starting the thread - via SKY

could have won it if we had scored early

just nowt seemed to go go for us

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

Answers

Jenas is a top addition

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

The ref gave us nowt - 2 penalties IMHO - a foul on Dabz and a blatant handball.

1st half we were the better team - 2nd half Arse tightened up and it was 50 50.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

The huge plus in a pretty creditable performance was Jenas...in the second half he was easily our best player. Clever, calm, driving runs towards goal...in fact a bit like another Dyer. The absence of Bellamy showed with horrible clarity that despite our cast of thousands in the striker department, none of them is up to it. Speed looked something of a spent force and Robert was missing for large parts of the game. Distin was terrific.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

Think you're flattering us. First fifteen minutes we were positive, confident and had them on the back foot. Gradually the invention and threat waned and we really didn't look like scoring. BR had it spot on - this was a classic away-in-Europe performance. Arsenal converted pretty much the only chances they had and shut up shop.

I also thought we looked a little out of control going forward - trying to play a pace game without our two best pace players, Dyer and Bellamy. By this I don't just mean our fastest players over 100 yards, but the players who have the speed of thought and all-round game for that kind of tempo. Trying to play at that pace without either of those two, I felt we were aiming to be something we just couldn't be. Missing CB's runs through the middle, tonight more than ever the emphasis should've been on patient build-up, getting the ball wide and swinging in deep crosses. I thought we did get in more of these than usual, but not enough. Versus Campbell et al you might need half a dozen crosses to find a Newcastle head.

Still, we didn't crumble and apart from Dabz being up to one or two of his old tricks I thought we played reasonably well. Bergkamp's goal was extraordinary, but however fantastic that touch was, a lone striker being allowed to score with that many defenders around has to reflect at least slghtly on the defenders, doesn't it?

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

We didnt have a hope once the 2nd goal went in- a moment of genious + not defending at set pieces. Arsenal are too good to beat when they are able to sit back and snuff out any passing in their final 1/3.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

SOz - that 'think you're flattering us' was in response to Josh, not Logan.

Logan - cast of thousands? We knew Ameobi would lack the pace of Bellamy, unfortuntely this has the knock-on effect of making Shearer's role less clearly defined. Cort didn't really have a chance. LLL..well, you probably know my feelings about him. But we really only have three genuine first-team strikers.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

It doesnt't matter how well you play, if you're playing any of the top sides and they score first you're up against it. Reminded me of Liverpool. Defend and break then defend even deeper (and break). These teams often find it tougher to play against the bottom sides, who will set out their stall not to lose, than to play a team built for attack. The reason why the top teams (including us) are all doing so well away from home though, is the ability to break with pace against teams who attack them / us.

If only we'd scored first! We might find it easier to beat Liverpool for the same reason we lost today - they'll attack us at home.

No real complaints about the result - the match was over at half time. First goal was brilliant, second was annoying - Sorry Dabs but it was your fault.

I didn't think Robert had a bad game actually, or at least he had a decent first half. Jenas looks good, Ameobi still has a lot to learn - especially about when to turn and run onto the ball - Bellamy does it instinctively. LuaLua was snuffed out easily. I wish Speed would stop shooting from outside the box - it's not worth 50 wasted attempts a season for the 1 goal he might get. Distin is class and we should sign him at all costs. Steady game by O'Brien too.

Hurry up and get fit Dyer. Also Bernard if it's true he's injured 'cos after what I saw today I'd like Robert to have a go partnering Shearer rather than Ameobi or LuaLua and it's maybe too early to expect Cort to start a game. I don't think I fancy a Shearer / Cort partnership anyway after being spoilt by Bellamy.

Roll on Wednesday. Please excuse rambling.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

I've been a defender of Robert here and today in the 1st half he looked class.

2nd half he completely disappeared.

Sorry, Dougal, Softie et al. but he's starting to annoy me...

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

(10:20pm)
Just got home: had several jubblies to drown my disappointment. Probably best not to rush to judgement right now.

Perhaps just a few words. We dominated the first 20 minutes, but created very little. Arsenal scored on the break, but had we got to HT at 1-0 we might have had a chance. As it was, we conceded a typical Toon goal through pathetic defending and basically, that was that.

In truth we were beaten by a better team, a team that had more quality; more quality in defence; more quality in attack.

Ameobi, Lx3 and CC between the three of them contributed f*** all, and frankly, we have a problem. JJ was terrific. Good night.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

Basically everything has been said already.

As soon as they scored, I could only see that outcome. We sat too far forward up the pitch - just because Henry is out it doesn't mean they lack pace.

Our best players were Jenas and probably Robert - everytime he got the ball he invariably created something, either winning a free kick or putting in a good cross. Apart from his scuffed corner, his deliveries were first class and he even tackled back (albeit giving away free kicks on every occasion) Sadly, he was ignored for the last 20 minutes by the midfield.

Basically this was Liverpool all over again. They scored their very first chance (although you can't blame anyone for a goal of that quality). Once that went in, Vieira sat back in front of the defence and they became a rock.

We panicked and started running out of ideas. Without Bellamy, there was zero movement up front. Shearer and Ameobi were both as static as lamposts. Robert was making runs and moving well when linking up with Distin, but there was never anyone in the box to profit.

However, even with a mobile Shearer I felt our only chances would come from set pieces. Unfortunately, we won very few corners and couldn't afford to commit too many men forward when we did get them.

The referee was a bit pedantic as far as fouls were concerned, but in all honesty he wasn't as bad as most of the crowd made out. He gave a lot of fouls against Shearer, but regardless of what his reputation is, the referee must be seeing somthing worthy of a free kick.

You have to say well done to Arsenal. Although on another day we may have won a penalty or two (one of them was definite, but wasn't even shown on "The Premiershit") they defended like any top team should away from home. Hopefully we will go and do the same at Anfield on Wednesday.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

At 0-1, I thought we could do it. DB's goal was out of this world/very lucky. Having seen it again a couple of times on the Premiership, nice flick, great turn, but did he mean it?? Not to take credit away. It was typical Bergkamp goal (b@rstew@rd!). I actually thought Dabs did well not to bring DB down with his lunge.

Second goal was poor - very poor. We had 4 CBs playing today yet we allowed another CB to get free and score. Amateurish. Which is sad, as otherwise Dabs has had a good week.

What struck me was the fact that we were so thin on the ground. Clearly YBR has his first eleven and they have done us proud so far. But lose one or two of them and the gaps are obvious. Contrast this with @rse. Could any of us say what their strongest line up is? I can't. They had so any opportunities to try the all yet we were struggling with LKD and Bellers out. That was the difference today.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

But Screacher, take Pires (basically their Dyer) out of their team and they would've found it harder.

I agree that they have a lot more depth in their squad than us, but I think everyone knew that already to be honest.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

Although this probably wasn't the easiest side to play when you are thin on the ground.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

I listened to the first half of the game on Radio 5 on the motorway and saw the second half on the telly. The most significant comment of the whole evening was made by the Radio 5 commentator who read out a whole team of players unavailable to the Arse today:

Wright, Cole, Adams, Keown, van Bronckhorst, Parlour, Ljunberg, Jeffers, Henry - can't remember the other two. They were missing that lot - we were missing CB and KD. They won. The club must learn from this evening that being over reliant on certain players is a very dodgy strategy. They had that lot missing and still had Kanu on the bench. Strength in depth is the key to success.

Can we afford to build sufficiently on the current squad next year - bearing in mind that we will have won the cup and be in the Champions League!

Incidentally, anyone who suggests that Bergkamp didn't mean that goal wants shooting. His immediate turn the opposite way to which he flicked the ball said it all. You can't blame anyone for a goal like that. You just have to sit back and gasp at the sheer brilliance of it.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2002

Bergkamp's goal was brilliant. Shame he spent so long before the goal assaulting Given. I don't generally know why they dive so much: they are World Class FFS. They were better than us. End of. Distin and Jenas emerged with credit but the rest showed Arsenal way too much respect. We knew this - no Dyer, Bernard or Bellamy=almost no pace.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Get the shotgun oot Jacko - Bergkamp's goal was the result of a pure fluke! He certainly intended to spin on the ball, but misplayed it. He certainly did not intend to play it one side of Dabz and run around the other. It looked good but was fluky - honest!

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

I'm with Clarky on this - he didn't mean to do it exactly as it happened. However, he did mean to flick it up and run on. But credit where credit is due. He had the awareness to adjust, run round Dabs and slot the ball home. A quality striker.

Paul - my comment was more about the lack of depth. To be honest, if @rse lost Pires, they have plenty of cover. As Jacko pointed out, they were without a full side (tho I think Wright was on the bench - Stuart Taylor missing??). Yes, I know we knew that we were thin on the ground (quality-wise). But it was so obvious yesterday.

[soapbox_on] We've relied on Shearer and Bellamy all season. Cort has been out and Lua x2 is nowhere near PL standard. But contrast this with our 3 major contenders for honours. Henry/Bergkamp/Kanu/Wiltord/Jeffers. Owen/Heskey/Anelka/Litmannen/(ex Fowler), RvN/Solskjaer/Forlan/Yorke/Scholes. How many times have that lot been "rotated" this season? Oodles! How many times have we started without Shearer/Bellamy? Very few. [soapbox_off]

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Thing is, at least we aren't having to absorb the loss of Bellamy in the middle of a relegation battle. We may well lose the next couple of games but after that, it's all games that are basically winnable, especially if Dyer and Bernard come back (I think we are underestimating his contribution when it comes to mixing it up a bit). The lessons for me are that we need a new striker and possibly to offload one of Shola and Lua. We need a hard central midfielder and we need a left back.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

There is a real danger that we will start to become hyper-critical of BR and the squad. The reality is that we have exceeded all our expectations this season, and it may now be catching up on us.

BR has done his best to manage expectations by repeatedly saying that he didn't believe we could win the PL as we don't have a squad that can compete with Arsenal, ManU, and Liverpool. As on most issues, he is proably going to be proven correct.

If this does happen, as seems likely, let's try to recognise just how far we've come, and how well the team have really done for us this season, and not set about massacring them.

Regrettably many around me in SJP we doing just that last night. Frankly, some of the verbal criticism was a disgrace, and most undeserving when we were playing such a top quality side.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

In a way I wish we'd lost because we were sh1te, and not because the loss of Bellamy proved perfectly that Bobby knows exactly what he's on about. He's just about irreplaceable going off yesterday.

We don't have even the consolation of it creeping up on us. One game, and the 'told you so' scum are having a field day. I don't think arse were any more keen to win this than we were, they just were better at getting it.

I hope, though, that the loss of Bellamy won't spill over into the league games we should win, namely the rest after liverpool. As long as we go flat out against l'pool on Wed and against arse on Sat, regardless of how they end up, we still should be capable of a decent run in. And Dyer can't be far from fitness.

I don't feel as down in the dumps as I did last night. Cold light of day and all that.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Clarky, you're spot on. You can't build a squad as good as Arsenal's or Man Utd's in a single season. Firstly we don't have the financial resources and secondly it can't be rushed.

In al honesty I expected us to get beat yesterday, but I still felt a sense of pride that even after getting beaten, we were still in the top 4. If someone had told me we'd be top 4 at the start of March, only 2 points off the top, I would certainly have taken that.

Although we are certainly not out of the title race yet, I don't think we will win it, but the fact that our targets have been moved that high can only be a positive factor. At the start of the season we were hoping to finish top 8 with a possible UEFA cup push. By November we thought UEFA cup football next season would be a real possibility.

In January the Champions League was our target, and now we are aiming for the title.

There were far too many fans yesterday who couldn't recognise that Arsenal deserved the game. Fair enough, if we'd scored it could have been different, but surely they've been watching long enough to know that football isn't always like that. Generally the fans were either too critical or "doing a Wenger". The abuse shouted at Ameobi when he looked up to find no support, took someone on and lost the ball was embarrasing. You wonder whether they would shout the same abuse if they weren't protected by anonyminity (sp?) provided by another 50,000 people. Either that or they blamed the referee for EVERYTHING.

We were beaten by the better side on the day, but ours and Arsenal's seasons are certainly far from over.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Good assessment Paul. Another example of the kind of mindless criticism I heard yesterday occurred towards the end of the 2nd half when despite everything I felt our players were trying everything they knew, and straining every sinew to get back into the game - a fact that went largely unappreciated by many.

Gary Speed received the ball in m/f from Given turned and moved into the centre circle. He looked up to see where to play the ball, and had not a single option to pass to a Toon player. Not one. I believe three players were ahead of him, all marked, and not one of them making any attempt to move into space. He also had three Arsenal players converging on him at pace. He tried a long crossfield ball to Solano and it didn't get there.

There were howls of derision from all around me - not one of them apparently understanding that he had nothing open to him, nowhere to go, and eventually hit along ball rather than be buried by three opponents. I felt really sorry for Speed who is a very genuine player, and a response like that must be extremely disheartening for the players when they are trying their very best.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

I know what you mean. I was half expecting a chorus of boos at the final whistle but thankfully it didn't come. The players deserved applause for their efforts. (except Lauren, who was a cheating git who should have been booked about 7 times)

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Clarky. Agree with what you've put on here. I heard more than one person having a go at Shola basically for not being CB. Short memories.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Clarky and Paul, couldnt agree more with you!

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

I resisted the temptation to see the result before viewing the delayed tape here in the USA. But after Bergkamp scored that sensational goal, the result was almost a foregone conclusion. We had thrown at them all we had and they did not look like breaking down. Before the game I had subscribed to the school of thought which wanted to maintain the style of play that has brought us so much success, namely using Shearer to hold up the ball and allow a quick thrust through the opposing defence. For that reason I would have preferred to have seen Robert given CB's role. In the unavoidable absence of Bernard, Acuna would have made up the midfield. Lua Lua I do not think is going to make it. He doesn't know when to pass, run or dribble. Ameobi was Shearer's alter ego and lacked the pace to get behind the Arsenal defenders. Give credit to Arsenal -- they performed well and deserved their victory. Let's hope we learned something so that we can win the next two games.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

I have criticised Speed elsewhere but I have to agree with the comment about the lack of movement ahead of him. We are fairly high up and get the benefit of seeing movement, or lack of it. To be so absolutely static with a soild 4 man defence with two defensive midfielders haleping is a disgrace. Speed was in no way to blame for the lack of options.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

I was not disheartened by the performance , only 2 points to make, 38 year old Lee Dixon must be laughing all the way to the rest home and for a 2nd choice right back playing as a 3rd choice left back (Luzenhy), not to be took to the cleaners was diabolical, will not critisise Toon players , draw your own conclusions.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Thank you Buff. A very reasonable observation. Why didn't a 69 year-old focus on this??? Or if he did, why didn't the 20+ year-olds do it??

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Just watched the video and I've come to the conclusion we were beaten by a better team. But our performance was pretty good. Certainly good enough to have beaten many other teams in the Premiership this season. We showed a lot of character but the major was probably the way @rse close us down better than we did them. How many times did our an on the ball find hiself under very quick pressure from two, and often three red shirts? On this form, I can quite easily see @rse winning the league. The only thing that might stop them is their bad disciplinary record, but on yesterday's performance, they appear to have got that under control. Rating each player:

Given 8. Kicking a lot better and made some good saves. No chance with either goal

Hughes 7. Skinned by Pires initially but didn't let that get to him. However, lacked the forward penetration he has shown previously due to having to stick with Pires.

O'Brien 8. Had another solid game. Had to keep reminding myself this lad is only 22. Many, many good years ahead of him.

Dabizas 7. Showed some good touches coming out of defence, relieveing the pressure from his colleagues. Despite my inital thooughts that he gave away the FK that they scored the second from (it was JJ), he went AWOL on Sol when it mattered. Couldn't be blamed for their first.

Distin 7. Another solid performance. Hard to pick out any outstanding moments but little trouble down the right from @rse so he must have done pretty well.

Solano 7. Another typical Curate's Egg game from Nobby. Is he under instructions to keep coming inside so much? If not, he needs a rocket up his Peruvian to get him to stretch opposng defences. He was up against a right full back yet hardly put him under any pressure. That said, he still showed a few moments of creativity.

Jenas 9. Our MotM. Ran his little socks off and could have had a goal or two had his finishing been any better. Kept Vera under control and showed great determination when tackling back.

Speed 7. Not a great perfromance but it's pretty hard to play against a midfield like the @rse. Tried two long range shots against England's #1 keeper which were totally wasted. Possibly due to lack ofoptions elsewhere.

Robert 6. A few neat touches but totally ineffective. Similar to Solano, he was up against a geriatric full back yet didn't put him under any pressure, choosing to come insdie where there was a wall of red far to many times. YBR has treated him with great care so far this season but the time has come to make a mark on the season. This was just one of far too many games which this can be said of Lolo.

Shearer 8. Gave his all. Not a great penetrative striker's performance from Shearer but a tremendous job holding up the ball. If only we'd had better movement off the ball to take advantage we could have made something of his control. One great header which Seaman did very well to stop down by the post.

Ameobi 6. A big disappointment. He's young, has some nice touches but I think he's a season or two away from making a big impact.

SUBS:

LuaLua 6. A couple of good touches but not likley to make much impact against such an accomplished m/f and/or defence as @rse. We should probably farm him out to a first division team next season (Mackems???) to bring on his team play. Either that or get shot - most likely at a loss (to Oldham as p-ex for their young LB?)

Cort No mark as not on long enough to contribute. Needs service. With CC in the side, we need to get to the bye-line and deliver. IMHO, a partnership with Shearer is not likely to cause too many problems to the top defences. Go on Carl - prove me wrong on Wednesday!

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Screacher - as hinted at by Buff, I feel quite sure Robert and Solano were playing strictly under orders and to our game-plan - Robert to 'float' behind the front two, and Solano to tuck into right central m/f.

They have been playing this way for several weeks, in fact since KD dropped out. It has provided us some m/f solidity, and enabled us to get results against Man City and SAFC, and possibly others (I just can't remember!). To some degree this was because against lesser teams than Arsenal, Distin and Hughes were able to bomb forward in support of the front players. In addition, and indeed crucially, we had CB's energy and running to pull the opposition defence around.

Against Arsenal we attempted to play the same system, and it didn't work. Distin and Hughes weren't able to get forward, and despite the fact we were nominally playing with two wingers, we had zero width. Hence we finished up attempting to play through the middle, and with no one capable of moving the Arsenal defence around.

Their FB's were able to tuck in to support the CB's, and with Gimandi, and sometimes both Grimandi & Viera, sitting in front of a 'narrow' back four, we had no chance whatsoever to create anything.

Hughes was so preoccupied by Pires, that even that big chump Luzhny was able to push forward occasionally, and in fact almost bloody scored.

Love him to pieces, but I'll say what Buff doesn't want to say - with, of course, the usual fans benefit of hindsight - this was another flawed game-plan by Bobby. I still worry about our apparent inability to change our game-plan when it palpably isn't working.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Yeah - agree Clarky.

What do you reckon the chances of a 3-5-1-1 formation on Wednesday? I can see 3 CB's playing with Speed, Jenas and Solano in the centre and Hughes on the right and possibly Elliott (or Bernard) on the left to add some muscle. Shearer up front with Robert still trying to float. It sort of worked against Spurs (after reverting to a flat back four after half-time). At least YBR had the courage to admit it was wrong initially, tho it could be argued that keeping Spurs to 1 at HT was a success in its own right.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Having Bellamy wouldn't have prevented Arsenal scoring either of those goals and thus wouldn't have stopped Arsenal shutting down the game. There's a decent chance they would have beaten us anyway. The last two teams to have beaten us are the only two teams in the league who are unquestionably better than us, so I'm really not worried. I think there's probably a third and i expect them to beat us on Wednesday. this really won't bother me either, because, as I've said for months, we're playing for a place in Europe and the results we should be watching are Leeds and Chelsea's. Those two picked up one point between them this weekend. Everything's cool, kids.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Agree with Clarky for the game, good start, the 2nd goal killed us although it was never a free kick.

As for L'pool, Start with Robert upfont alongside Shearer, if it doesn't work go back to Robert on the left. L'pool snuffed out Robert by doubling up on him at home, putting him CF will confuse 'em.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Even better - give Robert a free role, you can't man mark him then.

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Why start with Shearer at all? He has 'rediscovered' his form when he has one or two pacy people next to him, get it, hold it, flick it and watch the young terriers sprint away, then follow on in to mop up any morsals they may have left behind. Without YKD and Bellamy that doesnt/wont work and he hasnt the change of pace to worry top flight central defenders as much as he used to. Throw in Cort against the 'pool, let Robert and Solano run around freely down the wings and play three across the middle with Jenas or Acuna sitting behind Cort. On the hour bring Shearer in fresh against tiring Defences and either drop Acuna out or also replace Cort with Ameobi.

Course Bobby would get strung out to dry if it fails, but I also think Al is old enough and astute enough to go for something like this until the whippets return. (probably make Bobby play him for the first 60 though rather than CC!)

Hand Grenade dropped, Pin in my mouth, take five steps back behind the sandbags and wait...........

-- Anonymous, March 03, 2002

Aye, great idea Wayne - especially if it's bucketting doon. To be honest, playing Cort up front on his own would be no use at all. His first touch is poor and I suspect whatever posession we'd have in their half would very quickly surrendered and we'd be back under pressure. Same reason as why I'd never start with Lua2. Shearer does a great job holding up the ball, making options for others. Tie for LR, JJ, NS and GS to get forward more to support him.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2002

I'm with those that feel we should be obverly critical. We played pretty well, with plenty of possession and as many chances as Arsenal. Arsenal's chances were naturally more clear cut, since they were more on the break and we had to do all the pressing after a goal against the run of play. Tactically, we can say this and that with the benefit of hindsight, but I believe we would have been hard pushed to better our performance against an Arsenal side who played out of their skin. Play the match again 5 times, and I reckon 3 of them would have resulted in a draw. The early goal meant their ageing full backs didn't have to get forward, and the second goal cemented this.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2002

It's not such a crazy idea Wayne - because imo he desperately needs a rest. However, Screacher has hit the nail on the head - which highlights yet another glaring weakness in our squad - AS is the only player we have who can effectively hold up the ball, and prevent it coming straight back at us. For that reason alone I don't think BR will consider resting AS at Anfield.

The other factor here is that CC looked woefully lacking in fitness when he came on on Saturday.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2002

Have to agree with most of what has been said esp. that Arsenal were better than us on the day. However YBR should know this as well. Without CB we are not going to over run a side as good as Arsenal and as a result we should have cut our cloth etc.

We should have played five across midfield with big Al up on his own, drawn AFC on and hoped to hit them on the break. I know we were at home, but a draw from that game was all we could expect. Instead we all go bombing forward and AFC hit us on the break. Naive is the only word for it.

Simple fact we are not yet as good as AFC, our squad is not as good as AFC, we should have gone for a draw and hoped to nick a goal from a set piece.

Still hindsight is a wonderful thing

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2002

Glad you got there Clarky, I was about to note the ability of all the Arsenal forwrad/mdifield players to hold the ball up. Pires, Bergamp, Wiltord, Kanu could all have the ball hit to them in space and they held on to it, skillfully, for a good length of time, while any reinforcements arrived. The Shearer version of this always involves back to defender stuff but the Arsenal players all managed to trun and twist and threaten. Very good.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2002

Screach`s opening para in his players marks post hit the nail smack on the heed -: main problem that Arsenal were quicker at closing us down and usually with two players, that I found to be the real difference, we squeezed ok , but with one. I would like to thank Patrick Vierra for his efforts in the last two weeks to ensure that good clean and effective tackling is still part of the game. 2nd goal, Dabs appears to be getting pelters but prior to kick Distain looked to me to be the goal-side marker on Campbell?

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2002