 |
West
Bromwich Albion v Arsenal
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 16th December 2003, 8.00pm. |
| Back
to Reports Menu |
It was a reasonably
strong side that Arsene Wenger put out at the Hawthorns and the
Baggies should've really done much much better. Another two sloppy
goals to go with the two conceded against Crewe on Saturday, and
a lack of a cutting edge at the other end proved decisive. That
and the wrongly disallowed goal and a couple of penalty decisions
that failed to go our way.
Due to work commitments, I couldn't make it to the Hawthorns thereby
missing my first home game for almost a year. I did manage to watch
the game in a pub in London, but my memory is somewhat clouded by
the evening's consumption of alcohol, so my match report is somewhat
less detailed than normal.
With Koumas injured, Megson surprisingly recalled Wallwork to the
starting line up rather than using the more obvious choice of Sakiri.
Clement was back in for the cup-tied Robinson and Volmer kept his
place in the back three. Arsenal's line-up included Keown, Lauren,
Parlour, Edu, Wiltord and Kanu, along with Wolves's assassin Aliadiere
who had scored against the Baggies at Highbury last season.
Clement proved a handful for Arsenal through much of the first half
marauding down the left, testing 'keeper Graham Stack with an early
free-kick and hitting the bar with an attempted cross.
But after Dobie had a good penalty appeal turned down, it was the
unlikely figure of James O'Connor who looked to have given Albion
the lead when he headed home Wallwork's centre. The linesman raised
his flag but the TV replays proved that he was well onside. Minutes
later, a cross from Lauren deflected off Johnson and fell onto the
head of KANU who had been given too much space in the box. His header
was parried by Hoult but he turned the rebound in to give the visitors
a somewhat undeserved lead.
On the half hour, referee Matt Messias was found wanting once more
when Keown hacked down Andy Johnson in the box but remained unpunished.
Clement went close with another free kick ten minutes before the
interval before Megson was forced into a change. Johnson, who had
apparently been touch-and-go for the starting line-up, reluctantly
left the field with an injury and was replaced by Lee Hughes with
the formation switching to a bold 3-4-3.
Arsenal had a couple of half-chances in the run up to half-time
before Hulse produced a spectacular overhead kick that was pushed
away by Stack.
After a farcical delay because of an injury to a linesman at half
time, the second half kicked off ten minutes late with Dermot Gallagher
having been found slumped over the bar in the Tony Brown Suite but
was deemed fit to be a fourth official - well, that's what I heard
anyway.
Albion played some lovely football in the early stages of the second
half with Hulse missing a great one-on-one opportunity, Volmer going
close from the resulting corner and Hughes missing probably the
best chance of the game from 15 yards.
But then disaster struck as Gaardsoe slightly overhit a back pass.
Hoult was stretched but should've been able to clear comfortably
- unfortunately, he played it straight to ALIADIERE who calmly stroked
it into the net.
Albion battled all the way to the final whistle but couldn't manage
to pull anything out of the bag with Dobie going closest with a
shot that struck the bar with five minutes to go. Sakiri's introduction
once more had a positive effect and he made a good chance for Hughes
in the dying seconds, but his header went wide.
Albion were not disgraced by a good Arsenal team, and indeed Mr
Wenger had a lot of good things to say about us. It is worrying
that we did concede such sloppy goals again, but we need to put
it behind us and go to Highfield Road and win the three points.
RESULT - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 ARSENAL
2
Marks
Hoult - 6 - Did OK apart from the obvious mistake.
Gregan - 7 - One of his better games, moved into midfield late on
and did well.
Gaardsoe - 7 - Could be partly blamed for both goals, but generally
solid.
Volmer - 7 - Did well and his distribution is superior to Gilly's.
Haas - 7 - Not as influential as usual, but still did OK.
Wallwork - 6 - Can't remember too much he did wrong or right apart
from the ball for JOC's "goal".
Johnson - 7 - Missed him in the second half.
O'Connor - 7 - Pretty solid showing.
Clement - 8 - MOM. Good attacking display, did well defensively.
Dobie - 7 - Keown had to be over physical to handle him, unfortunately
he got away with it as usual.
Hulse - 7 - Better than Saturday but room for improvement.
Hughes - 7 - Lively, but missed a great chance.
Gilchrist - 6 - Little impact despite the early introduction (not
that I can remember, anyway).
Sakiri - 7 - Put in some good balls, would like to see him start
The Manager - 6 - Thought Wallwork was a mistake, but certainly
made some bold moves to try and win the game.
|
West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Gregan, Gaardsoe, Volmer (Gilchrist 66); Haas, Wallwork,
Johnson (Hughes 39), O'Connor (Sakiri 71), Clement; Dobie, Hulse.
Subs not used: Murphy (GK), J Chambers.
|
Arsenal
(4-4-2):
Stack; Lauren, Keown, Tavlaridis, Clichy; Wiltord, Edu, Parlour,
Bentley (Thomas 81); Kanu, Aliadiere (Fabregas 73). Subs not used:
Shabaan (GK), Papadopoulos, Simek.
|
Scoring: Kanu (25)
0-1, Aliadiere (57) 0-2.
Bookings: Arsenal - Tavlaridis (foul 33).
Referee: M Messias (York).
Attendance: 20,369. |
| ^ Back to Top |
|
