|
It was good to see the travelling Gooners give Ray Parlour a warm reception. He was applauded when his name was read out in the starting line up, and he acknowledged this by giving the away fans a brief moment of applause.
We started poorly, and in didn’t get much better. A rash challenge from Lauren in only the first minute on Downing saw him receive a yellow card, when really it could have been red. That was the only incident of any note for the first twenty minutes.
It was Middlesbrough who came closest in a lacklustre 45 minutes. Hasselbaink played the ball in from the left wing and found Doriva on the corner of the box. He sliced across the ball, but his looping shot only clipped the top of the bar.
Then, in one moment, alarm bells sounded in our defence. A simple corner was swung in from the right. Lehmann came and flapped at it, and the ball was loose. He and Toure then got in each others way and still the ball remained in the box. Lehmann then took the bizarre decision to come yet further out of his goal and he still couldn’t claim it. By this stage he was only just inside our area, and as Queudrue went down claiming a penalty, I feared the worst. However, the referee was having none of it, and play continued. This did not make me feel any easier, as now Lehmann was well out of his area and closing in on the corner flag! He still could not win the ball, and it was Gilberto who stepped in to save his blushes. A moment of madness that Lehmann was lucky to get away with. Just when he had been on a run of form, where his irrational decision making had been low, he comes out with a blunder like this. It does not inspire confidence, and a better team would have punished us.
Our only effort of note was to come late in the half. Henry picked the ball up just inside the Boro half. He teased Ray Parlour before racing past him, fast approaching their area. As he got to the edge of the box, he turned and sent a cross shot in, which briefly fooled the keeper, but went wide. That really was as good as it got, and it was almost a relief when the half time whistle went.
The second half saw us make a change up front with Bergkamp replacing Reyes, who had picked up a knock in a collision late in the first half. Arsene has already said that he expects Jose to be fit for next Saturday. Unfortunately, the change made no difference to the way that we were playing. It would not be fair to say that Arsenal alone had a poor game, as Middlesbrough showed no enthusiasm for attacking throughout the game. Both sides were way off their best form, and so the game developed into a midfield slog. One side had some possession and then lost in, only for the other side to do exactly the same. This was the pattern for the opening 15 minutes, with only some wild efforts from long range.
When the goal came it was extremely lucky, and in truth it would have had to have been in a game like this. A good turn by Vieira saw him open up some space which he ran into. He laid the ball out wide for Thierry, who attempted the return ball. However, the ball was a little behind Patrick, but his touch hit Queudrue and then Doriva before landing at the feet of Pires, who steered the ball in from only a few yards out on 73 minutes.
The relief amongst the travelling Gooners was immense! This had been a dull atmosphere (apparently the "Norvern Gooners" weren’t expecting a 0-0 for so long!) but suddenly the away end was alive. Mad celebrations followed, almost on par with those of Portsmouth away!
We never looked like pressing for a second from that point, as we were trying to sit on our lead. Middlesbrough fired a warning shot when Hasselbaink sent a header goal bound, only for Lehmann to make a smart stop.
They then had the clearest chance of the game when Senderos was caught in possession just inside our half. Nemeth was able to release Hasselbaink who had a clear run on goal. Lehmann advanced, and stayed on his feet with the result being a good save, as Hasselbaink has banked on Lehmann going down early and so had tried a chipped shot. He fell to the ground as he knew they would not get a better chance than that to equalise.
The game ended very much as it had started, with many misplaced passes and some poor communication.
But today, the important thing was to get the three points. With the Mancs playing later, we knew that we could give them no encouragement. By the time they kicked off we were three points clear.
Travelling home, we decided not to listen to the Norwich match, thinking it would be an easy Man U win based upon the display Norwich gave against us the previous week. Imagine our delight when we hear "Goal news from Carrow Road – and it’s NORWICH!" I’m sure I was not the only one to be in a state of stunned silence for a minute after that news! Then when the second goal went in I was jumping around as much as you can wile in the front of a car!
So the poor performance that we gave was overshadowed by other results. Had we left the Riverside with a 0-0, and then the Mancs had won, it could have been so different.
Now we look forward to Cardiff. Despite the kick off time, price and lack of good transport on the day, we have still sold out. Let us hope that the team will turn up for that one and that the crowd do as well.