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Arsenal 0 Newcastle United 0 Brief report by Rik with player analays by Cygino
All change for Newcastle again at least in defence. Barton and Harper both suspended means a start for Karelse and Pistone, and with Dyer out injured, BR decides to play an extra defender. Franc Dumas comes in as a sweeper for only his second start. The full line up:- .............................. Karelse................................. Pistone...... .Dabizas ... Dumas ... Marcelino.... Domi ...................Solano....... Lee .......Speed.............. ....................... Gallacher ........ Shearer........... on the bench, Perez, Hughes, Charvet, Maric and Ferguson ( came on in injury time).. It was a damp and windy day at Highbury, with Newcastle kicking into the wind for the first half. It's a scrappy start for both teams , with no real chances for either team . A number of mistakes are made by both sides but no shots on target for the first 40 minutes. Dabizas then gives a free kick away late in the half, Suker takes a free kick which is headed on by Viera, The ball may have crossed the line but is deemed to have been saved by Dumas. The second half sees more of the same, with Newcastle defending with 10 men and Arsenal unable to break Newcastle down. Keown was lucky not to get sent off in the 62nd minute when he brought down Shearer, he stayed on, making up for the earlier decision which went against Arsenal. All in all not very exciting for the fans, "So , who was hot and who was not?" ..... "over to Cygino, for the answer" Absolutely nerve wrecking game and an extremely torturous time for my extremities after they went cold for a good 2 hours during the game. First to answer Rik's question, after thinking for a good minute, I really couldn't pick out who was hot. It wa s probably the best TEAM effort I have ever seen them play since Dags. Everybody was covering somebody else' ass and mistakes were quickly buried. It was nail biting but somehow I never felt as hopeless and pessimistic in this game. I do have something to point out about some players though. Karelse - Nothing to fault about and did everything he should be doing, alert and was quick off the line when needed to and was a far cry from those days when he made his debut against Soton and Dons. Domi - I was appalled by his inability to kick with his right leg. Look almost as though he could cost us at some moments. His positioning was good and he was at the right place but his final ball was definitely hair grabbing. I thought honestly someti mes I could have done better. Pistone - For someone out for so long, he was fantastic and did his job most of the time except he allowed two Overmars crosses to go past him and those were two dangerous Overmars crosses but the boys in the middle co vered it up nicely. Dabizas - Not too prominent except that foul on him. Good header of the ball and provided some aerial cover Dumas - Looked bored but was resilient. Good God he was there to clear that ball off the line and was also there to pu t Adams off from shooting. Beginning to show signs of improvement but has to shrug off his lethargy to be really worth his weight. Marcelino - I wondered why he refused to stay on the pitch to thank the fans even after Robson attempted to grab him to make a point. Is he leaving us for Real? Lee, Speed, Solano - They were constantly giving the ball away and tackling it back the next moment. There was no flow in the game but credits to Vieira who was winning most of the aerial combat and was a virtual vanguard after Grimandi and company w ent missing. At the trio broke the flow of the opposition as much as they broke our own. Gallacher - Really should have scored but it was a difficult opportunity and he lost his balance. Nipped the ball straight into Seaman. He would fare better ag ainst a lower team but he had little chance against towering Keown and Adams it seemed. I had this feeling that he hasn't really gained the trust from his teammates. There were times when he was better placed but the midfield opted for other choices. Shearer - Tough battle with Adams and Keown and he looked the better. Chances were far and few and I wouldn't blame him for squandering the very few he got. Not a single shot but hassled the duo enough to piss them and the fans off. Great cross bu t there was no one on the other end to put it in except Silvinho who headed over. Essentially, we were playing ten men defence with Gallacher up front and towards the end, it was all out defence. It's great to get a point and like many others, I settled for one. ...... Cygino |
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