West Bromwich Albion 0 Arsenal 2: Arsenal ride their luck well

Last updated : 17 December 2003 By Brian Dawes

Stack saves from Hulse
The Baggies like to work hard and use their muscle and they did both against Arsenals 2nd. XI which showed 11 changes from our Sunday Premiership line up. Stack, Clichy, Bentley, Tavlaridis and Aliadiere joined all those squad members chasing a starting place in the first XI line up, plus Lauren who was coming back from injury. Some chased a starting place harder than others, and in this respect Kanu looked as hard working and as sharp as I’ve ever seen him.

Martin captained the side who sported long sleeves and quite a few gloves against the short sleeved Baggies. Clichy at left back is young, refined, classy and still lacking a bit physically but full of confidence, he showed promise. Bentley playing in front of him left side midfield looked classy, inventive, confident and full of tricks. He too needs to get stronger, which they both will as they mature. I also doubt very much if he’ll play wide when he claims a first team birth, as he surly will if he remains patient. Jeremie up front looked lonely, classy, neat, accomplished and stronger than our other youngsters,but still not quite fully developed physically. That will come though and the ability of all three is a given.

Amazingly Wiltord was responsible for two of the first three offside calls. Tavlaridis was suckered by his man backing in and conceded a free kick. Dobie took the free kick and Kanu who was alert and working cleared. Bentley then conceded a free kick which was hit just wide, while Martin looked to be holding in the box. Stathis was getting a bit niggly and conceded a free kick against Hulse. The free kick was shot at the wall. A run from Clement down the left saw him hit what started as a cross but actually hit the woodwork. West Brom managed to find the net shortly after but the flag was up for offside for some time and Stack just raised his arm to claim the offside, making no effort to save. Subsequent replays showed that it was not offside however.

Kanu was in well to steal and found Edu central who played it right to Lauren. Kanu called for a ball behind the defence and it was duly delivered. Kanu’s header was saved but he took the rebound with ease. 0-1 Arsenal. The Baggies came back at Arsenal and broke into the box after Bentley was tripped but nothing given, Martin did his best to concede a penalty against Hulse but referee Matt Massius was not impressed. Tavlaridis tripped Johnson on a run in exchange for a yellow card and at this stage our young Greek was not over impressive. Clement hit the free kick well but wide.

Arsenal played the occasional good stuff but to be honest I found it hard to get too excited. Mainly because if West Brom are the best that the Nationwide has to offer I’m distinctly unimpressed. WBA were hitting long balls and relying on muscle while some Arsenal players looked like they just might remain in second gear. Parlour to Kanu to Bentley whose cross saw Aliadiere head over. Hulse had an overhead kick that Stack tipped around the post. Young Graham had his best first team game to date and did all that was asked of him. A late West Brom effort was from a free kick that hit our wall and finally an unmarked Hughes could only win a corner. A half time lead.

The second half was delayed because a lino was injured and they were looking around for another 4th. official. Who the **** needs a 4th. official anyway? They finally found Dermott Gallagher who wore a track suit over his suit, or so we were told. The restart saw Kanu throw a good dummy and take a return from Bentley before shooting. Physically robust was the commentator’s description of the men in the stripes. Bit on the lardy side was mine. A brilliant save by Stack from Hulse and Graham also did well at his near post from the corner. ’Arsene Wenger’s red and white army’ could be clearly heard on the box. A crap offside against Bentley showed that the first 4th. official was a no lino.

Hughes in space blasted over, the TV reported 12 WBA shots to Arsenal’s 4 just before Gaardsoe and Aliadiere had an interesting little roll about off the pitch. Another free kick was awarded against Tavlaridis before Stack cut out a good cross. Then a poor back pass to Russell Hoult saw him try to clear first time whilst stretching, but he only succeeded in gifting it to Jeremie who was in the right place at the right time to make it 0-2 Arsenal. Game over. The Baggies huffed and puffed but our back four were better in the air this half and suffered little in the way of threats. The rest of the boys passed it around well and had a couple of fine spells of keep ball. Stack did well from a difficult header back from Clichy.

The ref then went off for treatment to a chant of ‘You’re not fit to referee’. Volmer was replaced by Gilchrist. A fine move that ended with a Wiltord pass for a decent Aliadiere shot showed that we were on top now, but the Baggies worked hard to get back at us. O’Connor was replaced by Sakri and WBA continued with the long ball. Aliadiere was replaced by young Fabregas who watched the ball fly over his head for most of his time on the pitch. Edu had a shot, both teams tried to attack but the pitch looked as though it was cutting up a bit. Bentley was replaced by Jerome Thomas who’s first touch set up Wiltord with a chance, but the shot was saved. Another good catch by Stack.

‘One Arsene Wenger’ rang out before Dobie hit the bar with a shot on the turn from the edge of the box, it obviously wasn’t going to be their night. ‘Scoring a goal, you’re having a laugh’. WBA had a very good cross in from their left that Hughes headed just wide. A good Arsenal move ended with a cheeky shot from Edu. The two minutes added time ran to four minutes thirteen seconds for no good reason. During which West Brom took their corner count up from ten to twelve, not that it did them any good.

A comfortable win for Arsenal but West Brom’s luck was out tonight, had it been in we might have had to go up a gear. Graham Stack was awarded man of the match and he did play well, but Kanu must have run him close. All in all a pleasing win but it only means another Mickey Mouse Cup game we have to endure. I can’t take it seriously so it must be difficult for Arsene and his men to do so. Still the kids done good again and I really hope that some of them get an outing in the semi-finals.