Six years ago today..
When dawn broke on April 25, 2004, Arsenal had yet to lose after 33 games of what would be an historic Premiership campaign. The title would surely be heading to Highbury; it was just a matter of where Arsène Wenger’s side completed the formalities.
White Hart Lane would have been the choice of most Arsenal fans and, after second-placed Chelsea were beaten by Newcastle in an earlier kick-off, Arsenal’s task became clearer. They would need just one point in the North London derby to be crowned champions.
The visitors raced out of the blocks and took a third-minute lead. Thierry Henry carried the ball out of danger after a Tottenham corner and, having made inroads down the left, slid a perfect pass for Dennis Bergkamp to run on to. The Dutchman crossed low and Patrick Vieira slid in to open the scoring.
Bergkamp set up the second with a beautifully-weighted pass for Vieira as the skipper surged into the penalty area. The Arsenal captain cut the ball back for Robert Pires to provide a clinical finish. A little over half-an-hour had elapsed and Arsenal were cruising to the title.
To their credit, Spurs responded. Jamie Redknapp lashed in a long-range shot to reduce the deficit and, after Pires had struck the bar, Robbie Keane netted a late penalty to earn the hosts a point. Spurs had restored some pride but still had to look on as their rivals celebrated a thoroughly-deserved title.
The Arsenal fans have been reminding White Hart Lane regulars of it ever since.
parlour bergkamp campbell henry pires silver viera
these are all winners
the good old days
I DNT GET HOW WENGER CANT SEE THIS…
denilson diaby > viera parlour
walcott bendtner > pires henry
SORRY ARSENE, BUT THAT IS A BIG DIFFERANCE, BUY WORLD CLASS NEXT TIME
No comparison!…. and what is worse this current crop of players also believe that they are as good…they are not and most sadly of all don’t make up for their lack of ability with a greater amount of effort!
how dare you post this sort of stuff,we don’t need to win trophy’s 3rd is good enough for us and not to mention a good champions league run.
invincibles and double winning teams’ european record – group stage, group stage, round of 16, group stage
“useless” kids’ european record – Final, QF, SF, QF
The big thing with our team now and the “invincible team” is still our lack of experience. Also we lack some types in team, notably another Vieira/Gilberto type player (we only have Song and we can’t be sure Diaby will ever reach this level), a centreback of prime quality who will peak the next few seasons and of course a Lehmann-class keeper. £10M should do it for each signing and we could be invincible again.
Gooner you answered yourself yes they are not good enough but it takes money to buy & as Wenger has only had limited funds all he could do was keep us top 4 and wait
Ahh come on chris!! Is this some kind of winde up?? lol..
Its bad enough having to watch these lot we have now.. To bring the good times back to mind in the current situation is a little bit cheeky of you.. lol
Yes Alex, you are right. The European record proves that Wenger’s third team was better than the Invincibles. Also considering the team that went to the Finals had more members from the Invincibles (Henry, Cashley, Lauren, Pires, Toure, Lehman, Campbell, Ljunberg) even further proves your point.. muppet//
You cannot seriously compare Wenger’s second team and third. The second team were winners. We had winners at every position. There is a lot of dead weight on this team.
Btw the big difference with the team now & the invincibles is everything!! From goalkeeper to striker.
People say we need another vieira but really i would swap every single player except cesc for the invincible team.. Come on, were talking about henry, pires, bergkamp, vieira, campbell, cole & etc, etc.. nobody we got is better in there positions then these lot.
ricky you prove a point mate..
______________LEHMAN______________
SAGNA__CAMPBELL__VERMALEEN__CLICHY
__PIRES__FABREGAS__VIERA__PARLOUR__
__________BERGKAMP__HENRY__________
ONLY 3 OF OUT CURRENT PLAYERS WOULD GET IN THE TEAM I WOULD SAY..4 INCLUDING SOL CAMPBELL…
STIL LEFT WITH:
KEOWN
LAUREN
EDU
COLE
TOURE
REYES
NO COMPARISON!
Sagna Out Lauren In (This could go either way but I liked the fight in Lauren)
Clichy Out Cashley In (I know it sucks but true)
Parlour Out Ljunberg In (And Pires and Ljunberg switch flanks)
Fabregas Out Gilberto In
Vermalean Out Toure In (Toure’s speed complimented Campbell better than Vermalean would. Although that left, right foot combination would have been interesting. But I think Toure is the better partner)
Yea, so no one in this team breaks into the Invincible side for me.
@Drew:
I would rather have Clichy over Cole any day.
Also I would have to pick Cesc Fabrigas and Song over Gilberto, as Gilberto was never as good as either player at the age of 22.
Lets see how good Cesc and Song will be in the years to come.
I am not talking about potential. I am talking today. If you throw potential in there, may be one or two other players make the team. And you say Fab and Song and replace who? Gilberto and? A bold statement.
I hate to admit it but I would take Cole over Clichy, then as well as now. Cole – Pires – Henry left triangle was potent. Clichy is error prone as not as defensively solid. There were a lot of times he was made to look silly this season. Although off late he has been solid, he is not up to par with Cashley.
Drew your joking right?
I love the invisible wall in gilberto but how could you take him over fabregas?? Could you imagine todays fabregas in the invincible squad, threading the passes, would have been incredible.
Also its really a 50-50 with vermalean and toure. I would have to pick vermalean though for his jumping and heading ability. I remember back in the invincible days our weakest point was probably defending from set pieces and corners, and i believe vermalean is a better defender for them. Also something different with when vermalean shoots and toure shoots, vermaleans go in and toures go agonisingly close.
Cole over clichy allday mate.. Lets be all be honest here..
BLOODY HELL…look i knew cole was better than clichy! i just didnt wanna be honest!
@ drew.. vermaleen over toure…
but can see your point with lauren an sagna..
denilson diaby > viera parlour
walcott bendtner > pires henry
i get your point but its not really the right comparison is it mate.
fabregas song – vieira parlour
van persie arshavin – pires henry
U MAD CASHLEY NOT AS GOOD AS CLICHY. clichy betta def n attack his crosses r brilliant n he haz alot of fight in him never gives up!
lehman
sagna toure vermaelen clichy
pirez fabregas viera shava
bergkamp henry
still left wiv
rvp
sol
cole
parlour
gilberto
lauren
nasri
nuf said
this is also true..
i fink they both have there good days and bad days i suppose
I feel like crying right now honestly 🙂 Evra said it last season “men against babies”. We had men once playing at Arsenal, men that loved the club and still do, men that retired in the club, but nevertheless we won trophies and we all celebrated like a real family.
I want that fuc**** joy again…just look at Henry’s and other happy faces, they knew how to celebrate after winning, they stood for each other, and the fact that they are Royal Arsenal’s player fuckin’ meant something to them. We lack players, we lack bodies, we lack spirit, we lack togetherness, we lack smiles for god’s sake. The only happy face, Vela’s is now on the bench looking drained.
Mates the premier league six yeras ago and the premier league today are two different worlds at that time we only have man utd as serious treat chelsea were shit liverpool also, totenham were mid table team city were bataling for religation everton mid table aston villa were was aston villa in that time so we can’t compare because the league is different and don’t forget in that time smaller teams didn’t now how to defend and nowdays you go in a place like Birmingham that no one of the big four beat them there is also stoke, so to different worlds and if you read carefully wenger’s last comments you will see why he didn’t buy expensive players in the last 4 years he pointed the Emirates stadium as a big investment and he needed to stick with young talents and to be there in top 4 for 4 years and he also said that now he has the money the debt for the stadium is payed so mark my word wenger will buy 3-4 players maybe 5 and he will not be shy to spend the 40 mil p . Busy summer .
HARD TO TAKE I KNOW..
THE BORING PAINFULL TRUTH IS WE ARE A YOUNG TEAM (WE ALL KNOW THIS)
THE BEST MEDICINE HAS SIMPLY GOT TO BE “GET OVER IT”
AND ALL WE CAN DO IS CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ARSENAL..
CAUSE WE ALL KNOW THAT ONE DAY, MAYBE NEXT YEAR MAYBE ANOTHER 5 YEARS..
WE WILL BE DOMINATING EUROPE AND PUT AN END TO CHELSEA AND UNITEDS REIGN!
U said it right Romford! We will dominate one day…
theres no problem in bringing up a young team but you always never throw the old boys away easily. wenger kept saying time and time again that he ‘HAD’ to sell the older heads in the team so that they wont get in the way of the younger players getting playing time and maturity. this is simply stupid. you can always rotate players and do substitutions to change the team dimension.
the older heads are always needed for the experience, calm, composure and focus. today, at the very least, players like gilberto, pires and sol in the team would have installed the fighting spirit and composure this current arsenal team lacks.
@ROMFORD TART:
wow thanks for cheering us up. we are a young team and we just need to get over not contending? yeah, okay. perhaps if we were supporting scunthorpe that would be okay. this is arsenal. we dont attract 60,000 fans for nothing. we need to go out and buy – 4-6 players. we have the funds. we have the need. now we just need to go out and do it. if players have a problem with not being regulars than they need to improve their play or piss off.
OMFG once again this year, someone from Manure payed for the PFA team of the year…..I can’t believe that clown Valencia is the best winger in England 😀 wtf
DUH obviously we shouldnt be settling! dont you think it kills me to see the mighty arsenal being pushed aside by the bigger teams, the differance between you and me mate is that i have excepted that wenger and the board are going to continue with this project, they may by three players in the summer, but they wont by the 6players we need, just except it and be patient..AGAIN
@ me haha its a joke isnt it?
wish i could say it should of been walcott! ONCE AGAIN next season he has ALOT to prove.. if i was wenger i would put him on steroids to bulk him up! and get him some bloody passion and fighting spirit! blokes a pansy! step up THEOOO!
this season iz ova now da invincibles are gone . now we need 2 focus on next season we need 2 keep all da playas wew hve nw n expand on it buy atleast 3-4 playeas 1 must b a quality keepa not almunia n we hve 2 buy a young n great def like tv5, if we do this i 100% sure da league iz gonna com 2 da emirates next season
wat’s goin on on 6th may? n wat’s vote eboue stuff banner goin on?
Hey guys watch this video about chamakh he is the player we need for next season
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CuRHL1qgTY
here is the link copy and paste it on your url
he is a great player, can’t wait for his arrival
gooner chris i think you should upload this video on the website a great video of chamakh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CuRHL1qgTY
@ROMFORD TART:
1) difference between you and me is i know how to spell “accepted.”
2) moreover, accepting mediocrity is lame.
@mojo gooner:
can he play in goal or at center back? or both?
AHH thats where your wrong american gooner the differance between me and you is i have manners.. i might not be able to spell so well, but i can certainly spell this.. your a rude ignorant c.unt
a cheeky c.unt at that, for someone like you to think that they have any right to support the arsenal through a internet feed all the way from the america..
have you ever been to a game? listen yeah? your a mug..stupid yank pratt!
o and before your s.hit! american humour tells me i have spelt c.unt and s.hit wrong, i had to put the “.” there so the comment didnt get deleted..
YOUR A DIV
@jason:
Its the UK general election.
Gooner Chris, think u shud personally post this vid mate, its class 😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK4Z7spmB58
Is this guy even in to win?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7637697/Arsenal-forward-Andrei-Arshavin-still-dreams-of-playing-for-Barcelona.html
_____________________________AKINKEEF_________________________
__VANDERWEIL__________SUBOTIC________VERMALEEN________CLICHY__
_____________________________YAYATOURE________________________
______________FABREGAS______________________RAMSEY____________
________VANDERVAART__________VANPERSIE_________ARSHAVIN_______
I smell shit everytime arshavin seems to open he’s mouth recently… Cant even do a good job for us & he’s babbling about barca. Even nasri was caught saying not winning trophies is not as big a deal as ppl make it.. are these guys winners or happy contenders??
This is the difference about the players six yrs ago & the players now.. no matter how much the leagues changed that team would have dominated as long as it were 11 v 11..
unless this is a comment from ages ago…
He calls us a MID-TABLE ENGLISH TEAM for heavens sake!
yeah i do find it a little insulting..
you gotta remember though he is one of the very few players that can win a game single handedly…(when he is on form)
he’s 29 next month…
i dunno, would you swap him for van der vaart? what you think gooners?
The quotes from arshavin are before he joined us he wanted to go to Barca and today papers mixed that quotes at that time with some of his today quotes when he said that he was in sorrow to watch barca beating us that was before city game and he never said anything about barca he was saying about rvp loss and barca beating us and now the papers combined this two together mark my words the comments from him that he was dreaming to play for barca are when he was at zenit .
@ROMFORD TART:
lol, you couldn’t even get either reply right. learn some grammar before you come and post (concentrate on the difference between your and you’re especially please). also, i am not sure how i am cheeky for supporting arsenal no matter where i live. i have been to arsenal matches, my family has supported them for ages, and, again, who gives a toss about where i am from or live – you do realize we are a team of foreigners with a foreign manager, mostly foreign ownership, a foreign stadium sponsorship (emirates, that’s really british), etc. get a clue, MATE.
we are being heavily linked with sebastian frey the florentiena goalkeeper, i hope this is not true, weve got the money and the team for a world no1 keeper..
buffon
hugo lloris
igor akinfeev
IN:
akinfeev 12million
subotic 11million {GET THESE 3 AND OUR DEFENCE WOULD BE SORTED}
boateng 11million
felipe melo 11million
van der vaart 6million
chamakha FREE
OUT:
EDUARDO 8MILLION POOR GUY ISNT ARSENAL STANDARD..
ROSICKY 8MILLION TO INJURY PRONE AND PAST HIS BEST, WILL BE 30
SILVESTRE
GALLAS
ALMUNIA
35MILLION FOR ALL THAT AHA CAN ALWAYS DREAM, WHO DO YOU LOT WANT TO SEE LEAVE? AND WHO DO YOU WANT TO SEE BRUNG IN?
@Gunningooner:
as others have said, im sure that quote was from ages ago. however, even though he should use better discretion on when to comment to the media, he is right. we do need more impact players. we do need less youth and more veterans. we cannot seriously think of challenging for the premier league or the champions league title when we trot out the likes of silvestre, denilson, walcott, diaby, bendtner, and almunia on a regular basis. heck, our best player the past few games was arguably 108 year old sol campbell, how much of an indictment on our lack of depth and quality is that?
until we buy players in all positions – defense, midfield, forward, and keeper, we will not seriously contend. that is a reality.
@iamgooner: i agree these are the same players i would like to see
the lineup for next season would be:
Akinfeev
Sagna Subotic Vermaelen Clichy
Song
Fabregas Nasri
Chamakh Van Persie Arshavin
@American Gooner:
You put it really well. I had thought initially that this was an old interview, but i didnt think the media would reprint an old interview twice for the same player. I still dont like the ugly truth.
It seems Arshavin will be leaving us, which I don’t think is too bad, but it will certainly mean Rosicky’s staying because Wenger doesn’t want to shuffle a lot. Arshavin’s head was out of this club for two months or more and he didn’t give us everything we expected from him this season. American Gooner was right, we need to sell about eight players and bring in 10 to be the Arsenal we want to be. Those 10 I would sell would be Eduardo, Rosicky, Almunia, Fabianski, Gallas, Silvestre, Traore, Denilson and some of the kids like Randall, Simpson, Watt, Merida, so we need a big clearance. I still believe in Djorou..I think he can become world-class, but only if injury free. I would keep Gallas for two more years, because we have Bartley knocking on the door. I would put Wilshere ahead of Walcott, and would buy Yaya Toure to muscle the midfield.
Where can arshavin possibly go?? doubt barca would want him.. he’s not exactly set the world a light while he’s been with us…
Then the fact were not really showing much ambition could have an effect on the more valuble players we have which could be the reason he wants out.
arshavin will be leaving us to go to barcelona for 15mil.
im dont think we sgould sell him as look at the moments of magic we have seen from him and like some of yiu said he can produce even more.
we need to stop the trend of selling our best players to barcelona
i really wonder sumtimes if this website has been taken ova by spuds sum of u are so negative are team is nowere near as bad as sum of you make out.
you all want 10 players out and 12 in i guarntee u if wenger sold 10 and bought 12 we would strugle to finish 6 and then u would all b moanin even more
u all need to sit down and think whether u trully support the team or just like moanin like bitches
tru dat gooner james
HAHA YEAH..
NAH I DONT FINK WE NEED A MAAAAJOR RESHUFFLE, WE JUST NEED A BRICKSHIT HOUSE IN MIDFIELD IN YAYA TOURE.. LOOK AT WHAT CAMPBELL HAS DONE FOR US!
WE NEED A BRUISER, THAT TEAMS FEAR..
I WOULD SWAP ARSHAVIN FOR YAYA TOURE..
SIMPLY BECAUSE ARSHAVIN IS PROBABLY CAUSING SOO MUCH NEGATIVITY IN THE DRESSING ROOM
I must say I’m really sorry we didn’t buy Jonjo Shelvey, I think he’s the biggest talent in England, the next Gerrard
@gooner james:
goonerjames, what world are you living in? we finished third this year when both the top two teams have been absolute garbage. the problem is, we have been even worse. how can we realistically expect to challenge for a title when we get absolutely destroyed AT HOME by chelsea and man u? moreover, we get destroyed by barcelona at home and on the road.
im sorry if you think that being a fan means being positive all the time – that simply isnt the case. further, if you think having the likes of silvestre, almunia, denilson, eduardo, rosicky is going to win titles im afraid you are naive.
the fact is we have not spent virtually any money in the recent transfer windows and the results show. you are as good as your record. we always moan about injuries – guess what, they are part of the game. chelsea will win the title without essien playing in 2010 but they have others to support. when fabregas goes down, we have shit to replace him.
if we dont reinforce our squad this summer we dont deserve to compete for a title next year. if wenger cant see that playing a backline of two of the oldest players in the premier league in front of a worthless keeper and behind two stiffs in midfield, he has lost the plot, too.
bull.. biggest talent is by far Jack the Lad!!!!! We have enough young promising midfielders. We werent after Sterling at all, too.
@American Gooner: also, this season will prove that Wenger and the Board were not right in their policy of making money every transfer window.
Yaa..sweet old memories.
Initially i was delighted when Arshavin joined us, as games progressing i can see that Arshavin was just like Reyes. Lots of talent but not playing wholehearted!!
@American Gooner: I like this guy.. lol! american gooner you are one of the most realistic supporters on here.. Nothing wrong with being honest even if it does sound negative but you know what, the clubs ambition for the past few yrs has been negative too so i think a lil back-lash from the fans is well over due.
A big clear out is unlikely to happen as we all know but we do need a big change in our 1st eleven line up.. Btw campbell may be one of the grandads of the team but im sure you’ll agree that he’s been far better then most of our players.
thanks, ricky. i think, for my money, campbell has been our best player by a country mile in the last two months. having said that, when a 304 year old center back is your best player you have problems.
i realize that a big clear out isnt likely to happen. more realistically, we need to sign a world class keeper. that is absolute priority number one. secondly, we need to sign a world class defender. those two i feel are realistic and attainable.
then, we need to sign chamakh and, hopefully, one more midfielder.
i think that, unfortunately, eboue will go. i know other fans dislike eboue, but i think he is very valuable as both an attacking fullback and a winger. he frustrates, of course, but he is a great guy to have on your bench – plus the team loves him, no doubt. i dont think arshavin will be off, i think wenger will have a talk with him. certainly, though, he needs to adjust his attitude. i think silvestre will be gone, as will merida and perhaps one more (gallas?).
Finally, i think we should scrap the 1 up front crap. it gives our midfielders an excuse to be lazy, it doesnt provide the 1 with enough support, and it ultimately hasnt done the job.
with that said, i would like to see a realistic lineup of:
lloris
sagna vermaelen hangeland(or subotic, or insert cb signing here) clichy
arshavin song fabregas nasri
rvp chamakh
Subs: almunia, eboue, gallas, diaby, walcott (regrettably), rosicky, eduardo, bendtner
Not a great team or lineup. Would prefer a quality winger but we never seem to use one anyway so perhaps that is pointless. Thoughts?
american gooner i think its u who is deluded i said that every one who wants 10 players in and 12 out is stupid coz it wont work u then tell me i know nothing about football u then post ur predicted lineup with only 2 new signings i know chamakh is not ours yet but he pretty much is.
so when i said we needed just 2 or 3 players was i not right.
i rest my case
cmon guys, chill
@gooner james:
James, seriously? If you could read, your posts would be much more thoughtful. I posted my PREDICTED lineup, not the one I thought was necessary to challenge for titles. In fact, if you read my post, you would have seen that I said “NOT A GREAT TIME OR LINEUP.” You need to take the rose-colored glasses off your eyes and realize that Arsenal need quite a few changes to seriously challenge for the PL and CL titles. If you don’t believe me, look at the Barca-Inter game last night. Inter made Messi look invisible. We, on the other hand, got him a raise.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_6122516,00.html
as predicted, just media drumming up controversy. arshavin to stay with arsenal for rest of his career unless arsene leaves. it would be nice if, while staying here, he could get his head out of his backside and produce like he is capable.
Tbh i dont know what players are out there in a realistic price range that could come in & make such a difference but im sure arsene does.. This is were he’ll have to look good & hard.
I think we need to try & keep gallas. I personally have not seen much of this subotic kid but for what i have seen, he looks good & the fact that most fans feel he’s what we need kinda says alot.