Sheffield United 0-1 Arsenal (Ljunberg 35) Definitely not pretty for Arsenal, and not without controversy, as Freddie's winner was set up by referee Graham Poll, who a) failed to blow the whistle on a foul by Sol and b) ran into Micheal Tonge of Sheffield and knocked him down on the resulting break, taking him out of the play and leaving Freddie wide open to put in the rebound. The good news for Arsenal is that the backline is now fully intact, with both Ashley Cole and Martin Keown returning to the starting eleven. David Seaman also returned for his 1000th professional appearance, and he celebrated by making a fantastic save late to save the game for the Gunners. Also, just like all the previous FA Cup games, Henry and DB10 started the match on the bench, before both came on late in the second half. The bad news was that, just like against Villa, Arsenal were unable to get consistent pressure offensively. My hope is that they were just looking ahead each of the last two games and that they've saved up six or seven goals for ManUre on Wednesday.
From what I've read, it was nothing serious. Wenger pulled him just to play it safe and keep him from aggravating anything further. My guess is he'll be 100% for Wednesday.
Final was 2-1. Sorry guys, but that was a more exciting match to watch looks like (as it has for a while) that you'll be getting the double.
The other bit of controversy was that Sol's foul/tackle left the Blades player, Allison, laying on the pitch. In that situation, of course, fair play usually dictates that the opposing team kicks the ball out of play, which Arsenal didn't do. I don't know if it's because Allison was in the Arsenal half of the field and none of the Gunners saw him, or if they were pissed that they hadn't had a good chance up until that point and said, "Eff it, we're going for goal." (Of course, something very similar happened in the Newcastle/Everton game last week when Bernard went down from a bad tackle - Sol's was nowhere near as bad as that - and Everton played on, won a penalty, and scored. Bobby Robson said his team would probably have done the same thing, so I don't know if the old fair play standards are so relevant any more.) JW, I'm not so sure Tonge had much of a chance to affect the play - he was pretty close to midfield when he bumped into Poll. Couple of other things: -I thought Stuart McCall was fairly lucky to stay on the pitch. He was already booked when he kicked Vieira right in the knee. No intent, just clumsiness, but I've seen bookings for less than that. -Seaman's save was the greatest save I've ever seen, especially when you factor in the game situation. Sheffield United was pressing, they had momentum, they were attacking the end where their fans were sitting, it was late in the game. And it was pure highway robbery. Seaman was sliding over to his left then had to reach back behind him with his right hand to fling the ball away from the goal line. I'm pretty sure - but not 100 percent sure - that the ball didn't cross the line. The thoroughly mediocre John Motson, though, without the benefit of a different replay than I saw, was sure that it didn't. Anyway, that save will go down in FA Cup lore right up there with Giggs's goal. -Did Sheffield United outplay Arsenal? Probably, yeah. They were committed, they were physical, and they created chances for themselves. A good showing all around, and if they take that form to the promotion playoffs we'll see them at least twice next season. -I'm not so sure how severe Vieira's injury is. Already wearing a bandage after McCall hacked him, he got scraped down his left leg by Brown. He looked to be in pain when he came off the field, although he was on the field to celebrate with the rest of the team after the match.
I don't think the whole fair play doctrine is really in play anymore. I've seen a few games this year where that either hasn't happened or, if it did, it happened a long while afterwards. It's nice if it happens, but most teams won't pass up the chance to attack anymore, particularly this late in the season and at this stage of the FA Cup. I also still think anybody who believes David Seaman is no longer an efficient keeper doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. Anybody who saw that save today and saw how much more calm things looked in front of him knows that he is still one of the top keepers in England. BuffloSoldier, what year did you graduate from SU? I'm class of 2002 and am still celebrating the national championship myself.
Re: Re: Re: FA Cup Semi-Final Results [R] Yeah, you're definitely right about that. I didn't make myself clear enough - I was responding to Jason's comment about the Tonge/Poll collision leaving Ljungberg open for the goal.
He's not. As much as I'm sure you all want Mike Riley, you'll have to settle for Mark Halsey, instead.
Not the win I was hoping for-- Sheffield really, really deserved that goal, Seaman's save was almost unreal-- but a win is a win, I guess. Still-- it's not good enough. Not at all. I think we'll be luckier on Wednesday, with the defensive masters coming back off the injury list to shut down ManU's recent incredibly scary attacking power, but Arsenal will NOT take the FA Cup over a sufficiently hungry Southampton if they play as they did today. I have faith-- after all, Arsenal are the greatest team in the world!-- but the Gunners need to win big on Wednesday to calm down my nerves!
As a believer in the fact that Arsenal generally plays the most exciting soccer in Europe(Sometimes not then it's Ajax), they really didn't do enough to win this game with the exception of Seaman who made the save of the year. "Bernard went down from a bad tackle - Sol's was nowhere near as bad as that - and Everton played on, won a penalty, and scored. Bobby Robson said his team would probably have done the same thing, so I don't know if the old fair play standards are so relevant any more.)" Don't know if they don't apply but that tackle on Bernard was pretty bad as well. Poll should have given him the benefit of the doubt and stopped play.
This may be a harsh assumption, but to me, the foul on Allison couldn't have possibly been that bad. I know players exaggerate a little, hoping for a foul call and what not, but he should realize that with him laying down and waiting for a call that hasn't come yet, your team is in trouble, so get up, shake it off and go help out your teammates. I dunno, maybe I'm being a bit harsh in my judgement but I hate when players do that, which I'm sure a ton of players are guilty of (heck, even Lauren has done it this season). Well, a win is a win even though Arsenal definitely didn't look like they were on top of their game. They better be ready for ManUre on Wednesday or hopes of a double will seem like a pipe dream. It's gonna be an exciting game and I can't wait. Will Pires be ready on Wednesday?
"Did Sheffield United outplay Arsenal? Probably, yeah. They were committed, they were physical, and they created chances for themselves. A good showing all around, and if they take that form to the promotion playoffs we'll see them at least twice next season". First of all, congrats to the gunners on the win. I'm gutted about the result, but the lads did me proud as they have done all season long. I thought Pesky had scored the equalizer in the 85th minute, but Seaman came up with an incredible save, I still don't know how he kept it out, that was a world class save. On the controversy, Sol Campbell definately fouled Wayne Allison. Referee Poll should have blown his whistle and awarded a free-kick. Poll did not blow his whistle, play continued and a goal was the end result. These things happen, more often than they should, but that's football sometimes. Massive praise to the Blades - total passion and commitment and a bit unlucky. Hopefully, we will see you next season in the Premiership. Cheers, GQ
That saves proves that david Seaman, our Safe Hands, our man H is the greatest keeper in the history of the world. OK, maybe not, but the best keeper I've seen in action in a long while. 3 cheers for Safe Hands!! Vive le AFC! OPArsenal _____________ [size=0.75]Why was it only one-nil?!?!?!?!?[/size]
A Question for the Board: While watching the PayPerView (BBC Feed) telecast, I became intrigued by the fact that all the commentators seemed to think Referee Poll should have whistled the play to a stop (my impression anyway) after he collided with Tonge. Being raised essentially on American football and basketball, I was always taught the the referees are 'part of the game'. The ball or a player hits the official and play continues...why wouldn't the same principle apply here? Then again, I'm sure I'd feel a bit different today if I live in Sheffield!!!!
he shouldnt of blown it dead because he ran into the midfielder.. but, he had an excuse to stop play because of the injured player (allison).. thus making up for blundering that poor lad for sheffield in the midfield~~ .5 cent worth~ lol
That's right. He should not have blown the whistle when he ran into the Sheffield player. However, he should have turned around and tell everybody that everything was okay and just do an "advantage" signal or something. However, if he had turned around he would have seen Allison still down and stopped play. The guy was on the ground for a minute and a half. And shame on Arsenal for not kicking it out.
The commentators were referring to Sol Campbell's foul on Wayne Allison, not the body check by Mr. Poll on Tongey. The play should have been whistled dead and a free-kick awarded. Since there was no whistle, play continued and the gunners consequently scored. This was another error by Mr. Poll that changed the outcome of a match. Cheers, GQ
A scrappy 1-0 win, exactly the same as against Middlesbrough last year. Fact is, it's results that count at this stage. As for the Campbell/Allison incident, sitting in the ground I didn't think it was a foul. After watching it on TV in super slo-mo, I still don't think it was a foul. The ref was standing 10-15 yards away and he didn't think it was a foul. Allison wasn't injured as we saw from the fact that after his few seconds of "treatment" he was up and running around for about another 45 minutes until he was subbed in the second half. Everyone should face up to the fact that he lost the ball, went down looking for a free kick and then stayed down in the hope that we'd stop the game as we were on the attack. It happens week in, week out, our players do it too in the hope of gaining an advantage. The other fella collided with the ref, it happens. An very unlucky time to do it, but if the ball comes off the ref, you just play on. The ref was absolutely right not to stop the game for either incident and it was a perfectly good goal. A great save by Seaman late on, but no-one has mentioned the three or four chances we had near the end when Henry and Bergkamp came on. If we'd converted at least one people would have been talking about a comfortable win. The save by Seaman was the only one he really had to make in the whole game.
According to the rules the referee is part of the field of play, therefore he didn't have to stop play. As for the 'foul' he jumped up as soon as we scored, so he must've been really badly hurt, finally we are talking Sheff utd here, the team that feigned several injuries to get a game abandoned.