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Having departed North London, complete with hangover, at 5.30 a.m. for reasons I won't go into here we made it to the ground just after 9.15 to pick up our duplicate match tickets. It was deeply disappointing on arrival to find that they hadn't renamed the Visitors Section as the Champions Section. Still never mind Lee Palmer had taken his, now famous, flag along just to remind them. Just such a shame that the team didn't give them the same reminder during the match. Dermot Gallagher was today's ref and he let a lot of things go, which I don't mind at all. Its a man's game played by men or should be. That muppet D'Urso would probably have flashed about fifteen yellow cards and ruined it for everyone had he been in charge.
They started on the front foot and the first few minutes the match amounted to a fairly long list of Arsenal players clearing the ball. United's first free kick in Beckham range was I believe for something off the ball that I didn't see. Veron could only hit it into our wall though. Pires had a decent run that showed promise. Cole cut out a useful ball aimed at Solskjaer and then another one from a Giggs cross. The Van Diver opened his account with an elbow on Keown. Not spotted and obviously it won't be reviewed anymore than his punch on Freddie was last season, nor will any of his other elbows or standing on feet (it's only stamping if your red shirt has white sleeves)
Brown won the early exchanges with Thierry who seemed to have problems getting going for an early kick-off. He wasn't alone because Freddie and Sylvain had the same problem. Gilberto got stuck into Veron early on, but then they were having their own little Argentinean-Brazilian match as well as playing in the main event. Ljungberg and Wiltord worked a great move down the left following some fine passes in midfield and this seemed to get us going. Nothing too fluid of note though. Rami opened his account with a great save from Van Diver, which required Shaaban to sling himself low to his right.
United's defence were pressing quite high up the pitch but Oleg, I think it was, found Henry in space with a well timed run, he was one on one with Barthez and should have done better than his somewhat rushed shot that was well saved. I don't understand why forwards will always take on the last defender but not try to dribble around the keeper.
Scholes netted after an offside flag and whistle against van Diver but obviously there was not going to be a yellow card as there was against Henry last week. Meanwhile off the pitch the travelling Gooners had been in fine fettle with the predictable and a variation 'We took the p*ss in Manchester' and a new one 'Have you ever, have you ever won the league at Highbury?'
We had another great chance to take the lead when Bob was put through by Thierry and he chipped the keeper beautifully only to see the ball bounce wide of the post. At this stage the match was evenly poised although United were closing us down just a shade faster than we them. A poor clearance out to Scholes from Cygan set up some interplay with van Diver who handled but returned to Scholes on the right, his cross found Veron and it was 1-0 Manure. Strange how such handballs are never spotted at Old Trollop.
United from here on in got the better of the challenges in midfield and Naff Neville put himself about in a manner that would have seen Pat sent off had it been him. But like I said it's a man's game and they clearly wanted it more than we did. There was some good build up play from our boys but United were solid at the back for change while up front van Diver was putting himself with the 'Mary Poppins' elbow routine and rolling around the floor doing his best to get defenders into the book, but it's only to be expected at Old Trollop.
Shaaban scuffed a daisy-cutting goal kick out but went down injured as a direct result. My best guess is that the appalling Old Trollop turf which is no more than a dangerously unstable carpet disappeared from under his feet. Rami limped off as Stuart joined the action. We had our share of breakaways, we played some clever football but we didn't dominate or seriously kick arse. Henry did net after powering his way through in the three minutes injury time but he quite clearly haled a defender out of his way into their box. Half time.
Ashley opened the second half with a brilliant run down the left and he continued to press forward for the rest of the match to no avail. Freddie and Sylvain were not looking at their best and too much work was falling onto the shoulders of Gilberto and Vieira in central midfield. United were closing down our defenders as well as our midfield more effectively than we did to them. Late tackles were the norm and we were not allowed to get into slick mode without being battered in the process. Freddie had seen Barthez come out fast to save and he'd also chested one down for Sylv to blast high, wide and handsome.
Midfield was a bit tasty now with even Giggs joining in to chop down Gilberto. United didn 't create too much though apart from the odd greedy shot from Solskjaer from a wide angle. Oleg put in a good cross but Henry is no header of the ball. Pires had along shot that won a corner but when was the last time we scored from a corner? Alright against Fulham - but that was a crap corner and it wasn't us who scored it. Vieira crossed from the right but Henry could only get half a toe to it. Both Giggs and the promising O'Shea had fine runs down our right flank and Taylor was called upon to punch clear but we came back with a spell of pressure of our own after Dennis replaced Sylvain. Another great cross was fired in but neither Dennis nor Thierry could be described as an aerial threat. Vieira powered one over their bar.
Unfortunately just as we putting them under the cosh at one end Bob was pressured into a terrible pass that put United away down their right. The cross came in Scholes who shot, Stuart dived and it ricocheted off Martin the other way for a lucky 2-0. Kolo came on for Bob. Naff Neville finally got his yellow card for a late tackle from behind on Cole. Oleg appeared to get one for a perfect tackle and Cygan also got in the book for kicking the ball away. Henry had a shot over. We were given offside from a United pass and United had a free kick deflected for a corner.
The game was effectively over at two-nil and everyone knew it. I heard Fergusmoan on the radio on our way back say Arsenal only had one shot. Well he would wouldn't he? The shot count was in fact 10-9 to Arsenal. We didn't get the breaks but then again we didn't deserve to because they fought harder than us, won more 50/50's and pressured us all over their scabby apology for a pitch.
I have to say it was an altogether more pleasurable experience last season and I blame the blue shirts entirely. Had we worn gold, as many fans had suggested, we probably would have been nine points clear of them.