Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has admitted he is still annoyed that he failed to stop Ryan Giggs’ famous solo goal for Manchester United in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final.
After picking up a loose pass from Patrick Vieira on the halfway line at Villa Park, the Manchester United winger skipped past the Frenchman before shimmying his way through Arsenal duo Keown and Lee Dixon, before smashing the ball into the roof of David Seaman’s goal.
That goal in extra-time ensured Manchester United would be heading to the FA Cup final, ultimately sending them on their way to the treble that year. For Keown, though, there are mitigating circumstances for why he failed to stop Giggs from flying past him.
Arsenal failed to stop Ryan Giggs thanks to Dwight Yorke’s clever run
“It’s not easy, but I can look back on it and analyse the issues that hindered me stopping him,” Keown tells FourFourTwo. “Dwight Yorke made a fantastic run. I was approaching Giggs and I’d usually show him to the line, but Yorke made a clever run and I came off the correct line.
“I was a very decent man-marker, but I allowed myself to be distracted by Yorke’s movement. His run allowed Giggs to come inside me, which I’m still annoyed about. Without it, Giggs wouldn’t have got past me.”
Despite Vieira’s misplaced pass giving Giggs the freedom to produce such a brilliant solo goal, Keown still believes that the towering midfielder deserves a statue outside the Emirates Stadium.
While discussing the most talented players he stood alongside at Arsenal – for which there are many – Keown highlights Vieira as the “catalyst” for success that followed under Arsene Wenger.
“That’s hard,” Keown admits when asked the question. “It’s like asking me to name my favourite brother.
“There were the forwards – Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Marc Overmars – and alongside me there was Tony Adams, who was an incredible talent, and Sol Campbell, too.
“But when I’m asked that, my immediate response is Patrick Vieira. Without Patrick, those forwards, those massive talents, wouldn’t have got on the ball. He was the catalyst, really. If he won the battle in midfield, we won the match. He demanded and he dictated; we played from there. There should be a statue of Patrick outside the Emirates.”
