Few teams are discussed as often, or with as much ferocity, as Arsenal. In his TFT debut, Sam Drew examines the most frequent criticism of Arsene Wenger’s team, and compares them to the Frenchman’s greatest ever Arsenal side. How does the 2010/11 Arsenal team match up to the unbeaten Class of 03/04?
In the 2003/04 Premier League season, Arsenal made history by going an entire league campaign undefeated, lifting the title with a superb record of 26 games won, 12 games drawn and exactly zero lost. The side was a brilliant fusion of speed and strength, attack and defence, flair and steel. Throughout the team, there were experienced players with a will to win.
Fast forward seven years, and Arsenal have just seen their faltering title ambitions take another devastating blow, conceding a last-minute equaliser to Liverpool having already scored what had seemed to be a winner of their own in the dying seconds. The Invincibles seem like a completely different side to this current Arsenal team. But just how far away are they?
Obviously the tactics and formation are different, but I think with a little tweaking, Arsene Wenger could soon have a team that resembles that brilliant side he once had.
It’s difficult to slot Arsenal’s current set of players into the system that the unbeaten side deployed without leaving out current captain Cesc Fabregas. He’s a wonderful player, but for comparison’s sake we’ll imagine he’s not at Arsenal. That should please the Barcelona supporters.
The 03/04 team played a 4-4-2 that was solid in defence but free-flowing in attack. You’d often see Thierry Henry drifting out on the left flank, with Robert Pires taking up his position in the centre of attack. The players were all so versatile that swift changes of position to confuse the opposition’s defence were commonplace.
Below is a graphic of the regular 03/04 team. Each circle represents a player, with the numbers showing the numbers worn by the players. If you hover over the image, it shows you how the players would be replaced in the same system by the current players. I picked the current players that are most similar to their Invincibles counterparts, but there would be some positional changes. For example, I thought Kolo Toure and Johan Djourou were most similar for their athleticism, and Thomas Vermaelen and Sol Campbell were most similar because of their defensive excellence. However, Toure played on the left side of defence, while Vermaelen is left-footed, so would play in that position.
A player-by-player comparison:
Goalkeeper
Jens Lehmann v Wojciech Szczesny
Two self-confessed “crazy” goalkeepers, both have their strengths. They’re both excellent at commanding their box, and constantly scream orders at their players. On top of those attributes, they’re terrific shot stoppers, and love to punch the ball. The 03/04 season was Lehmann’s first at Arsenal, while next season will be Szczesny’s first full campaign as number one; he’s expected to retain his position as Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper.
Right Back
Lauren v Bacary Sagna
These two committed full backs are powerful, athletic and skilled – three traits that are vital if you’re to become successful in this position. Lauren would occasionally overlap Freddie Ljungberg and cross the ball into the box; Sagna probably does this more often, sometimes to good effect. He’s a great crosser of the ball, and gets his fair share of assists. In fact, he’s just been named in the PFA Team of the Year for 2010/11. Both players share a powerful shot, and have great upper body strength as well as speed.
Centre Back
Sol Campbell v Thomas Vermaelen
Campbell and Vermaelen are both tough, old fashioned centre halves who strike fear into opposing strikers, and they also have an eye for goal. They’re reliable players who are strong aerially and on the deck, who are comfortable on the ball as well. Campbell would often mop up after partner Kolo Toure when he slipped up, and the two complemented each other perfectly – Campbell’s excellent knowledge and reading of the game, combined with Toure’s power and speed, helped the Gunners to many a cleansheet.
Kolo Toure v Johan Djourou
As mentioned above, Campbell would often have to clear up after Toure made a mistake, and Djourou has similar errors of judgement at times. While he remains a good defender, also comfortable on the ball, his reading of the game could be better, a key characteristic also present in Kolo Toure. Both players were previously uninspiring defensive midfielders who Arsene Wenger transformed into excellent central defenders.
Left Back
Ashley Cole v Gael Clichy
Both of these left sided defenders are good in attack whilst remaining sound defensively, even if Clichy does suffer lapses in concentration. Cole was a key part of Arsenal’s left-sided triumvirate with Robert Pires and Thierry Henry, a group that would rip teams to shreds. Like Clichy, he’s an athletic player who has the ability and stamina to work tirelessly up and down the wing.
Right Midfield
Freddie Ljungberg v Andrey Arshavin
Perhaps the most difficult of the comparisons to make, these players are similar nonetheless. Both are diminutive and both are excellent dribblers. They’re dynamic players who are extremely effective in attack, and demonstrate superb link-up play, making clever runs in behind the defence – these darts into space help them achieve impressive goal-scoring records. Arshavin maybe has more of an eye for the killer pass than Ljungberg, a theory supported by quotes from Wenger and a great number of assists.
Centre Midfield
Patrick Vieira v Jack Wilshere
Another tricky resemblance to explain, but I do feel these players are comparable. Both of them epitomise what the team is about: attack and defence working in sync. Vieira and Wilshere are the types of dynamic, box-to-box midfielders who work their socks off in midfield, helping the defence by breaking down play, and then charge forwards to support the attack, chipping in with a few goals along the way. They’re both leaders of their teams and wear their hearts on their sleeves, often getting into scuffles, partly explaining questionable disciplinary records (although Jack’s is still fairly good, it may get worse in the future).
Gilberto Silva v Alex Song
The unsung heroes of their respective sides – although both receive recognition from some – these combative midfielders are less cavalier, preferring to sit deep and protect the defence, although this is much less obvious in Song’s play. They both chip in with vital goals, and aren’t afraid to have a pop at goal. Gilberto was a tidy player who always cleared up at the back; this isn’t as clear in Song - he often gives away cheap fouls, but this should change as he becomes more experienced.
Left Midfield
Robert Pires v Samir Nasri
Both plucked from French side Marseille, these are players that might feel more comfortable in a central role, but find themselves shifted onto the wing by Wenger. Along with Ljungberg, Pires was said to have revolutionised the modern winger. Often found lurking around the box instead of bombing down the wing and putting in crosses, he was a key member of the unbeaten team. He, Cole and Henry had a brilliant understanding, combining superbly on a frequent basis. Nasri and Pires are both excellent on the ball, and are great passers, long and short. They both have good long range shooting ability and are deadly from inside the box too.
Strikers
Dennis Bergkamp v Robin van Persie
An easy comparison to make this time, the two Dutch number 10s demonstrate many similarities between their games. Both drop deep to receive the ball and often set players up to score – a great example of Van Persie doing so was against Blackburn Rovers early in the season, when he came deep to get the ball and sent right winger Theo Walcott clear to score. Bergkamp also had a good understanding with his right winger, Ljungberg, and the two would often combine to assist one another. It’s not a watertight comparison though; in recent years Van Persie has played as a “false nine”, a number 10 playing as a lone striker, despite not being an out-and-out goalscorer.
Thierry Henry v Theo Walcott
A comparison made since Walcott was just a youth player at former club Southampton, he has never been able to shake off the Henry tag. It’s easy to see why though – he’s lightning fast, and occasionally demonstrates the cool head in front of goal that made Henry so brilliant. As well as having added the clinical finishing, Walcott has matured a lot this season, scoring more goals than in previous years. He’s even shown hints at being deadly from free kicks, just like his predecessor and idol. Walcott still needs to add more skill to his game to be like Henry, but that might well come with time and experience.
The basic 4-4-2 formation used by Wenger’s side back then is seen as too rigid and outdated these days, but that’s untrue. In fact, it’s more about the personnel in the side and the tactics used. While England’s version of the 4-4-2 recently has been exposed as unimaginative and stiff, teams like Manchester United still use the formation to good effect thanks to a counter-attacking blueprint not unlike that of the Invincibles.
The current tactics employed by Arsenal mean that many teams set out their stall to defend, especially at the Emirates Stadium, packing many players behind the ball, meaning the Gunners have little space to use. If they changed tactics to those used in 03/04, perhaps they would finder a faster solution.
Every one of the unbeaten team had a will to win and knowledge of how to do it. Many if not all of them had done it before – it was a side not too dissimilar to the team that had lifted the title two years before. However, this current Arsenal side have been broken so many times. They’ve crashed out of three competitions and have threatened for a long time to completely drop out of the title race. The current crop have shown signs of a winning mentality but have fallen apart too many times this season and last.
It’s a difficult problem to assess – the players have individually shown plenty of drive and passion: Nasri when he dragged Arsenal over the line against Fulham, Fabregas when he rescues them from defeat, Wilshere in every game that he plays. But they seem to lack something as a unit. There seems to be a strong bond between the players, but sometimes that’s not evident at all – at times the leadership completely evaporates.
However, as Wenger regularly points out, the players are young, and the leadership they lack will come in time. If he can make a few adjustments, soon his team could be playing like the Arsenal of old.
Tags: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger
Some of the comparisons I’d disagree with.
I’d compare Djourou to Campbell in that both they’re the more reserved of their partnerships while Vermaelen/Koscielny and Toure look to step out of defence more and tend to leave gaps behind.
Clichy’s attacking game cannot compare to Cole’s. Around the 07/08 season he looked like he was developing into an excellent all-rounder but since then his composure in the final 3rd has gone down the pan, rarely contributes to any goals nowadays. Defensively I believe Cole was more reliable as well.
Pires and Nasri may both be right-footed Frenchmen who cut inside from the left, but there’s a big difference in the way they go about it. Pires was an astute reader of the game who’s movement off the ball was impeccable - not only to get into goalscoring positions (he was probably the best poacher we had since Wright) but also to find pockets of space to play the killer pass. Nasri in comparison is too attracted to the ball, too elaborate on it, and apart from a purple patch in the first half of this season, has never really looked like a major goalthreat. His assists record is pitiful.
Theo is more akin to Ljungberg than Henry, he doesn’t have the Frenchman’s ball control or creative spark and probably never will. What he excels at is making dangerous diagonal runs from the wing, breaking past opposition offside traps and latching onto throughballs from the middle - just like Freddie. The only player that can match (and surpass) Henry’s all-round contribution to Arsenal’s attack is a certain Lionel Messi, and I’m sure he won’t be joining anytime soon.
I’d say Fabregas is the closest thing to Bergkamp we currently have. Of course he doesn’t have the Iceman’s ability to play as a box striker, but in the no.10 role they both share an unrivalled appreciation for space off the ball, 360 awareness and a fantastic killer pass. Fabregas’ goalscoring record at his peak is not too dissimilar to what the Dutchman was posting regularly for Arsenal. Van Persie, while an excellent technician and able passer, does not have Bergkamp’s vision.
I don’t think the current crop can replicate the Invincibles’ style of play, certainly not without buying players at least. We play a different style of play now because we have a different set of players at the club. Whether Arsene built this current style around the players he’d accumulated, or decided on a style and then sought to buy players to fit within that style, is not known, but this is the style that comes most naturally to them.
A very good article nonetheless and one which is very relevant given the recent grumblings among some Arsenal fans regarding the lack of goals.
[...] Invincibles compared to the current crop, and how we could bring back the glory days. As seen on twofootedtackle. In the 2003/04 Premier League season, Arsenal made history by going an entire league campaign [...]