FC Thun (0) 0 - 1 (0) Arsenal
Stade de Suisse, Berne, Tuesday 22nd November 2005
UEFA Champs League, group stage match 5
Arsenal:
Almunia
Eboue Senderos Campbell Cygan (Lauren 67)
Ljungberg Song (Cesc 56) Flamini Reyes
Henry (Pires 70) van Persie
I'd like to make it clear first that in no way do I regret this
result, but even the most hard-hearted of Arsenal fans must feel
for the Swiss side a bit after this one. Loads of dodgy offsides
given against them, including a perfectly good goal, and then
a controversial-looking penalty to lose it at the death.
I think it was a penalty, but given the manner in which it was
given, by the linesman, after both linesmen had seemed to have it
in for them all night... well you could understand them being a
bit upset. I really hope there isn't too much punishment for
the barrage of objects being thrown from the stands that followed (although clearly such behaviour can never be condoned and some punishment is surely both inevitable and correct),
and that they manage to get the point against Sparta Prague next
time that'll see their European adventure continuing in the
UEFA Cup.
There was plenty of action in the first 10 minutes. A Thun player had a decent chance
on their right after 3, which he sent into the stands. Then Thierry Henry took a free kick
from our left wing which found Philippe Senderos's head but ricocheted off a defender and fell kindly for the defence.
Henry played a nice pass forward for Emmanuel Eboue (bombing forward from right back)
but he lost control running at a defender. Up the other end and a ball from
their left swung into the box but straight at Manuel Almunia. 2 strikers were running
in but not fast enough. Moments later Almunia had to deal with a shot from
25 yards or more which fortunately swerved towards him, and bounced kindly
in front of him coming up into his chest.
On 12 Henry and Robin van Persie messed up a good chance by trying to be too intricate
(passing between themselves a few times in the box when there were chances
to shoot), but unusually that
wasn't the norm for this match. We were missing Cesc and Gilberto in the
middle of the pitch, and lacking craft in that area were relying far too much
on quick long balls forward. Thun played a risky high offside trap but
got it right almost every time.
On 20, a diagonal cross into our box found Pascal Cygan in a central position and
he miscued his interception badly, but was lucky to get enough deflection
on the ball to send it out for a throw rather to a striker. The throw
came to a Thun man just outside the D who had a shot which was deflected and
looped just wide.
On the half hour Eboue went on another good run forward, playing a 1-2 with
van Persie before running into a defender to win a free kick. It was squared
for Jose Antonio Reyes whose shot was always swinging wide.
Moments later Henry chased the ball towards the left touch line, got hold of it,
and crossed towards van Persie running into the box. He appeared to be held
back by a defender as he tried to get to the ball but the ref gave the foul
against him.
Then on 34 minutes a ball forward through the defence sent van Persie running
towards goal. The keeper came out and van Persie went down just outside the box.
I have to say that if the defender, Deumi, made contact it was very slight
indeed, and to me it looked like Robin clipped his own heel in a way that
looked errr a bit dodgy. Not only that but the ball was probably already far
enough in front of van Persie that it was less than certain that a clear
goalscoring opportunity had been denied, so Deumi was pretty unlucky to get
sent off.
Van Persie picked himself up to take the free-kick which he hit over the
wall, and a foot over the bar.
While we weren't exactly playing well, it was good to see Henry coming to
the left more than against Wigan on Saturday, which helped Cygan avoid the temptation to
come forward so much and hence he looked much less of a problem than in that
game.
Thun had had a couple of extremely bad offside decisions given against them in
quick succession. Then right before the halftime whistle there was another...
against Lustrinelli. The ref booked another player for complaining and then
got called over by the linesman who told him to book Lustrinelli also, for
holding his hands over his eyes in a "you're blind" gesture. Petty. Players
get away with so much more.
The first action in the second half was a Freddie Ljungberg ball into the box for Henry.
He received with back to goal and tried that flick-up-and-overhead-kick
thing that he tries so often. It was on target but had no power whatsoever.
Then Lustrinelli played the ball into our box and Ferreira nipped in to
put the ball into our net with a very neat finish, but it was (correctly
for once) given offside. Moments later the same 2 nearly combined to score,
with Ferreira's cross from the right just missing Lustrinelli's head.
Another low cross towards Lustrinelli, from their left this time, was
dealt with by a superb Senderos challenge. But the ball fell to a red shirt
and came back into our box where it was Alexandre Song's turn to make a huge tackle.
He ended up in a tangle on the ground with 2 opposition players and
did brilliantly to keep a foot on the ball and drag it away as he stood up,
ending up winning a free kick. But he was clearly hurt in the process.
We were still getting caught offside a lot, still bypassing the
midfield far too much. But before long Song was signalling that he had
to come off, and ended up collapsing on the pitch before being subbed by
Fabregas.
15 minutes into the second half now, and Eboue gave the ball away on our right wing
(a typical moment I thought: he looked ok when it came to defending and was
lively when it came to running with the ball, but his distribution was generally
poor). Thun passed the ball across the pitch to their right where Orman's low cross
into the box was let through by a bizarre jump over the ball by Cygan. It came
to Aegerter by the near post who tried a shot which Almunia saved, when a
squared ball to Lustrinelli would have been an almost certain goal.
The corner found Hodzic's head but he put it wide.
At this stage, you'd never have guessed which team was down to 10 men.
Eboue was limping, but had been for most of the game. Is this just the
way that he runs?
Cesc played a lovely through ball which was just too strong for Henry, allowing
the keeper to come to the left edge of his box to clear, but he kicked it straight
to Reyes when he probably should have hoofed into touch. Jose played the
ball quickly forward but didn't quite find Freddie just outside the box. It
was cleared but straight to Jose again. This time he did find Freddie
who tried to slip the ball through the defence for Henry to run onto but
played it a trifle strong.
On 65 minutes Henry hit a free kick from at least 30 yards out which was
bending just wide of the post, but the keeper was wise to make sure and
push it (further) past the post.
Eboue made a great and crucial interception in the box, covering for Cygan.
Then Reyes gave away a foul, obstructing Thun's winger on their left.
The free kick was taken by Ferreira and trickled straight in at the far post,
Almunia having been pulled forward by Lustrinelli's run. Lustrinelli may hav e
got the slightest of touches. But the linesman had his flag up on the far side
despite that fact that Lustrinelli had been a good couple of yards onside
(and no-one else was offside either). Shocking decision!
Some people have suggested to me that the goal was disallowed because it
was an indirect free kick, and Lustrinelli didn't get a touch. One might
think it was indirect, Reyes having given the free kick away with an
obstruction, but watch the replays: at no time did the ref raise his arm
for it.
Lauren came on for Cygan, slipping into the left back position where he
last played against Juventus in 2002. I have to say that it was good to
see that Wenger recognises this option!
Van Persie played a lovely ball forward for Henry, bisecting the centre back
and right back and putting Henry clean through in the box. A classic
position for Thierry but, unusually, when he opened his body up to
side-foot it inside the far post he missed that post by a foot or so.
20 minutes to go, and Robert Pires came on for Henry (Sol took the captain's armband).
Van Persie had a poor long-range effort, but at least it was an effort.
Lauren found ven Persie just inside their crowded box, he skipped past
2 with excellent footwork then ran into the 3rd defender.
Up the other end Adriano went on a great run coming infield from their
right wing, then hit a near post shot which was easy for Almunia.
A few minutes later Hodzic got a foot to a free kick from their
right wing, but could inly divert the ball soft and low to
Almunia at his right hand post.
They were still making more chances than Arsenal, but overall the introduction of
Cesc and then Pires into midfield meant that we using the midfield more, and
controlling possession much more than earlier.
6 minutes to go and Eboue went on a great run forward in an inside right
position, he played the infield to Freddie who played it wide right to
Reyes, and Jose found Eboue's continued run into the box. He got to the near post
and did well to cut the ball back past the keeper and defender, but
van Persie's run into the goalmouth had taken him forward of the ball.
Still, Robin recovered and got the ball back to Reyes on the right. He
dribbled into the box but past a couple of teammates and quickly into trouble.
Eboue was still limping.
A coupel of minutes later Eboue got forward again and slipped a simple
ball into the box for van Persie. He received with back to goal and
turned his defender then crumpled in a heap. The ref waved play on
but then stopped because the linesman was flagging. Turns out that
the linesman had spotted the defender's arm coming across van Persie
as he tried to get past. There's no way that arm caused Robin to
go down that way, but it did look a foul. So, no guilty feelings over
the penalty. But the way things looked, after everything else,
it was unerstandable the home side and fans getting a bit peeved. And
this was when the stuff started getting thrown from the crowd.
And, of course, it had to be van Persie again! The man who'd got their
man sent off this time, the man who they (wrongly) thought had
assaulted their player last time...
Anyway, Pires stepped up and hit a firm penalty high to the keeper's
left, sending him the wrong way.
There was just time for another dodgy offside decision against Thun,
and this time they didn't bother to complain.
So, you can't win them all... well. But you can win them all.
We're on 15 points out of 15, guaranteed top spot in the group, and
with a celebratory home game against Ajax to come. Lovely stuff.
A bit of this luck in the league, together with a bit more of our
previous European form, and who knows...?
By appearing in this match, Thierry Henry set a new record of 70 European appearances for Arsenal, beating David Seaman's previous record.
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