By Myles Palmer
Arsenal 1 Chelsea 1
There is something rotten in the state of Denmark.
Something seriously wrong that we don’t know about.
How else to explain so many leads lost?
So many games where Bergkamp didn’t play.
We arrived at Highbury at 2.05pm and chatted to friends in Avenell Road. Fans like to meet by the main entrance and they like to see the players of both teams arriving by bus.
This was the conversation :
“Dennis didn’t get off the bus.”
“What?”
“Dennis did not get off that bus.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m telling you Dennis Bergkamp did NOT get off that bus.”
“But is he here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe he was here already, having treatment?”
Upstairs in the press lounge the team sheet is handed to me and Bergkamp’s name is nowhere on it.
Team : Seaman; Dixon, Keown, Stepanovs, Silvino; Ljungberg, Parlour,Vieira, Pires; Wiltord, Henry.
The bench is : Lukic, Cole,Vivas, Malz, & Pennant. A very weak bench.
We are told that Dennis Bergkamp has a stomach upset. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that for one second.
Bergkamp played 90 minutes last Saturday at Carlisle. He was no worse than the others. Did DB find he was on the bench today and say : “That’s it, I’m not signing my contract, I’m going back to Holland!”
OK, Wenger has to pick Henry if he is fit. And he wants to play Wiltord because he scored last week and might turn the corner if he plays well today. Or if he scores today.
Wiltord might improve. He might win over the thousands of fans who are wondering why Wenger paid £13 million for him.
I’m surprised to see Chelsea don’t have Melchiot or Zola in a 3-4-3.Indeed, it is not 3-4-3.
It’s sort of 3-5-2 : Cudici; Leboeuf, Terry, Desailles; Wise, Jokanovic,Dalla Bona, Poyet, Harley ; Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink.
Unfortunately, Arsenal’s first half performance is scrappy and the second half is a shambles.
The match encapsulates the season because it is a replica of all the bad games.
Arsenal score early, dominate, miss chances, concede, go to pieces and almost lose.See also Bayern, Sunderland, etc.
After three minutes Pires scores precisely the goal he’s been threatening to score for four months. It is a fabulous goal and one I have been waiting patiently to see. He cuts inside Wise and Dalla Bona on the side of the box and his right foot screamer flashes across Cudicini into the far corner. The shot never rises more than five feet.
As the game went on Arsenal lost shape and focus because it had no strategic player, no Adams, no Bergkamp. Vieira is great but not strategic, Silvinho is very good, but not strategic.
In the first half Chelsea were in chaos.Wise wasted in defence, Leboeuf playing as if on mogadon, Jokanovic the donkey he always was at Deportivo.
But at half-time Ranieri brought on a right back, Ferrer, and a left winger, Gronkjaer, and went 4-4-2
Taking off two rubbish players, Leboeuf and Jokanovic, improved Chelsea by 150%.Wise moved to the middle and became the anchorman. The game changed.
Why? Because Wise tightened it up. Wise is a strategic player, still one of Chelsea’s best. Chelsea had a brain on the field, Arsenal did not.
As I have emphasised ad nauseam on ANR, Petit, Adams and Bergkamp are strategic players.With three strategic players you can win the Double. With only one you cannot even hold a lead.
Wenger admitted that Arsenal were too stretched, not compact enough, in the second half.
In my terms : Not lacking in talent or fight. Just brainless
That is why Ranieri would be barmy to let Wise go.
Clearly, Wenger has never seen Manninger as Seaman’s successor.Because he always brings Seaman back when he is fit.He brought him back after one reserve game in which he had nothing to do.
And Seaman made the mistake which put Sunderland above Arsenal in the table
Wise hit a corner and Seaman palmed it against Gudjohnsen. The ball was cleared off the line and centreback John Terry headed the equaliser after 62 minutes.
The look on Seaman’s face said it all.He knew the goal was his fault. He is 37 and a soft celebrity millionaire. Who wants to take hard knocks at that age when you have his money?
Can Arsenal beat Leicester away on Saturday?Can they finish in the top three? Can they win the FA Cup?
Not playing like this they can’t!
As sure as God made little green apples they won’t win anything playing like this.
What should be done till Edu comes?
I would flood midfield. If Bergkamp is on his way, or throwing wobblies, play 4-5-1 with Freddie loose behind Thierry.
(Ljungberg got a standing ovation when he went off with cramp after 88 minutes. Three Chelsea players had been booked for fouling him.)
If I played 4-4-2 I would put Vivas in left central midfield and put Vieira back on the right. PV can play both sides, but not with the same power.Vivas is not left footed, but he can find Henry with long passes better than Grimandi can.
So my five-man midfield would be :Pires, Ljungberg, Vivas,Vieira and Parlour.
Arsenal are third now, behind Sunderland.
I’m usually confident. Optimistic.I thought Arsenal would beat Barcelona and Fiorentina at Wembley. I explained why Arsenal would beat Man United this season. And they did.
But now I am worried.
Basically, when I look at every second half Arsenal play I see subsidence.The foundations of the house are sinking.I don’t know why. But I see a structure that is crumbling and sinking.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. There is something they are not telling us.
14th January 2001.