTO Missed a sitter with his head, butting the ball into the ground.
I’ve been saying I expect him to head a goal soon. He will head a goal soon but he wont have an easier chance than this.
At times it seemed that both teams had been somewhat stunned by the two-goal start.
As if they had said: Jesus, this wasn’t in the script! Two goals in the first six minutes, what kinda game is this gonna be?
One goal inside six minutes is a shock for both sides.Two goals was so disturbing that it took another hour before a third was scored.
Arsenal played their most calculating game for years, waiting, trying to keep possession and save energy for spurts later, passing the ball sideways far more than usual, not putting the ball up for grabs.
After 63, SHAABAN cleared a dangerous situation for a corner, just reaching the ball with his foot before bringing down sub Guigo.
On 70, Arsenal went ahead from the kind of cross they rarely put in and never score from.
Luzhny in an advanced wide position is usually looking for Bergkamp.
But here he just crossed into the box and Henry headed against Panucci’s back and then pounced on the ball after it had bounced twice and blasted it through Antonioli’s legs for 2-1.
A real centre forward’s goal!
A Steve Bull goal, a Mark Hateley goal, a Batistuta goal.
And then five minutes later HENRY whipped a free-kick over the wall into the top corner, almost as good as his Juventus effort last year.
My verdict on Henry’s hat-trick?
I think he should score hat-tricks.
He has incredible skill and power and he is playing in a fantastic team. All great goalscorers miss chances but TH14 did not miss much tonight.
The first goal, he does that all the time.
The second, he never does that, has never scored a goal like that for Arsenal in all the time he has been at the club.
The third, he should score more often.
TREMENDOUS FINISHING BY HENRY !
But keep it in perspective : he’s scored an historic hat-trick against an Italian team who are top 16 but not even top eight in Serie A, let alone top eight in the Champions League.
Roma played a niggly,dirty game, which indicated that they felt inferior, did not fancy themselves.
Inter demolished Newcastle by only 4-1 rather than the 7-0 I expected.
Inter are far superior to Roma in every department.
Each season Hector Cuper’s face looks more like an Inca mask, don’t you think?
So : Arsenal will beat Roma at Highbury.They won’t be complacent, but they will beat them at Highbury
It’s a journey, this tournament, for everybody – players, staff,manager,fans.
You go to different places and the game is different.Or you go to the same place – and the game is different.
So far so good. So far Arsenal have handled Eindhoven, Auxerre and Rome better than they ever handled Munich or Kiev or Coruna.
Vieira did not have one of his best games, but Gilberto was immense.
Still, it was a big, big night for Pat, to captain Arsenal to a 3-1 away win over Roma.
And it was a massive night for Rami Shaaban as well, a Swedish-Egyptian Muslim goal keeper making his big time debut, a night he will remember for the rest of his life
I like Shaaban and believe he will improve with every game.
Big night for Thierry because it shows him that he can score hat-tricks.
He has the talent to score three or four hat-tricks a season.
Hat-tricks should be part of his CV.
Don’t score one goal and start showboating. Score another, and another.
And if he scored more hat-tricks I might become convinced he IS one of the top six strikers in the world.
Ajax drew 1-1 in Valencia, so Arsenal got two results tonight.
The Ajax goal was scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish striker that I’ve heard Arsene fancies.
I fancy him too, big time.This guy is an exciting dribbler who can shoot and head and hold it up and operate as a target man, so he can do things that Trezeguet can’t do.
He is quite volatile as a character, and quite individualistic as a player.
If I was looking for one striker to replace Kanu and Jeffers,Ibrahimovic is the guy I’d try to sign.
He’s explosive and bulging with potential and a couple of years at Ajax will be doing him no harm at all.
Off the top of my head, at midnight,10 minutes before going to bed, I dunno how old the boy is but I think he’s about 22.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one helluva player and I’d love to see him at Arsenal.
Ronald Koeman’s Ajax now hold the key to the group.
We know how good Valencia are, and we knew Roma were nothing special, so Ajax’s performances and results will decide who qualifies.
G’night !
28th November 2002