Arsenal’s Invincible: The Provenance & The Success

The dream of every professional club is to achieve something unimaginable the whole world would marvel and keeps talking about for many years to come, as such the team Arsenal football club achieved what was referred to, as one of their greatest achievement in the history of the club.

In 2004, Arsene Wenger led Arsenal to achieved the unimaginable, and as such, they became immortal as arguably the best team in the English Premier League to win the title without enduring a single defeat throughout the season.

We had seen teams like Manchester City accumulated over 198 points in two seasons in the Premier League and went on to win back to back league titles, playing a breathtaking kind of football that made their opponents in the course of the season looks dumbfounded.

On the other hands, we also saw Liverpool played a style of football that did wow the spectators and the world at large, as such they only lost one game all season picking up a whopping 97 points, yet ended the season empty-handed, similarly over the years in the Premier League, we did saw what looked quite commendable done by Manchester United when they won the treble in 1999.

We also cannot forget Jose Mourinho incredible Chelsea winning side in 2005 too, they won the title in his first season at the helm building a team that conceded just 15 goals in 38 games and kept a total 25 clean sheets.

So as such, the question we should ask now is what side could possibly be better than the aforementioned team’s records in the league?

Well, certainly Arsene Wenger’s red and white gladiators in the 03-04 season would come to mind easily, as they went throughout the campaign without losing a single game.

The Gunners as they are usually called by their fans and other soccer neutrals all over the globe, maybe going through what I term as a ‘Teething Period‘ or a ‘Trophy Drought Period‘ since Arsene Wenger last won the FA Cup for the North London side, it’s no news that they’re going through a torrid time now since ‘Le Professeur’ left even while he was at the helm of affairs, the team isn’t faring better but then it’s better compared to what they’re going through now.

One thing that is very evident is the fact that Arsene Wenger is a name in the world football that will always generate mixed feelings among the fans for what he achieved with the team in his first coming, and of course how he exited the club, also to talk about how Wenger will always be to talk of a man who his well-loved and equally well maligned by the fans, the ‘Wenger Out‘ movement building towards the time he left the London side is definitely a pointer to the fact that some of the Arsenal fans weren’t thankful enough despite his exploit with the club.

Arsenal Invincibles

Since he left the club, it’s very clear that nothing has really changed positively for the North London club, as two managers have tried their possible best in filling the void left by the French manager, yet the story of the club remains the same. However, that isn’t the business of the day, rather we will be talking about his undisputed champion the ‘Invincible’ of 03-04 season and how it begins.

Only few football best, brightest, and intelligent managers would have a mouthwatering opportunity to move to one of the elite clubs in European football and reject such opportunity, however in Wenger’s case, he rejected the opportunity to manage one of the elite clubs and found his way to Nagoya Grampus in Japan.

Putting into consideration why he rejected such opportunity, perhaps that served as a journey of self-discovery and improvement for Wenger in his coaching career before he would eventually venture into the very demanding managerial job of an elite club in Europe, as such he did hear the calling of Arsenal in England but come to think of it in normal circumstances Wenger managing a Japanese side wouldn’t have happened been a highly respected and much sought-after manager of his generation all over Europe.

Wenger’s stint at Monaco may not have come with plenty plaudit and with a silverware laden stint, but his role in nurturing young stars into becoming world-beaters in football can’t be forgotten in a hurry with players such as George Weah et al, the Liberian legend attributed his World Player of the Year award in 1995 to the Frenchman.

The journey to invincibility with the Arsenal team began when he joined from Nagoya Grampus in 1996, but before Arsenal, there was a Nagoya Grampus, and before Nagoya Grampus there was Monaco, the principality side he managed before he headed to Japan, in fact for the record he also had a stint with Nancy before he took up the Monaco job where he actually developed his tactics and studious style of football.

When Wenger joined Arsenal, no one ever thought he’s going to be one of the managers that will revolutionize English football alongside the great Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. When he joined, the headlines on the front page of the English tabloids were ‘Arsene Who‘? following the unceremonious exit of Bruce Rioch, the then Arsenal’s manager prior to the appointment of Wenger.

According to Nick Hornby, a renowned author and an avid fan of the Gunners, said

“I remembered when Rioch was sacked, one of the tabloids had three or four names linked to Arsenal, “it was Venables, Johan Cruyff, and then at the end it was Wenger, he went further to say as a fan he remembered betting it’s gonna be Wenger because he had never heard of him, but he has heard of the other two managers, and in the end, Arsenal appointed the Frenchman the one that you haven’t heard of”.

Wenger didn’t take long to adapt to life with English football, and gradually started building a formidable team as he guided the team to their first Premier League title in 97-98 season, prior to the Frenchman winning the League, Arsenal had finished third place on the log, crashed out of two domestic cup competitions at the fourth round stage, and also crashed out of the UEFA Cup in the knockout stages to a German side Borussia Monchengladbach.

After winning the first league and already settled into English football, the following season was somewhat a disappointment for Wenger and his team. The building process of the team continued, but the 1999-2000 season was a bit commendable for the Gunners as they were able to win the Charity Shield against Sir Alex Ferguson led side, and also finished second place in the league behind Manchester United with Thierry Henry making his debut campaign that season with 26 goals.

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The 2000-01 season ended trophyless for the North London side, but the following season comes with a double, the League & FA Cup which would be Wenger’s second league and Cup double, all thanks to Sylvain Wiltord loan goal against Manchester United.

2003/04 season, four years after his first title as Arsenal manager, his team keeps getting stronger and stronger with players like Jens Lehmann whom he signed from Borussia Dortmund to replaced departing club legend David Seaman, and the German shot-stopper came in with a lot of class and top-notch saves.

Of course, if you achieved such kind of feat in a season without conceding a goal, then you must have a solid, reliable, and dependable defense that needs to be praised for a job well done throughout the campaign.

The two central defenders that were the bedrock, no-nonsense and very reliable players of the team that became the foundation in which the attacking players could express themselves, are Sol Campbell a player whose coming to Arsenal was filled with controversy having joined from a crosstown rival Tottenham Hotspur and Kolo Toure whom together they bullied opponent’s strikers with their immense solidity at the back and also possessed a range of passes that many gave credit to throughout the campaign.

As Wenger opted to drop Pascal Cygan whom he began the season with and as such his decision to drop him paid dividends with the pairing of Campbell and Toure, Ashley Cole and Lauren also performed their offensive and defensive duties with ease.

Talk of the wingers, Robert Pires commanded the left-hand side of the 4-4-2 formation finishing as the club’s second top scorer that season with an impressive 14 goals, while on the opposite wing were a combination of the man the Gunners fans called ‘Freddie‘ Fredrik Ljungberg.

Ray Parlour whose career was gradually winding down, the Brazilian Edu whom the media sees as a player that could walk into any top team in Europe then, Sylvain Wiltord the Frenchman that dealt with United in the Cup final, and Jose Antonio Reyes who was hampered with injuries, however all of these players featured in some capacity throughout the season.

In the middle of the park is Patrick Vieira one of the Premier League great, who commanded the midfield with a lot of power, grit, and a commanding display as the captain of the team, and to his side was Gilberto Silva who went under the radar for all of his all-round play, rarely wavering from his defensive duties and very responsible in the role of shielding the back four, basically, he was the unsung hero in the team.

Upfront in the team was Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, one thing that looks unique about the Arsenal side was the sheer quality of top stars in the team, Dennis Bergkamp on his day was somewhat of a magician upfront and also dropping into the number ten role to get the team going, and then there is Thierry Henry a player immortalized into Premier League history, not because of the quality and quantity of goals he scored that season, but for his devastating pace and eyes for goals scoring  32 goals that season, as such he was considered one of the greatest player the Premier League has ever seen.

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The penultimate season that led to the 03-04 invincible or unbeaten season comes with just an FA Cup title, after their FA Cup triumph the 03-04 season would go on to be one of the best seasons for Arsenal in English football, Arsenal won 26 games, drawn 12 and lost none, the North London side cruised to the Premier League title in style and no dent to their results throughout the league season.

The North London club went a record 49 consecutive top-flight league games unbeaten from May 2003 to October 2004, breaking Nottingham Forest’s previous record of 42 set between November 1977 and November 1978. The run ended in a much controversial manner at Old Trafford as a harshly-awarded penalty spurred Manchester United to a 2-0 win in October 2004.

In completing this remarkable run, Arsenal also recorded an unbeaten top-flight league season, only equaled by Preston North End who went the season unbeaten in 1888-89. Although Preston North End played 22 league games that season against Arsenal’s 38.

To the Gunner’s joy, what made the invincible season more unique was the fact that the sealing of the title at the home of arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, and also celebrating their success on the turf of their rival made their achievement very sweet and awkward to the Spurs fans.

However, their painful defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League quarterfinals put a small dent on their season as a whole, although the North London side may be experiencing a title drought now but their crowning and invincible achievement are unmatched, perhaps until another team would achieve such feat.

RESULTS & SCORERS

2003/20004 Premier League Table

The Invincible Squad