ACTUALITE |
22.11.2001
Deportivo add new chapter to Arsenal`s sorry streak in Spain
Two first half-goals from Spanish international striker Diego Tristan and Dutch counterpart Roy Makaay gave Deportivo La Coruna a comfortable 2-0 victory over Arsenal in their European Champions` League second-phase Group D encounter on Wednesday.
The victory maintained Deportivo`s unbeaten streak in the Champions` League this season, and a hold onto their hoodoo over English clubs following their two victories over Premiership title holders Manchester United in the first group phase.
"I said at the start of the season that we don`t need to fear anyone and that has proved to be the case," said Deportivo coach Javier Irureta.
"I`m not saying that we will win the Champions` League but I think we have shown that Spanish football is not just about Real Madrid and Barcelona," he added.
By contrast, the defeat extended two sorry streaks for Arsenal, whose lack of ammunition up front is making their nickname of The Gunners look somewhat of a misnomer.
The north London outfit have now gone six games, both in domestic and European competition, without a win and they have not won on their last five visits to Spain.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger made no attempt to look for excuses for another lacklustre performance.
"It is a disappointing result especially in the way we lost the game. I felt we started well in the first five or six minutes but their second goal killed the game and I don`t think it was necessary to concede a goal like that.
"We made a good reaction to it in the second half to get back in which we didn`t get and it was difficult to get flowing without a goal," said the Frenchman.
Arsenal`s scouting videos of the Spanish league leaders were quickly rendered useless when Irureta fulfilled his promise to change his tactics from the usual lone out-and-out target man and sent out Tristan and Makaay as a twin strike force.
The pairing quickly proved their worth.
Makaay, who scored a hat trick in Saturday`s 3-1 win in the Spanish first division over Real Sociedad, added to his tally when he found the net after just nine minutes.
With Arsenal`s defence in disarray, Makaay blasted the ball home from just inside the area after Arsenal`s Swedish international midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg had miscued a clearance of a Tristan pass and sent it straight to the Dutchman`s feet.
Tristan, the Spanish first division`s leading scorer, put the hosts two ahead after 25 minutes - an advantage they comfortably maintained until the break.
His fourth Champions` League goal in five games came from a right foot shot struck low and hard from 20 metres, which evaded the outstretched arms of Arsenal`s diving goalkeeper Richard Wright.
However, some of the bite seemed to go out of the Deportivo attack when Tristan limped off two minutes later, with what a Deportivo official later called a minor hamstring twinge, to be replaced by former Spanish international Jose Emilio Amavisca.
Wenger replaced the demoralised Wright - who has made several dreadful errors since taking over from the injured first-choice David Seaman - with Stuart Taylor during the break.
However, Wenger insisted that the substitution was because Wright himself had been carrying an injury and was struggling with his fitness.
"He (Wright) felt his knee on the second goal so we decided to change. I don`t know if Stuart Taylor will now play at the weekend (against Manchester United). Let`s first try to see how bad the injuries are," commented Wenger.
Taylor didn`t concede any more goals, although Arsenal seemed to have little answer to the speed of Spanish international Victor Sanchez down the right wing, but rarely did Arsenal look like reducing the deficit in the second half.
The visitors` best chance came four minutes from the whistle when a swerving free kick from Frenchman Thierry Henry curled just wide of the post.
However, the Deportivo defence did an otherwise excellent job of containing Henry and snuffing out any chances of his getting adequate service.
"Of course you need a good start and I feel everything went against us and if you look at possession in the game and shots on goal they looked a little bit more mature and we looked nervous at the start of the game and that belief we have at home in the Champions League was missed," said Wenger.
|
|
Hits: 1 | Source:Sportserver | |
|
|
|
|
| |