Arsenal Unstoppable: How Wenger went a season without a 2003-04 Gunners loss

The Invisional is the name given to the Arsenal team that won 2003-04 Premier League. The reason for the nickname is that he went unbeaten in his 38 league matches. He won 26 games and won 12.

Arsenal usually lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, although it could also be labeled as 4-2-3-1 because of the way Dennis Bergkamp positioned the ‘number 10’ between midfield and attack Was dropped in

The team is mostly remembered for his attacking talent. Thierry Henry was at the peak of his powers and finished second in Ballon d’Or voting in 2003 and fourth in 2004, and Bergcamp had not lost his brilliant movement or vision when he was nearing the end of his career.

Left winger Robert Pyres provided a secondary source of goals, scoring 14 in the league, while Patrick Vieira was both the heart and mind of the team from central midfield. On the right, Freddy Ljungberg was a ferocious box-to-box player who raised his game for the big occasion.

As often not mentioned – especially when invincible is compared to today’s Arsenal team – it was that Gunner also excelled defensively, scoring just 26 goals. Sol Campbell and Kolo Torre were a great mix of athletics and intelligence at center-back, with Jens Lehmann bringing the international class to the goal and Ashley Cole and Lauren were a dynamic full-back duo.

However, it was not just the quality of the personnel, but the way they set up. Arsenal were more like Atletico Madrid than Barcelona, ​​with both Gilberto Silva and Vieira trying to save the defense and Cole and Lauren not wanting to attack. Pires and Ljungberg did not hang out high around the field, but they were expected to track the ball back.

The commitment of promising to make Arsenal a better team, surpassed by their talent, would alone suggest they were able to absorb the pressure in their own half before launching a lethal counter-attack led by Henry.

Arsene Wenger was Arsenal’s manager during his ‘ageless’ season in 2003-04.

After a win over Leicester City that completed Arsenal’s unbeaten season, The Guardian Writer Kevin Mitchell called Wenger the most surprising manager in the Premier League, and “probably all of football at the moment”.

Wenger had revolutionized not only Arsenal but the entire division, introducing new training, fitness and dieting regimes that forced managers across the country to follow suit and demand more professionalism and discipline from their players. Gone is the day of victory celebrated with fatty food and several pins of beer.

The Frenchman’s record of identifying players and adapting them to internationals was also unmatched at the time. The tower was signed from an Ivorian club for £ 150,000 and changed from midfield and full-back to a central defender, while Ljungberg cost £ 3 million in Halmstad’s Sweden.

Perhaps the most flattering compliment you can give to Wenger is that he was Sir Alex Ferguson’s first true being.

His star has since fallen and he dropped from Arsenal to sixth place in 2018, but in his first decade in North London he was a brilliant combination of tactical camaraderie and ruthlessness, collecting teams that played superb football and were terrified of Was not. Anyone.

Thierry Henry can legitimately claim to be the greatest player of the era of the Premier League. He is not the only star in the conversation and some might argue that Alan Shearer and Ryan Giggs did it for a long time, but only Cristiano Ronaldo has touched Arsenal’s No. 1 heights at the top.

The Frenchman has been voted the Gunners’ biggest anyway, and achieved a career-best 30 league goals during the unbeatable campaign. Quite simply, everything Henry did was fast; Whether it was walking, shooting or passing, it was like he could do it and see things twice as quickly as everyone around him.

As was the case with half of Arsenal’s starting XI, Henry arrived at Arsenal with a lower profile than that with which he had left him and struggled on the left wing during the solitary season at Juventus. Venger, who previously coached him in Monaco, paid £ 11m to shorten his stay in Italy and made him a center.

His partnership with Bergkamp was the perfect blend of speed, skill and intelligence. Due to the Dutchman’s tendency to drop into the hole and be fond of Henry’s exit from the left, he was talented at space exploration and the opposition center-back wondering if he had to follow and dragged him around the pitch Should be left unclaimed.

* All players are included to make at least one Premier League appearance.