Best team to never win the league IMO. I recall watching your 1-1 league game with Liverpool a few years back and the football you were playing especially in the 2nd half had me close to tears. I have never seen anything like it, how you did not win that game was one of life's great mysteries. Had you not been robbed vs Liverpool. Conceivably you could have won the CL that year as well
Drawing almost everywhere from Birmingham onwards cost us that year. It was such a shame to be so near and yet so far.
Yes we did produce some magical football that season. Rosicky,Hleb,Flamini and Fabregas all linked up well and that was a joy to watch. In fact in that season, English club football as a whole was very strong.
It is well worth remembering how that season came out of an indifferent one the previous year. Two things in that season which derailed the title. First was the felling of Eduardo by Birmingham's thuggery which badly affected the team leading to Gallas's strange sulk at half time, which in turn seemed to mark a slow steady decline in the dressing room between Gallas and others. The whole thing unsettled the team. The second was the surrender in the FA Cup to United (5-0 I think). Thereafter there was a tension in the team performances which stiffled everyone and resulted in highly nervous performances (of the type we see with frustrating regularity now). Without Eduardo Adebayor seemed to dry up as well. It can said that in the same way that Eduardo was not same player after that assualt by Taylor, Arsenal have not been the same team either. I was sad to see Eduardo go but given the effect both seemed to be having on each other I think it was for the best, but I wouldn't mind him coming back. I believe that Wenger is striving for a similar balance and style in his team as he had in 07/08, and that he believes he can mould the current crop into a similarly effective unit. His difficulty is in convincing the fans and maybe one or two of his players as well. Let's hope we see him succeed, for even though we didn't win it was glorious to watch.
That was the year Ade scored 30 goals if I recall correctly. I think the sides we have built lack an element of mental strength. They do show it occasionally but on the field of play, a team like ours should be ready to rise to the occasion when needed. I think part of our problem is in not having a leader who can inspire the team in such a manner. Someone like Fabregas was never going to step into the shoes of Viera. I wonder too if we may have sold Eduardo at the wrong moment. But here lies another problem. We lose special characteristics these players bring to our game and never replace these special qualities. A strong and capable leader like Patrick Viera would have done wonders for us. For my money, even outperform Fabregas because of the total sum of the goods he brings to the table.
That season really was great. It was such a shame that fell apart after that Birmingham game (just as last season). But everything seemed perfect and the team had a great balance. We also could have done better in the Champions League, but unfortunately we got screwed over by the ref in both games against Liverpool. (Clear foul on Hleb in box not given as penalty, clear dive by Babel got them a penalty) But we got ****** in the domestic cups by Tottenham and Man Utd, that's where I started thinking that the team might bottle everything if they can't perform at their best in those games. PS: I also blame Adebayor's haircut!
That would appear to be an Achilles Heel of Arsenal. When it began to happen I put it down to the inexperience of youth but safe for an occasional pull out all the stops performance as at Udinese or Chelsea away or when we played Barca and Chelsea at home, a lot of the time we are turned over by other clubs. I recall a time when we would regularly beat Utd and indeed Liverpool and Chelsea too. Of course that was when we had a solid back four. That is not the case now and for that I blame Arsene Wenger. He has no clue about defence. No clue at all.
