It was good to see Bournemouth's Harry Arter get the call to play against Denmark for the Republic of Ireland in the first leg of their World Cup play-off final last night. Arter was very much used as a blocker and frustrater for the Irish, who set up to make it especially hard for the Danes to break down. In an interview with SkySports after the match, Arter admitted he had some cramp but was happy with the result.
It was very much like the game that Ireland had against Wales, and in such can't lose games it is hard to see how the Danes would get much joy against a well drill Irish side. Free kicks did get the Republic up the field and that is when Arter would be hovering over taking the kick. As a whole though he had a roving, marshalling role in front of the Irish defence and Tottenham's Christian Eriksen was kept on close watch.
Containment and shepherding play away from the Irish goal seemed Arter's main purpose and while he did venture up field on occasion, it was always in a supporting capacity in the first half. The times when the Danes did look like they would score was when Eriksen latched onto Cieran Clark's defensive error, and Sisto was guilty of missing a clear sight on goal. But Arter had been bypassed on that occasion and the long diagonal ball was perhaps Denmark's best hope of getting through.
Arter was playing very much on the left side of the centre-midfield in the first half and he, and WBA's McClean, outside him, have formed a good partnership for Ireland. By the second half, Arter was more over to the right and booting the ball up field most of the time. Luckily Arter was not pulled up for a possible handball when he turned his back on a shot from Eriksen just before the hour mark, in almost a repeat of the incident that Northern Ireland suffered in their play-off first leg.
The more this game went on though it didn't look like Martin O'Neill's side wanted anything but a 0-0 result. Arter took a blow to the head on 65 minutes from Poulson, but he recovered quickly. He was caught again though on his right ankle by Bendtner on 76 minutes, which looked worse. Arter was then lucky not to be carded from bringing down Kvist, which would have ruled Harry out of the second leg. Poulson again fouled Arter in a build up, but Arter's role was to be obstructive so it was no wonder he was getting the punishment and on 88 minutes, with job done, Harry was replaced by Glenn Whelan.
While Poulson had a late header tipped over by Randolph and a low shot from Larsen blocked, the Republic will have to do it all again on Tuesday, may be with more attacking intent.
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| Arter - a step closer to the World Cup finals? |
Containment and shepherding play away from the Irish goal seemed Arter's main purpose and while he did venture up field on occasion, it was always in a supporting capacity in the first half. The times when the Danes did look like they would score was when Eriksen latched onto Cieran Clark's defensive error, and Sisto was guilty of missing a clear sight on goal. But Arter had been bypassed on that occasion and the long diagonal ball was perhaps Denmark's best hope of getting through.
Arter was playing very much on the left side of the centre-midfield in the first half and he, and WBA's McClean, outside him, have formed a good partnership for Ireland. By the second half, Arter was more over to the right and booting the ball up field most of the time. Luckily Arter was not pulled up for a possible handball when he turned his back on a shot from Eriksen just before the hour mark, in almost a repeat of the incident that Northern Ireland suffered in their play-off first leg.
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While Poulson had a late header tipped over by Randolph and a low shot from Larsen blocked, the Republic will have to do it all again on Tuesday, may be with more attacking intent.
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