 |
Arsenal
v West Bromwich Albion
Highbury, North
London. 27th August 2002, 8.00pm. |
| Back
to Reports Menu |
Let's make no mistake, for forty-five minutes, the Baggies were
completely outclassed. Arsenal were good, very good. Three-nil at
half-time was not flattery to the Gunners. But to take a positive
from tonight, whether Arsenal relaxed or not, we scored two goals,
should have had more, and lived with the double winners in the second
half.
This was a local game for me. I was indoors by 10.50pm rather than
the usual midnight or so for a home game. The atmosphere in the
Albion end was awesome once more - if we can keep the same level
of enthusiasm in the supporters all season, it will be an achievement.
It started not too badly. Gregan put Roberts through early on, only
for JR to shoot weekly at England's No. 2. But then came Arsenal's
first attack. As COLE received a pass from Kanu, Big Dave slipped
and the ball fell kindly for the cheating left back and he beat
England's No. 1 with a firm strike into the top right hand corner.
When the left back can finish like that, it doesn't bode well does
it.
Shell-shocked, the Stripes took a little time to recover. On 12
minutes, Dobie tricked three Arsenal defenders to create a shooting
opportunity on th edge of the box, but his firmly struck shot was
gathered by Seaman. Then Arsenal took control.
On 21 minutes, Kanu danced past Clement to the byline and, in a
moment reminiscent of Mills' pass on Saturday, cut the ball back
agonisingly past Mooro's outstretched leg to LAUREN, who had time
to control, turn and fire the ball high into the net from six yards.
Three minutes later, Clement was again caught napping as Henry played
the ball over the Albion defence and WILTORD, who, on seeing the
replay, had timed his run well, lifted the ball coolly over the
on-rushing Hoult. The Baggies were rocking and it seemed to be a
question of how many.
But the Baggies steadied themselves again and fashioned a couple
more chances before the break. A shot from Dobie was palmed down
by Seaman and, just before half-time, some clever trickery from
Roberts almost put him clear in the box before a last gasp challenge
from Campbell prevented the shot with Seaman nowhere.
Six minutes into the second half, the Baggies fans unstinting noise
grew as Albion pulled a goal back. A seemingly aimless high ball
into the Arsenal box was mis-controlled by Cole as Seaman rushed
out presenting DOBIE with an open goal. He duly scored although
he gave the England keeper a chance of saving it. Suddenly, it looked
a bit better.
For a quarter of an hour, the Baggies looked almost on top. Balis
shot wide from 20 yards with his only meaningful positive contribution
to the game, and an out-of-sorts McInnes tested Seaman before being
substituted by Marshall. And then the most controversial moment
of the game came when Dobie muscled his way past Keown, only to
be pulled back when clear on goal. Rather than going down, Dobie
shrugged off the illegal challenge and shot firmly only to see Seaman
pull off a fantastic save. And then Paul Durkin only booked Keown
when it was clearly a professional, if unsuccessful, foul.
Still Albion pressed. Dobie set up Roberts through on goal, only
to see Cyrille's nephew shoot weakly at Seaman. And then Clement
beat Seaman to a ball on the edge of the box, but failed to beat
the first defender with his cross-shot. And then Arsenal broke away.
Cole simply waltzed past the disappointing Balis and crossed to
WILTORD who easily beat Hoult for his second of the game.
But the boys weren't finished. Siggy hit a ball into ROBERTS' feet
inside the box, and JR turned quickly and shot under Seaman to make
it 4-2. But Arsenal still had time to score again. After a bit of
pinball on the edge of the Albion box, when Durkin appeared to inexplicably
play advantage at one point after an Albion player was fouled, Henry
won the ball back and played it though for substitute ALIADIERE
to make it five.
So we're bottom of the league. But let's face it, we'd all have
been ecstatic to get anything out of the first three games. It was
pleasing to see JR and Dobes get off the mark but defensively we
struggled today, particularly both wing backs. It's not easy when
you've got Cole and Lauren as well as Wiltord and Edu on the flanks,
but we need to do better. But despite five goals, the "Quiet Please"
signs stayed up at the Highbury Library, not that we took any notice.
RESULT - ARSENAL 5 WEST BROMWICH
ALBION 2
Marks
Hoult - 6 - Should not have rushed out for the third goal but no
chance with the others.
Balis - 5 - Did little going forward and was exposed at the back
by some very good players.
Clement - 6 - Better going forward, but defensively frail.
Gilchrist - 6 - Did OK in a defence that was very stretched.
Moore - 7 - Best of the defenders.
Sigurdsson - 6 - A bit exposed but had little help from Balis.
Gregan - 8 - MOM. Worked hard, distributed well.
Johnson - 7 - Another hard working performance.
McInnes - 6 - Looked out of sorts, lacking in pace.
Dobie - 7 - Some neat skill, but needs work on his finishing.
Roberts - 7 - Good goal, looked dangerous all night.
Marshall - 7 - Looked sharp, good feet, good passing. McInnes will
not be missed
|
Arsenal
(4-4-2):
Seaman; Lauren, Keown, Campbell, Cole; Wiltord (Aliadiere 83), Viera
(Toure 79), Gilberto, Edu; Kanu (Parlour 67), Henry. Subs not used:
Taylor (GK), Luzhny. |
West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Sigurdsson, Moore, Gilchrist; Balis, McInnes (Marshall 62),
Gregan, Johnson, Clement; Roberts, Dobie. Subs not used: Jensen
(GK), Wallwork, Taylor, Dichio.
|
Scoring: Cole (3) 1-0,
Lauren (21) 2-0, WIltord (24) 3-0, Dobie (51) 3-1, WIltord (76)
4-1, Roberts (87) 4-2, Aliadiere (90) 5-2.
Bookings: Arsenal - Edu (foul 23), Keown (foul 66), Campbell (foul
72). West Bromwich Albion - McInnes (foul 19), Clement (foul 39).
Referee: P Durkin (Dorset)
Attendance: 37,920 |
| ^ Back to Top |
|
