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ARSENAL v MIDDLESBROUGH - FULL TIME REPORT
Every football match is a test of character" said Steve McClaren before the match and Middlesbrough would need plenty today in their last ever league match at Highbury, a ground where we had lost our last four league matches.
The Boro squad was decimated with nearly all of the first choice backline either injured, sold or transfer listed. Chris Riggott captained the side and Gaizka Mendieta started on the left of a 4-4-2 formation.
Jones, Taylor, Bates, Riggott, Parnaby, Mendieta, Doriva, Rochemback, Morrison, Viduka, Yakubu
Schwarzer, Wheater, Johnson, Cattermole, Hasselbaink
THE FIRST HALF
Boro's new number one had an early touch of the ball as he dived low and saved the first shot of the day from Cygan. Apart from that, it was a bright start from Boro who won the first corner of the game but did little with it.
Boro continued to hustle for possession at every given opportunity but it was Arsenal who had enjoyed the lion's share of the ball after ten minutes. Even so, The Gunners defence looked uncertain and Yakubu looked odds on to beat Lehmann in a one-on-one, should the opportunity arise.
On thirteen minutes, Arsenal won a free kick from twenty yards out from which Thierry Henry was oh so unlucky to not give Arsenal the lead as he curled the ball round the wall and left Brad Jones watching as the ball clipped the bar for a narrow Boro escape.
Two minutes later, Pires sent a shot past the post and Arsenal were now begining to close in on the opener. It wasn't totally one way traffic though as Boro made a breakaway that could have led to something more productive had Fabio Rochemback not made an epic mis-timing of his pass.
We regretted that on twenty minutes as Ljungberg sent in a cross that Thierry Henry expertly got on the end of and volleyed home giving Brad Jones no chance at all.
ARSENAL 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Henry 20)
Arsenal went looking for the second straight away and won a corner from an immediate breakaway from which Senderos got a clear header in. It has to be said that the marking was appalling and we got what we deserved.
ARSENAL 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Senderos 22)
That was the end of any confidence that Boro had left and probably the end of the game as well, notwithstanding the scoreline. Number three arrived courtesy of Thierry Henry when Boro fouled up another potential breakaway and allowed Arsenal to stroll forward. Henry's finish was precise but simple and Boro were well beaten now.
ARSENAL 3 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Henry 31)
Arsenal made a time-wasting substitution on thirty-six minutes, Ashley Cole making his first appearance for some time and drawing large cheers from the Highbury crowd as he replaced Pascal Cygan. The Gunners were playing possesion football now which at times looked like exhibition football.
If it was possible to take 5-0 and wrap in at this stage, it should definitely have been considered because Boro were allowing Arsenal the time to have a picnic in the centre circle at this stage and they probably would have done if they had bothered to bring sandwiches.
Watching Arsenal having a picnic would certainly have been more enthralling than watching Boro in this first half. Relegation? You can see it coming and it's just so sad that the manager stated that he is unconcerned.
Robert Pires gave him something to be concerned about as the half ended as he wandered unchallenged into the box, took his time looking up, took a sandwich from the picnic basket and sent a brilliant shot into the top corner.
ARSENAL 4 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Pires 45)
It was the last kick of the half and we wished it was the last kick of the game. And we wished that managers could be fired at half time.
FIRST HALF FAN REACTION
"5-4. We're gonna win 5-4..."
Luke Smogwalker
"This is totally mirroring the death of Robson as manager..."
Datsun
THE SECOND HALF
Boro had the first shot of the second half, Gaizka Mendieta taking a punt from distance that turned out to be as laughable as the scoreline.
With just a couple of minutes gone, Arsenal had the perfect opportunity to put another nail in our coffin as Thierry Henry once again found shooting space but amazingly blasted over. He knew he had missed a sitter.
Arsenal did have the ball in the net for the fifth time after fifty-five minutes when Robert Pires was allowed a free header in a text book move that had the Boro defence standing. The linesman adjudged Pires to be offside though but it was going to make little difference as Arsenal sought to add more.
The fifth goal came on sixty minutes as Gilberto Silvo made a mockery of Boro's defence yet again. The shot was not exactly a stinger but Brad Jones failed to hold it and the ball trickled agonisingly into the net.
ARSENAL 5 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Silva 60)
David Wheater replaced Andrew Taylor just after the fifth and the team underwent a slight reshuffle with players being switched to unfamiliar positions. Tactics were not necessary anymore and this was far beyond damage limitation. We didn't need a formation. We needed an abacus.
As for Arsenal, it was a case of could they get to double figures? Thierry Henry seemed to think so as he equalled Cliff Bastin's Arsenal goalscoring record when once again, a straight through ball beat the Boro defence and we went six down without a whimper.
ARSENAL 6 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Henry 69)
Substitutions took place after the sixth goal with Adam Johnson and Lee Cattermole replacing Mark Viduka and Fabio Rochemback. At last Boro showed some steel when Lee Cattermole clattered Fabregas. Could we get back into it now we had a player on the field who wanted it?
Well it wasn't in the script and referee Stiles made sure that Arsenal's advantage was widened when he sent off Doriva for his second yellow card offence, a fairly inocuous pull of Ljungberg's shirt.
Boro actually hit the bar in the seventy-eighth minute when Chris Riggott broke forward and combined well with Mendieta. It was the one and only time in the match that Lehmann had been even slightly troubled.
Regular readers of the ComeOnBoro.com match reports will know that we always have a few paragraphs at the end titled 'Into The Red Zone'. This phrase is a Steve McClaren saying that refers to the final ten minutes of the match, the period of play where the player's concentration needs to be at it's sharpest. Well we're not going to bother with it today.
The whole match was a red zone today and just as you thought it couldn't get any worst, it did. There was a suspicion of offside about the goal from Alexander Hleb but what's the difference between six and seven when you can't see where the points are coming from to even give you a chance of staying up on goal difference?
ARSENAL 7 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 (Hleb 86)
The end is surely in sight now because this team has no desire, inclination, organisation or know how. We have talent in youth with James Morrison, Lee Cattermole and Adam Johnson but the rest of the side seem to be completely disinterested.
When I say the end is in sight, I am referring to the end of our Premiership existence, the end of Steve McClaren's reign and the end of this particular squad that promised so much when we first entered Europe but spectacularly failed to deliver. Just like Old Boro always used to do.
FULL TIME FAN REACTION
"Gibson must act now because it's not as though this result was a surprise. This club is now an embarrassment."
Montelimar
Final Whistle: 1654 - Report Online: 1658
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