In the end there can be only one Invincibles!! Arsenal
Today I called into a Football chat show on Sirius XM, called the Football Show. It is hosted by Giorgio Chinaglia and Charlie Stillitano with Neil Barnett of Chelsea TV filling in. Neil was on co-hosting with Giorgio today and for some reason I felt compelled to call in. I don’t know I don’t particularly like the show. It is nothing more than a name dropping, Chelsea propaganda show. But today I felt I should call and talk up Arsenal’s chances to win on Sunday against City.
First though, I thanked Neil being the Blue he is for his team’s preserving our status as the “Invincibles.” I said I had hoped it would’ve been Arsenal to deny City it’s unbeaten run but now that it was over, I was happy that there would be no more talk of it in the press. However, the response I got was – to “stop living in the past.”
“Stop living in the past” I said this to myself a few times. We’ve heard this before. We hear it when our uppity North London neighbours feel the need to tell us where they are in the table right now. Doesn’t matter that they’ve not accomplished anything yet, they still are taking some delight in this. I hear from City fans that want to chastise Arsenal as being a feeder club.
So I asked myself, is wanting to preserve our status as the Invincibles just living off the past or is it more than that?
It. Is.
Club’s that don’t have a history of winning or have a history at all can’t identify with the pride such events as the unprecedented run in the Premier League of 2003-2004. Pundits were lauding Manchester City for their start to the season, ready to christen them the next invincible team. But their loss Monday night showed what an amazing feat Arsenal accomplished because what they did is so hard to do.
We mention and protect this heritage because it is part of what makes this club great. It is something only one other club has done in the modern era and something no other club has come close to repeating in the Premier League era. We talk of it because its as much a part of us as that amazing night at Anfield. The double in ’71 or Arsene’s two doubles which were promptly overshadowed by the 03-04 season.
We cherish it because at the end of the 02-03 season Wenger said he thought his team could go undefeated. He was scoffed at and quickly set everyone to apologize by doing it.
Arsenal fans don’t recite or relish the fact that we have this memory in our history because of our trophy drought, but because we did it. Not for any other reason than that. It wasn’t done through spending billions of pounds on a fantasy team. It was done through hard work and developing a team and fixing. The ground work for this team was done in the overhaul Wenger went about starting in 2001-2002. Campbell and Brockhurst were the big names that came in with Jeffers, Inamoto and Richard Wright filling out the transfers that season. The last piece of the puzzle would come when David Seaman left for oddly enough Manchester City and was replaced by £1.5 million stopper from Borussia Dortmund, Jens Lehmann.
Filling out an already impressive squad that would eventually be lauded high and low, the Invincibles were a special group of players assembled by an a special manager. Before Mourinho would call himself the special one, Wenger was truly special for changing the game in England and developing a squad that would eventually go on an unbeaten run of 49 league games. Only Brian Clough’s Forest were close with 42 and Preston North End;s 1888-1889 squad went undefeated. Alan Smith called the team – the best Highbury had ever seen.
What’s this all mean? To us, Arsenal fans it means alot. We’re sorry to all the other clubs who believe we are holding on to our history. Tell it to Liverpool and United. Both these clubs have a rich history as well and there are points across that history the celebrate, cherish and remember. Those who would tell us we would live in the past only say this because their club has no history. They don’t have memories to cherish. They don’t have memories like the battle of Old Trafford that had Van Nistelroy converted his cheaply won penalty, we’d never be talking about an unbeaten run. They don’t have memories of Henry’s mazy run past Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia leaving them on the floor only to watch him finish past Jerzy Dudek. And finally they don’t have a win against Leicester City to secure their place in history as the kings of the modern game.
That is still ours and right now, noone can take it away not even for a billion pounds.
The invincible season is a badge of honour Arsenal fans wear proudly. We hold on to it and when pundits start proclaiming the next coming or players start drawing comparisons – we know its a load of tosh and we can’t wait for the team’s eventual downfall. It’s not about living in the past. It’s about being a club with a rich history, a sense of the occasion and celebrating both loudly and proudly.
It is one of the reasons why I am proud to be a Gunner even in the darkest of times. History is something that no matter how much our club is hated on, noone can take away from us.
We are the Invincibles. We Are Arsenal!
The Squad –
1 GK Jens Lehmann
12 RB Lauren
23 CB Sol Campbell
28 CB Kolo Toure
3 LB Ashley Cole
8 RM Freddie Ljunberg
4 CM Patrick Vieira (c)
19 CM Gilberto Silva
7 LM Robert Pires
10 CF Dennis Bergkamp
14 CF Thierry Henry
17 CM Edu
15 CM Ray Parlour
18 CB Pascal Cygan
11 RM Sylvain Wiltord
22 LB Gael Clichy
9 CM Jose Antonio Reyes
25 CF Kanu
5 CB Martin Keown
30 CF Jeremie Aliadiere
39 RM David Bentley
33 GK Graham Stack
27 CB Efstathios Tavlaridis
45 RB Justin Hoyte
57 CM Cesc Fabregas
53 AM Jerome Thomas
54 CF Quincy Owusu Abeyie
51 RB Frank Simek
16 CM Giovanni Van Bronckhorst
9 CF Francis Jeffers
55 CM Olafur Ingi Skulason
52 CM John Spicer
56 CF Ryan Smith
20 CB Phillipe Senderos
Primary Starting XI (4-4-2):
Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Toure Cole, Ljunberg, Vieira, Gilberto, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry
Final Standings –
Arsenal 26W 12D 0L 73 GF 26 GA +47GD 90 points
Chelsea 24W 7D 7L 67 GF 30 GA +37GD 79 points
Man Utd 23W 6D 9L 64 GF 35 GA +29 GD 75 points
Liverpool 16W 12D 10L 68 GF 37 GA +31 GD 60 points
The Battle of Old Trafford
