Manchester United (0) 2 - 0 (0) Arsenal
Old Trafford, Sunday 24th October 2004
FA Premiership
Arsenal:
Lehmann
Lauren Campbell Toure Cole
Ljungberg Vieira Edu Reyes (Pires 70)
Bergkamp Henry
So, the run is over. Clearly some Arsenal fans feel a kind
of bereavement, but I think that a good deal more of us are
able to put it into perspective, and possibly feel a little
relief that we can now get on with focussing on simply
winning some trophies. It had to end sometime, and at least
it didn't end with a comprehensive defeat.
The second goal, at the start of injury time, came with Arsenal
pressing for an equaliser. Finding themselves in a 3 against 2
situation, Smith and Rooney combined well to make the win certain.
A fine cross from the former to find the latter's central run,
with the extra man and Arsenal on the back foot you'd have been
surprised if they'd failed to score.
It was a tight game, which swung on a couple of reffing decisions.
But rather than moan about those decisions we should instead recognise
that we've had a few games during the run of 49 that were similarly tight
and which we scraped through thanks to a reffing decision, or a lucky
break.
Yes, Ferdinand probably should have been sent off for that foul on Ljungberg
in the first half. After 18 minutes Bergkamp had slipped the ball forward
for Freddie to break. With Rio chasing from behind Freddie's first touch
pushed the ball forward and further from the defender, and although he
may have played it a little strong one shouldn't underestimate the turn
of pace at Freddie's disposal. Rio just clattered into him from behind,
and it was a pretty bad decision not to even give a foul. I'm not convinced
that the ref would have been forced to show a red card, but perhaps Mike
Riley was. One of those situations where the fact that the ref isn't
allowed to choose to just give a foul prevents them from doing so.
Yes, the 73rd minute penalty probably should not have been given, seeing
as there was no actual contact. But I don't think it's fair to criticise
the ref too much for this one. He may have given United 8 pens in 8 matches
but that doesn't mean that they were all dodgy decisions! Sol Campbell may
have pulled his leg away before catching Rooney but there's no denying he
stuck that leg out, in Rooney's way, after Rooney had pushed the ball past him.
It was only one of many camera angles that showed conclusively that there
hadn't been contact, so one can hardly blame the ref for concluding that
there had been. I always think it's better to look at what we did wrong
to allow the goal to happen rather than what others did wrong. Riley and
Rooney were just doing their jobs. What about Sol when he stuck that leg out?
And what about Toure (I think it was Toure) who, when Arsenal won possession
during the build up just beforehand, simply passed the ball to a United player
from inside his own penalty area without having been under any immediate pressure?
Shit happens.
Cole got lucky when he brought Ronaldo down on the edge of the box deep on
our left a bit later. Again, hard to blame the ref for missing it, since
he would have got the ball if Ronadlo hadn't executed a neat little drag back
just before the left back came sliding in. Again, from some angles it looked
like Cole had made contact with the ball.
Cole also got lucky when he was able to carry on playing following Ruud Van Nistelrooy's
studs-high challenge on the wing in the first half. And van Nistelrooy got lucky
when he wasn't sent off for it (luck which may run out when the FA panel looks
at the incident). But again, it was a foul the full awfulness of which was only
really clear on the replays.
At the end of the day the game swung on 2 decisions. The good news for England is that Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand were the 2 best players on the pitch. Each was immense in defence, but each made one mistake and sadly only Sol was made to pay for his. But them's the breaks.
We have to be grateful that the run didn't stop until we'd built up enough
of a lead to stay top
of the table. There's a long way to go but we're still the best team in the country.
The best team doesn't always win but the truth is, we always knew that. This
Man United team may be galvanised by this result, but they're not going to
be so up for the fight again as they were for this game, not for a long time.
Sadly, there's a new look to the record-breakers page today, with not only the record 49 game unbeaten run coming to an end but also the 27 game unbeaten away run (also an English league football record). But a morale-lifting win over Southampton (who lost 6-1 at Highbury to start the 49 game run) on Saturday will take us a step closer to our own record 30 game unbeaten Premiership home sequence. | 
