By Boris Mellor
March 17 2005

Big Sam, and the press were under the delusion that Arsenal were ripe for the picking, no Henry, a hard workout midweek, and a bunch of Southern Softies to boot (literally). They would be tired and demoralised by going out of Europe.

Bolton Lose Ugly

Indeed the Guardian declared, on the team sheet page, that it would not really count as an upset if Bolton won. Stelios was told to bring in his 2004 Euro medal to inspire the team. But Bolton need no inspiration from Greeks for such a grim anti-football style. However it was the winning bit they failed to pick up on.

All Bolton had to do was get in amongst them and bombard Arsenal  from the air – after all it has worked before. So that was Plan A. The trouble for Sam was that if things went wrong there was no Plan B, and they went wrong pretty quickly – after three minutes to be precise. Robert Pires sent Ljungberg a ball straight through the middle and Freddy lifted his shot over the advancing Jaaskelainen. It was a brilliantly placed ball that rolled gently into the net.

Six minutes later things got even worse when El-Hadji Diouf was sent off for striking Jens Lehmann. True 10 man Bolton fought like caged tigers, but they never got out of the cage. Not once did they vary their method, ball after ball was lobbed into the Arsenal area. Vieira led the men in tin hats constantly looking for missiles out of the sky. Knowing where they were coming from helped in putting out any fires.

At times it seemed as if they had more players than Arsenal. It put enormous pressure on the Gunners, but it lacked the element of surprise. Senderos was immense in carrying out his duties,  and the whole defence played well, although Lehmann had few shots to save.

Whenever Arsenal attacked they were fast, and deadly, until 10 yards out with only the goalie to beat. Reyes and Ljunberg both should have done better with their chances. Meanwhile Vieira and Flamini constantly broke down Bolton’s attacks and created more breakaways. By 70 minutes it was clear that Bolton’s fury was being tamed, Arsenal had things under control. Dennis had an excellent free kick just tipped over the bar. One nil flattered Bolton, even if they did have ten men, Arsenal had far more chances and possession. In the final minute Pires went on a beautiful run into the box and squared a wonderful ball to Freddy, at only three yards out he blasted it over the bar. It didn’t matter the full time whistle went 30 seconds later.

Sam was ungracious and whingey after the game even by his low standards, no doubt his disappointment was enhanced by the belief that Bolton’s time had come. No doubt encouraged by the vultures of the press who were convinced that Bolton had a hold over the Gunners, and that Arsenal had a week of misery behind them. Yes it was no doubt disappointing for Arsenal players that they went out to Bayern, but the so called week of misery included two wins and two clean sheets. Its now four clean sheets in a row, and even without Henry the team was confident enough.

Sam should stop trying to blame others for Diouf’s sending off, and sort the idiot out.

No wonder Bolton cannot fill the ground if this is the kind of fare they offer.

Team: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure , Senderos, Clichy, Ljungberg, Vieira, Flamini, Pires, Reyes, Bergkamp.

Subs Taylor, Cole, Van Persie, Fabregas, Eboue