By Myles Palmer
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Birmingham 0 Arsenal 4
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Henry 6, Pires 29,Johnson og 67, Henry 69
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Arsenal needed a win to stay five points ahead of Man United.
And they needed a 4-0 win to show United that they can hammer promoted teams in an away game.
This game showed a mature team whose natural dynamism is now filtered through the lens of experience, knowledge, and confidence.
In other words, Arsenal are now better judges of a match.
They can now bring some of their hard-earned patience, acquired in the Champions League, to Premiership games such as this.
They scored early, played economically, turned the power on and off, didn’t let the 32-minute delay bother them, didn’t let the absence of skipper Vieira bother them, didn’t let some tough tackles and messy situations in their own box bother them, just sailed through the game, pretty much, giving subs, Van Bronckhorst, Jeffers and Toure a little run when they were 4-0 up.
The first goal came when Henry started a one-two with Bergkamp when both players were on the halfway line, with Dennis delaying his killer pass until just the right moment, and Henry skipping round keeper Vaesen to score comfortably.
A miscued header by centreback Michael Johnson fell into the path of Pires, who hit a clean half-volley neatly into the net, a finish of startling efficiency.
By then it was obvious that Arsenal are becoming collectively, good judges of a match, able to see what it takes and give each game what it takes.
They are now able to knock the ball around more, passing it across the field, using more gears than they did in the Petit-Overmars years.
It’s quite a big breakthrough, quite a significant change,for them to feel completely comfortable, cruising like that.
It’s a good sign. All the great teams have cruised.
Against Ajax next month, both games might be like that, a bit academic, probing for openings, then suddenly, an acceleration, a thrust.
OF COURSE, IT’S EASY WHEN YOU KNOW YOU WILL WIN.
The third goal came when Bergkamp crossed from the left.
Lauren jumped and the ball hit his upper arm and deflected in off the head of the hapless Michael Johnsen, who struggled throughout.
The coup de grace came with a Cole-Edu-Bergkamp-Pires-Wiltord-Henry move down the left side, then across the field.
It was a well-crafted attack, using far more passes than Arsenal usually employ, and it gave them their most intricate goal of the season.
Henry gathered the ball in the D and raced through to net his 100th goal in 181 games for Arsenal.
Pretty good shooting for a winger!
CHRISTOPHE DUGARRY looked classy for the Brummies on his debut. He will help them stay up.
Dugarry has never been as sharply reliable as Djorkaeff, but he is a brainy, skilful half-striker who can head the ball very well.
He will not be playing against teams as good as Arsenal every week and it will be interesting to monitor his progress.
The other new foreign import, FERDINAND COLY, was the second best right back in the World Cup, after Puyol.
But he was off the pace here.
On his debut, as you would expect,Coly didnt read Henry’s run early enough for the first goal, and once Henry is two yards ahead of any defender he will not be caught.
The Senegal defender reacted to the danger, but too late. That early goal was a cruel, crushing introduction to English football.
But Coly is an excellent player who will have better days than this, and soon.
A booking for Martin Keown means he will miss the game at Anfield in two weeks time.
Liverpool keeper Chris Kirkland almost saved a good low penalty by Villa’s Dion Dublin in a 1-1.
The way Michael Owen fired home his goal from a narrow angle suggests he might be finding his feet again. We shall see about that on January 29th.
Owen is a good striker, but not as nimble as Jermain Defoe, who looks to me like the closest English striker to Raul.
Chelsea’s 4-1 victory over Charlton came after Ranieri had told Barcelona to pay 50 million euros for Hasselbaink, or go away.
Van Gaal’s team seems to be getting younger every week. He could use JFH, but he cannot afford him. It has become a squalid saga.
And Gudjohnsen has admitted a serious gambling problem, having lost over £400,000 in a casino while he was injured for five months.
Those problems are the last thing you need when you’re trying to win your first league title since 1955
When Roy Keane was sent home from Japan I thought Fergie would inherit the bonus of a hyper-motivated player who wanted to make up for that fiasco.
And exact revenge on Arsenal for their impertinence in winning the title at Old Trafford.
But then Keane looked average, had an operation, came back a bit too soon.
I wondered if he could ever be, at 31, as powerful as he was before.
In the 3-1 win against West Brom he was starting to look the part again, setting up Scholes for the second goal.
Beckham’s cross had given van Nistelrooy the first goal.
Let’s face it, Man United score more goals from crosses than Arsenal and Liverpool put together.
They have more ways of scoring than Arsenal.
United get headers, volleys, rebounds and deflections, as well as beautiful goals.
That fact was important in 1999, when Schmeichel’s penalty save against Bergkamp set them en route for a treble and a knighthood.
Arsenal’s personnel has changed since ’99, their style has evolved, but they still don’t score many goals from crosses.
They don’t play that way. They do other things.They don’t really need to score from crosses.
However, it’s just as well that Arsenal still have their precious five point lead.
And it is good that they will have Pat and Freddie back soon.
Those two will be needed.
12th January 2003.