Well, what exactly did you expect from a Mark Hughes team containing Lucas Neill, Andy Todd, Ryan Nelsen, Dominic Matteo, Aaron Mokoena, Garry Flitcroft, Robbie Savage and Paul Dickov?
Rovers had faced criticism from the media and opposition managers all year for their “committed” efforts to escape relegation danger in 2004/05. Perhaps they thought that the club would’ve been better off dropping blue and waving just the white flag…
It all peaked in the FA Cup semi-final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the first time Rovers had reached this stage of the competition since 1960.
Against an exceptional Arsenal team – who had been unbeaten in their 2003/04 league campaign – Rovers put in a typically robust performance which won no prizes for beauty, but it did keep them in the game until the last ten minutes.
Robert Pires put Arsenal ahead just before half time before a late Robin van Persie goal ensured that there would be no upset.
Flitcroft, Neill, Mokoena and David Thompson were all booked in the match – although Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas and Ashley Cole also received yellow cards.
In added time the forearm of captain Andy Todd “accidentally” made contact with Van Persie’s face as the Dutchman spectacularly sealed a 3-0 win. Todd was charged with violent conduct by the FA but later cleared when the disciplinary commission decided that it was “not proven”.
“Blackburn decided to stop us playing at any cost,” Wenger complained. “Sometimes it was just over the edge of the rules. I was scared one of my players would react, get a red card, then they would have had the advantage. I don’t know about intimidation, but I have to say ‘Has the word gone out in England that you have to kick Arsenal to stop us?’”
Rovers: Friedel, Neill, Todd, Mokoena, Nelsen, Matteo (Stead 83), Pedersen, Flitcroft (Emerton 51), Reid, Thompson (Savage 63), Dickov. Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Tugay.
Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Senderos, Toure, Cole, Pires, Silva, Vieira, Reyes (Aliadiere 90), Ljungberg (Fabregas 50), Bergkamp (Van Persie 82). Subs Not Used: Almunia, Cygan.
