Hoddle's job made clearer by Arsenal

On the sideline they had their messiah all right but what Spurs lacked yesterday at Old Trafford was heroes where they needed them most, on the pitch.

There, nothing, not Glenn Hoddle's plotting, Sol Campbell's sudden return from injury, or even the fact that the year ends with the digit 1, was enough to save them or their season as they faced up to an obviously superior Arsenal in this FA Cup semi-final.

Hoddle, properly in charge for the first time, showed the enterprise his club's supporters have clearly yearned for, taking chances not only on the fitness of some his most important players but also in terms of the three-man attack he fielded against the side of his old mentor. For a while both gambles appeared to pay off with Spurs, after a hesitant start, taking the lead 14 minutes in through Ireland's Gary Doherty and briefly threatening to make a real match of it. The lead was to prove short-lived, however, and from the point towards the end of the first half when Patrick Vieira levelled the scores and Campbell limped out of the game, the eventual outcome started to look like something of a foregone conclusion.

Over the course of the 90 minutes, Arsenal's defence had little enough to do but, for Doherty's opener, both Martin Keown and Tony Adams were at fault, with neither closing down Les Ferdinand after the Irishman had initially chested a free from the left into the striker's path.

David Seaman made a fine reaction save but the ball ran loose and when Steffan Iversen's misdirected follow up flew towards Doherty, who was still in space, the young defender headed past the helpless goalkeeper from eight yards out to score his fourth goal of the season.

For the rest of the half Hoddle's men game everything that could have been expected of them but, a couple of Sergei Rebrov shots from distance aside, they never again seriously threatened their opponents and Vieira's equaliser merely prevented the scoreline at the interval from hopelessly misrepresenting what had gone on over the course of the 45 minutes.

Though generally the stronger looking side from the start, Arsenal completely dominated the second period, creating such a string of clear chances, several of which drew fine saves from Neil Sullivan, that Arsene Wenger admitted afterwards to having become deeply frustrated. "It began," he said, "to feel as though it would never happen for us".

His side's dominance, though, made a further breakthrough inevitable and as their opponents gathered momentum, the Spurs players must have been somewhat disheartened by the fact that the tie had to be decided yesterday. Vieira was a class above everybody around him - his manager described him afterwards as the best in his position in England and a strong contender for player of the year - while Sylvain Wiltord's passing, Thierry Henry's pace and Robert Pires's set pieces provided an almost relentless threat around Sullivan's goal.

Both strikers as well as Ray Parlour should have put the result beyond doubt long before Pires finally produced the winner 17 minutes from time. The goal came, however, only after Spurs finally thought that they had earned themselves a little breathing space.

Breaking quickly towards a defence that, for once, wasn't heavily manned and well dug in, Vieira twisted and turned Chris Perry - sometimes brilliant, often desperately clumsy for Hoddle's side - before releasing Wiltord down the right. His cross flew low to the far post where the 27-year-old French international stole in behind Doherty to drive home from close range.

Luke Young and then Rebrov produced half-hearted attempts on goal at the other end during the time that remained but another Arsenal goal seemed more likely, a fact readily accepted by the Spurs players afterwards.

"The way the game went they probably deserved to win it," said Ferdinand who went on to describe the Arsenal passing as "exceptional". Hobbling away after hurting what had been his good ankle before the game, Campbell too, conceded that the better team had won.

It had been said beforehand that a cup exit would sway the much coveted central defender towards a move away from Tottenham but, asked about it, he laughed a little and observed that, "there's still a lot of talking to be done and at the moment I'm fairly positive.

"Of course we want to be going further than this," he added, "to be getting to the final but at least we seem to be moving in the right direction."

As for the man the Spurs fans had really expected miracles from, well, Hoddle looked relaxed. "We've no complaints," he sighed with the characteristic grin-cum-grimace, "but then nobody ever said the task wasn't going to be a massive."

Whether he was referring to this one game or his ongoing job back at White Hart Lane wasn't entirely clear. Either way, it was a sound enough assessment of the situation.

ARSENAL: Seaman; Dixon, Keown, Adams, Silvinho; Parlour, Lauren, Vieira, Pires (Ljundberg, 76 mins); Wiltord (Cole, 89 mins), Henry.

TOTTENHAM: Sullivan; Perry, Campbell (King, 38 mins), Doherty; Carr, Sherwood, Clemence (Thelwell, 79 mins),Young; Iversen, Rebrov; Ferdinand (Leonhardsen, 54 mins).

Referee: G Poll (Tring).