Arsenal shoots down Man U 3-0
England's Beckham booed throughout at Wembley
Posted: Sunday August 09, 1998 01:12 PM
| |
Big bang: Overmars scored a goal to help Arsenal outgun Manchester United at Wembley Shaun Botterill/Allsport |
WEMBLEY, England (AP) -- League champion and FA Cup winner
Arsenal totally outplayed its biggest rival, Manchester United,
Sunday to score a 3-0 victory in the traditional season opener, the
Charity Shield.
Marc Overmars, Christopher Wreh and Nicolas Anelka scored the
three goals as the Gunners exposed weaknesses in the United defense
at Wembley, which Arsenal plans to use as its home ground during
this season's Champions Cup competition.
"We've still got the same mentality and that will be the basis
for this year's challenge," said Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp,
who missed the second half because of a recurrence of a hamstring
problem. "This is a good start."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was encouraged by the result.
"This was an unexpected scoreline," the Frenchman said. "It
was important because you never know where you stand before the
championship starts and it was important psychologically."
Thirteen of the 22 starters were in action during the World Cup,
including's Arsenal's Emannuel Petit and Patrick Vieira, who were
on the French lineup who won it.
United midfielder David Beckham, cast as a World Cup villain
because his needless expulsion against Argentina led to England's
elimination, was booed by the Arsenal fans every time he touched
the ball. They also chanted "off, off, off" as a reminder of his
expulsion at St. Etienne.
Jumping for joy: Wreh preyed upon Manchester United for a goal and then took on gravity in a celebration to remember Clive Brunskill/Allsport | |
United's England defender Gary Neville was shown a yellow card
in the third minute for hauling down Dutch World Cup star Overmars.
Irish midfielder Roy Keane, returning to the United lineup after
being sidelined for 11 months with a knee injury, was warned by the
referee for some overly robust tackling.
Sunday's result in what effectively is a preseason exhibition
game will give Arsenal plenty of reasons to suggest that Arsene
Wenger's team, which downed United twice in the Premier League last
season, could dominate again.
But he admits his team still needs to buy again to provide cover
for his strikers, having sold veteran Ian Wright to West Ham.
"I'm not going to name names, but we need a striker because we
are short in numbers if something happens to Nicolas or Dennis,"
Wenger said.
"We also have so many games to play, but who we are going for I
can't tell you because I don't know 100 percent myself at the
moment.
"I'm a little bit concerned because in England there is no
break in the winter and with our being involved in so many
competitions, we will have to be very cautious," Wenger said.
| |
Bergkamp (left) missed the second half because of a recurrence of a hamstring problem Ross Kinnaird/Allsport |
"Added to that there is the possibility of injuries and losing
players to international duty, but we have a great team spirit,
they love the club and that will help a lot."
Sunday's game also shows that United's Alex Ferguson has plenty
of work to do both at the training ground and in the transfer
market if the Reds are to regain the title it won four times in the
previous five seasons.
Ferguson has already been rejected by AC Milan striker Patrick
Kluivert and is annoyed that he so far not been able to buy Aston
Villa's Dwight Yorke.
"I'm happy with the quality. But when you've got as hard a
season as we have ahead of us then you're going to need a strong
squad," said Ferguson who said the result was "a really bad
scoreline."
Bergkamp saw
little of the ball in the opening half hour but forced the first
save of the game with a low, 25-yard drive that Peter
Schmeichel clutched at the foot of the post.
Two minutes later the Danish goalkeeper was picking the ball out of
the net after Bergkamp raced down the right and backheeled the ball
into the penalty area. With the United defense ball-watching, Anelka
left the ball to Overmars who drove it powerfully into the roof of
the net from just inside the penalty area.
The second goal came 12 minutes into the second half when
Overmars pulled apart the United defense with a run down the left,
Anelka helped the ball on to Wreh whose first shot was blocked by
Schmeichel's boot.
The ball rebounded to the Arsenal substitute who was surrounded
by United defenders but was able to roll it into an empty net from
16 yards.
After United made a series of substitutions, Arsenal scored the
third with 19 minutes to go. Anelka held off a challenge from Dutch
international defender Jaap Stam and fired the ball between
Schmeichel and his near post.
United had a few chances to hit back, and Teddy Sheringham should
have scored a consolation goal nine minutes from the end when he
raced through but prodded the ball well wide with only goalkeeper
David Seaman to beat.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
