Player & Tactics
Analysis
| Arsenal (0) 0 | Crystal Palace (0) 0 |
| Attendance : 37,164 | |
| Referee : Mr M. Bodenham | |
| Team : | Miller, Ismael, Edworthy, Smith, Gordon, Roberts, Hreidarsson, Rodger, Fullarton, Brolin, Dyer |
| Subs : | Nash, Tuttle, Folan, Linighan, Emblen. |
| Booked : | Dyer 77' |
Player & Tactics Analysis |
| Reports from: | The Daily Telegraph by Christopher Davies | The Times by Brian Glanville |
 Ray Bateup's ReportA gutsy well-disciplined defensive display earned Palace a 5th round replay at Selhurst park in 10 days time. Coppell finally took the decision to drop Andy Linighan from the starting line-up thus allowing Marc Edworthy to revert to the sweeping role where many supporters feel he excels.
Palace were showing a far greater discipline at the back than they showed earlier in the week against Wimbledon. However, Palace's good work in defence could not disguise their lack of creativity in the final third of the field and rarely posed any problems for the Gunner's rearguard. Overmars, Petit, Hughes and Bergkamp, twice, all came close to opening the scoring for the London side. The nearest that Palace came during the first period was when Fullarton was denied a blatant penalty in the 41st minute. Fullarton's, clean through, had his legs scythed from underneath him by the North London side's young keeper Manninger. But, the referee, incredibly, just booked the keeper and awarded a free-kick outside of the area. On another day and with another referee Palace would have been awarded the spot kick and the keeper would have been dismissed from the field. The subsequent slow motion replay clearly showed a foul well inside the area but that's the way your luck goes when you are a struggling side. Lee Dixon fired just wide of the target, and a motionless Miller, before the half time whistle drew the first 45 minutes to a close. Marc Edworthy started the second period with 4 stitches in a head wound but it was still Arsenal on the offensive with Palace pushed back into their own half for long periods. The lively Overmars almost gave Arsenal the lead 4 minutes after the restart with a shot that fortunately was driven into the side netting and Kevin Miller, who appeared to have shrugged off his uncharacteristic poor showing against Wimbledon, once again denied Bergkamp just seconds later.
Kevin Miller dived bravely at the feet of Overmars in the 64th minute and just 6 minutes later pulled off another fine save to deny Anelka. Palace made some brief sojourns upfield and one could be forgiven for thinking that we might just snatch a winner on the break. Sadly it wasn't to be. With 12 minutes of the match remaining Overmars came very close to securing the winner with a low angled cross-shot that, fortunately, just cleared the far post. Valerien Ismael cleared a headed effort off the line on 86 minutes but the referee had already blown for an earlier foul on Miller. And, during injury time, Lee Dixon spurned Arsenal's final opportunity to leave Palace empty-handed when he fired a long-range effort just over the Palace bar. So Palace live to fight another day and the prize for victory will be a 6th Round home tie against either West Ham or Blackburn in early a March. Who knows, we may even have a few of our injured players back by then.
Report from The Daily Telegraph by Christopher Davies
No Goals but 1-1 on reasonble penalty claims as Crystal Palace and Arsenal ensured they will meet three times in 11 days. It must be hoped that the Premiership game at Highbury on Saturday and Wednesday week's replay at Selhurst Park offer a higher degree of entertainment than this mediocre affair. Both sides left Highbury with justifiable claims that they should have been awarded a penalty. Three minutes before half-time a mix-up between Steve Bould and Alex Manninger allowed Jamie Fullarton to run on to Andy Roberts' pass. Manninger, Arsenal's Austrian goalkeeper, clattered into Fullarton and while, to the naked eye, the foul appeared to have been committed just outside the penalty area, television replays showed contact was made two yards inside. Manninger was cautioned and a free-kick awarded just outside the penalty area. Lucky Arsenal. On the hour, Andy Roberts brought down Stephen Hughes and again there were no mass appeals for a penalty - not even from appealer supreme Dennis Bergkamp. But video evidence pointed towards a second spot-kick referee Martin Bodenham should have given. Lucky Palace. It quickly became obvious that Palace went to Highbury to do what football people call "a job." They did it without frills or thrills, frustrating Arsenal with a blanket defence - though the home side had enough chances to have ensured their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. The visitors were never really likely to score apart, perhaps, from a penalty or set-piece, given their tactics plus the fact that Tomas Brolin was one of their two strikers. While it is fair to say the Swede is twice the player he was during the 1992 European Championship when he tore through England, it is more in weight than talent. Brolin, Dyer and company also seemed intent on going into the Guinness Book of Records for the team caught offside most during a game. The forwards rarely looked across the line to see if a defender was in front of them and even though Arsenal have a collective masters degree in catching opponents offside (even without Tony Adams's raised arm orchestrating proceedings) Palace were naive and tedious. Palace kept so many players behind the ball that Arsenal rarely had a chance to wander offside. However, just as boring were the constant claims for fouls, penalties and bookings by some of the home players with Bergkamp, who was well marked by Hermann Hreidarsson, leading the way. If the Dutch striker was a slip fielder, the impression is he would appeal for lbw if the batsman hit a boundary. "There was too much holding of Dennis Bergkamp," said Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. "We must buy him an extra shirt." "Bergkamp backs in an awful lot," countered Steve Coppell, the Palace manager. "Hermann just stood his ground. He was more sinned against than the sinner." The bad news for Arsenal is that Bould broke his right thumb, though why he limped towards physiotherapist Gary Lewin after getting up is a mystery. An X-ray will determine how serious the injury is. "He could be out for only two or three weeks," said Wenger. "But if the break is complicated, his season is over." In the short term, Arsenal have a problem for the Premiership game on Saturday against Palace because Adams, available for Wednesday's Coca-Cola Cup tie at Chelsea, is suspended, while Martin Keown is also injured. However, if there is one attack to face with makeshift central defenders it is Dyer and Brolin. Overmars had a shot stopped by Kevin Miller's boot; the Palace goalkeeper saved well from Nicolas Anelka, at the feet of Bould and Overmars; Lee Dixon and Bergkamp went close.
"We deserved to win but we must recognise the way Palace stood together." Would Attilio Lombardo and Michele Padovano be fit for the replay? "Not unless it snows for three weeks."
Report from The Times by Brian Glanville
A tale of two goalkeepers, you might say. Kevin Miller, who looked on Monday at Selhurst Park, where Wimbledon put three goals past him in quick succession, as though his nerves were shot to pieces, rose triumphantly above his traumas yesterday to keep Crystal Palace in the game. By contrast, Alex Manninger, Arsenal's young Austrian reserve, looked insecure, was awfully lucky not to concede a late first-half penalty and very nearly gave a goal away a dozen minutes from the end. The penalty decision, which looked an incontestable one, came three minutes from half-time. Jamie Fullarton, the Palace midfield player, who had scarcely been seen until that point, had possession on the right-hand edge of the box. There was no imminent danger, but Manninger, possibly out of sheer boredom and inactivity, came roaring out of his goal and brought Fullarton down. For this, he received a yellow card, but the referee, Martin Bodenham, decided that the offence had taken place outside the box. Miller, for his part, was busy almost from the beginning of this FA Cup fifth-round tie. After 11 minutes, Bergkamp, whose occasional, subtle inventions were always a source of danger, found Hughes, who threaded a clever ball to Overmars. The Holland winger shot from a narrow angle for the near corner, but Miller blocked with his foot. A minute later, when Nicolas Anelka, always so much more eager to shoot than to pass, held off three defenders and sent in a right-foot shot, Miller beat it down. Miller's one lucky moment came 20 minutes after that, when he could not hold a 30-yard drive from Bergkamp, but managed to dive on the ball as Steve Bould came thundering in. Subsequently, the unfortunate Bould would break a thumb. He will be out of the Arsenal side for a while to come. Twenty minutes into the second half, after a smooth combination between Parlour, Hughes and Overmars, Miller made a brave stop at the Dutchman's feet. Shortly afterwards, when Anelka, again with his penchant for shooting, managed to make himself space for a shot, Miller responded well. It must be emphasised that if an early penalty for Palace might, as their manager, Steve Coppell, said, have given them great incentive, Arsenal themselves should have had one after 16 minutes of the second half. Hughes chased an excellent pass by Bould, Roberts quite clearly brought him down, but Bodenham, who appeared yesterday to have joined the tribe of the three wise monkeys, saw no evil in that, either. "If we'd have got in front," Coppell said, "we'd have had more to grab hold of in the game. At the moment, we haven't scored for such a long time. We haven't got the firepower up front, we admit that." The respective managers, as one might have presumed, saw the stifling close marking of Bergkamp by Hermann Hreidarsson, Palace's Icelandic defender, very differently. "It was too much holding of Dennis Bergkamp again," Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said. "We [will] have to buy him an extra shirt." Coppell, for his part, was full of praise for Hreidarsson, who, he pointed out proudly, had come from an environment of a few thousand people to the great metropolis of London. As to the duel with Bergkamp, Coppell said: "Was it a case of more sinned against than sinning? Bergkamp is as strong as an ox and he backs into people. The natural reaction is to shove back, but Hermann just stood his ground. He is still very much an innocent." Coppell massively improved the Palace defence, which had wilted so pitifully against Wimbledon, by replacing the somewhat statuesque Linighan in the middle of the back three with the far more mobile Marc Edworthy. "I just wanted more pace at the back," Coppell said. "Bergkamp goes by people and I thought with Edworthy's pace, it would give us a few more options." To his credit, Edworthy was not even deterred by a blow in the first half which necessitated four stitches in his head. So, Arsenal must now play Palace twice in swift succession, not to mention Chelsea on Wednesday in the Coca-Cola Cup semi-final second leg. Yesterday, Wenger said: "We had a lack of creative potential and we were not fresh enough to put them under pressure." They will continue to have difficulties until they find a playmaker for midfield.
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