Dennis Day: Reflections on a Decade of Dennis Part 3

So, Dennis Day seems like a good time to revisit a series I began last year in anticipation of the final curtain coming down on the career of the game's true greats, so ... where was I?

Ah yes, the Double, injuries, missed penalties. All would impact on the following season. So much so, in fact that injuries saw Dennis only able to contribute three goals, before December, to the Arsenal cause as they attempted to successfully defend the Double.

Two of those goals would come against Newcastle, a game which would also see Dennis have a penalty. The other goal was rather special, for a couple of reasons.

Home to Dinamo Kiev, in the third of Arsenal's Champions League games. Actually, I say home, you probably know by now that games this season were played at Wembley (revenue before the team? Not Arsenal ...) Anyway, a tight, tight game, Kiev looking so dangerous on the counter attack. With just over 15 minutes left, Kiev finally make the breakthrough, one admittedly that always looked likely. But the goal is ruled out for a non-existent offside. Arsenal go straight down the other end of the pitch and score. Dixon is put away down the right. His cross on the run perfect. Dennis dives. The net bulges. A perfect demonstration of the velocity and deadliness of the Arsenal counter-attack.

But there is a sting in the tail. Deep into injury time, Kiev snatch an equaliser. Ironically, one that was probably offside. The most immediate side effect of this goal is that it stops Arsenal (again) taking all three points, an unfortunate habit in this Champions League season. But it also gives new life to Kiev's challenge - Kiev would have been all but out after just three games.

As it is, by the time Dennis next returns to the Arsenal scoresheet having been injured for ages, Arsenal have crashed. Following defeats in Kiev and at Wembley against Lens, the dream is over for another year.

So, the team must refocus on the Premiership. December 13, away to Aston Villa. By this stage, I was two days away from returning to London form the Spanish cuidad de Bilbao, the opening leg of a nine month stay there, I was also two days away from having my world shattered. What happened to Arsenal at Villa Park would turn out to have those same shattering consequences for Arsenal, only they wouldn't realise it till May.

Dennis restored, he puts Arsenal into a 2-0 lead, complete control. Only Dion Dublin hasn't read the script. Somehow Arsenal contrive to throw it all away. They head back to London having been beaten 3-2.

I head back to London to discover my girlfriend Claire has been seeing someone else whilst I've been away - an hour spent in the pub just crying. Cue nights of listening to music I'd be better off avoiding, drinking too much and insomnia, dreaded, draining insomnia. A half-hearted attempt to win her round sees me travelling back to Leeds pre-Christmas in a much darker mood than I would have ever expected, coincidentally the Gunners' fixture list threw up a home game with, yep you've guessed it, Leeds United.

So it came to pass that I sat in the Packhorse in Leeds (my work local) with my work colleagues watching the Arsenal battle it out with dirty Leeds. Dennis opened the scoring in a ripper of a game, Vieira put us 2-0 up before a Hasselbaink cannonball reduced the deficit. Bergkamp calmed any wobbly nerves, putting Manu Petit in to reestablish the two goal cushion. And that's how it stayed.

Any temptation to celebrate on my part removed by the stares of a guy I had seen in the Packhorse before, I'm sure he knew I was a Gooner, I just didn't want to be a goner. So any celebrating was done strictly under the table, much to the general amusement of my friends.

I went home after a couple of days, ultimately it was mission impossible for me. Would Arsenal be able to cope with the first half of 1999 better than me? Well, yes, actually. Progress made on all fronts, the 9 games following that Leeds match saw 8 wins with a goalless draw at home to Liverpool included, Bergkamp notching winners against Chelsea (yay!) and Wolves.

Kanu had been enlisted by boss Wenger by this stage, making a controversial impact in an FA Cup tie with Sheffield United at Highbury. I was certainly bemused as I listened to the climax of the match and the aftermath on the BBC World Service, I guess you all know what I'm talking about. The game was replayed, and Bergkamp would get the winner in that replay as the season headed towards the Easter period - and a chance for me to get home and recharge some seriously rundown batteries.

Arsenal though, were alive and kicking, an FA Cup quarter final with Derby successfully negotiated thanks to a last minute Kanu strike and so an FA Cup semi final with Manchester United loomed. the fact that the two were head to head at the top of the table added spice to the occassion.

Prior to that, though, Dennis would nick all three points in what sounded like a horrifically tight and tense game against Blackburn Rovers. His left foot free kick blocked, no problem, he just put the ball away with his left. And missed a penalty near the end. An unfortunate habit was developing.

And so to the semi-final, a game that in truth wasn't much to write home about. If it wasn't the last game I saw before returning to Bilbao for the final time, I doubt I'd remember much about it. What I do remember is that Vivas' sending off was completely deserved and that Anelka spent most of the day getting caught offside. And so United looked much more threatening than we did. And for all that, Ljungberg could have won the game at the death. He didn't.

And so to a replay, a replay that would shape the rest of the season for the two sides, a replay that I would be unable to see as I was back in Bilbao and didn't have a clue where I could find a bar with Sky Sports, or whatever I would have needed to see the game.

So I went out with a mate and hammered, completely off my face and "Hey, let's forget about the football!" drunk. I hadn't forgotten about it that much that I didn't remember, even with my hangover, to turn on the World Service in the morning. The first words I heard (more or less) were "... an enthralling game at Villa Park and a game which Arsenal could and should have -" I think at this point I might have groaned - "won."

And the reporter went on to detail it. All of it, Beckham's opener. Bergkamp's deflected equaliser. The Schmeicel penalty save at the death. Keane's sending off and finally, fatally, that stray Vieira pass to Giggs. Despite urgings from friends, I have never felt the need to watch this game, though unfortunately, Ryan Giggs chest hair is an image that refuses to go away. Maybe because the sadistic bastards at Sky and the BBC keep showing it.

Bergkamp's immediate reaction in the aftermath was to declare he would never take another penalty for Arsenal again. Arsenal would react altogether more positively, 5 went in against Wimbledon, 6 at Middlesborough and 3 at Tottenham. They were on the brink of retaining the title - the closest Arsène has ever come, the closest Arsenal have come since the 30's to doing so.

And I got to watch the next game, away at Leeds United. I think I know my team pretty well, even if I'm separated by however many miles it is from Bilbao to N5, and so when I got a sinking feeling after about 20 minutes, I knew we were in trouble.

Arsenal made chance after chance after chance but couldn't take any of them. Leeds missed a penalty. Diawara or someone hit the post. Or maybe the bar. Chance after chance. Miss after miss. Winterburn's nose gets smashed. He goes off. Vivas comes on. Two minutes left. Vivas loses his man. Hasselbaink ends Arsenal's title hopes.

Or does he? Incredibly, the following night, Blackburn get a battling 0-0 with United, so it goes to the final game of the season. Arsenal have suffered just 2 defeats in the whole of 1999, but as they prepare for their home game with Aston Villa, they know that unless Tottenham can get a result at Manchester United, they will finish the season with nothing. Irritatingly, Les Ferdinand gets the hopes up of Gooners the world over, putting Spurs 1-0 up (I was, implausibly, jumping off the sofa in Bilbao when he scored). But by the time Kanu scores the only goal of the game at Highbury, United have turned it round, 2-1 and Champions.

So, a season that had promised so much ended in disappointment almost everywhere you looked. Though with Arsenal's defence tighter than ever (almost literally), it is tempting to wonder what might have been had Bergkamp been available more often in the first half of the season. Certainly, the level of his influence was such that on his day he made Arsenal the best team in England. Of course, it was his day more often than it is now but as Gooners travel to Highbury today having seen very little of him this season, the 98-99 season is a timely reminder of the genius that Dennis Bergkamp once represented.

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