The class of 94/95 - better or worse?

[supergeorgegraham]

94/95 still had a solid foundation and only needed a tweak to become double winners a few years later. Bergkamp made all the difference so Wenger had it so easy when he arrived.

[I Hate Hleb]

Graham found it difficult to scare the shit out of the players as he had done ,but I think its wrong to say he had lost it .
As for saying he would of got us relegated that's Bollocks but his departure was one which was allegedly arranged to stop the panicking Dein and the club getting dragged under by the Bung scandal !

I was gutted when Schartz left especially as he went because his wife didn't like London ,we were OK that year although we dropped to many silly points ,but as has been stated we had a very thin squad and when the top 13 went we had very poor back up ! Hiller had shown promise before he was injured but when he cam back he was shit ,jensen was a fetch n pass type of player and the merse was very inconsistent . Cambell never played well with wright who bullied the large man unmercifully on the pitch !
But another Euro final came and we were unlucky not to win it ! In those days we valued any Euro Tour !

Agree with practically all of this - especially as to the reason why GG was eventually sacked.

[Robin_L]

As I remember it we had a smallish squad around that time and short of quality beyond the 1st eleven. We didn't yet have the drive of Platt, the class of Bergkamp or even the arrival of young talent as backup like John Hartson coming in.

I'm really surprised some people are saying the Arsenal of 1994-1995 were better than our current lot, beyond the back line and Wright we were absolutely woeful. It's to Wrighty's credit that he scored 18 league goals (his 2nd highest) in a shit team, the worst he played in at Arsenal. Without Wright's goals we would've finally gone down that season.

Another point worth considering is that the overall quality of teams has improved by 2012 compared to the early-mid 1990s, I suspect many top Championship teams of now are better than many of the teams sneaking survival each year in the 1990s.

No contest for me, we had a superb back line and Ian Wright in early 1995, surrounded by a load of dross like morrow, selley, campbell, mcgoldrick......then along came glenn helder to add to that. Plus the opposition was weaker back then.

But I agree this is our weakest team under Wenger, again not helped by coming up against opposition getting stronger and stronger.

[TeeCee]

Slightly stretching it there teecee no ? Wenger inherited a team containing the back 5,parlour and wrighty from the GG era and inherited Bergkamp and platt from the rioch era so he added, at most, 4 new players that were mainstays of the 98 double team.

Augie - I was on about the youth system needing a complete overhaul, not the first team squad.

[I Hate Hleb]

And how did that work out?

[Only One Tony Adams]

The class of 94/95 would have battered shower who played on Saturday. I'm laughing just thinking about TA6 and Co getting stuck into them....

[franksav63]

Nevermind the 94/95 squad but if a new manager was to walk in NOW, he'd inherit a squad in much more poor shape than when Wenger walked into in 96, also, not forgetting the shit scouting system, the inept medical team and a youth policy that keeps giving and producing (for championship clubs)

[Robin_L]

Not a chance, our current team just has better players, almost throughout the entire team.

If 2012 played 1995 ten times then 2012 would win 7 or 8 of them.

I'd still find it easier to support 1995, far more players I actually liked in there.

[I Hate Hleb]

Not a chance, our current team just has better players, almost throughout the entire team.

If 2012 played 1995 ten times then 2012 would win 7 or 8 of them.

I'd still find it easier to support 1995, far more players I actually liked in there.

Disagree totally. In fact, I'd stake my life on the 90's team coming out top in most of the encounters on spirit and good defence alone - not to mention Wrighty scoring from nothing and a better tactical manager. Also, it's guaranteed that for 60% of the fixtures, the modern Arsenal would either be 'fatigued', playing with the 'hand-brake on' or just plain not concerned with the outcome!!

[Only One Tony Adams]

Not a chance, our current team just has better players, almost throughout the entire team.

If 2012 played 1995 ten times then 2012 would win 7 or 8 of them.
I'd still find it easier to support 1995, far more players I actually liked in there.

Sorry, just can't see that.

Ian Wright would terrorise 2012. I wonder what the 1995 team would think when they saw Gervinho running round and round without actually doing anything.

[northbank123]

Not a chance, our current team just has better players, almost throughout the entire team.

If 2012 played 1995 ten times then 2012 would win 7 or 8 of them.
I'd still find it easier to support 1995, far more players I actually liked in there.

Sorry, just can't see that.

Ian Wright would terrorise 2012. I wonder what the 1995 team would think when they saw Gervinho running round and round without actually doing anything.

I think we can all agree Gervinho vs Winterburn is one match up that would be great to see.

[Bradywasking]

George's time had come, even without the money issue, he had lost the respect of the players, or to be more accurate the players had stopped fearing him. Arsene's time has come , but he won't/can't be moved on. On the pitch I think 94/95 would win, just for sheer balls alone. Given the fact that neither team would be managed properly by their respective managers it would down to the players and the 94/95 team cared more.

[QuartzGooner]

Hard to compare, because fitness levels and diet have massively changed since 1995.

1995 team better in defence and attack.
Current team better in midfield; in fact that 95 team had a pitiful midfield.

I think a match between the teams would be a 2-1 win to the current team, the current team would come back from 1-0 down in the last ten minutes through superior fitness.

-----

Agree with Herd about Selley being good pre-injury, sad story really he had bad leg breaks and never recovered.
Morrow could at least mark the opposition out of the game even if he had little creatively to offer himself.
Hillier I just never rated at all.
Jensen was very average but when he was out of the team we noticed it, he added to team shape and discipline and Supermalt consumption.
Schwartz was a hard working decent player but went off the boil as his one season progressed.
Dickov superb at youth level, never really stepped up.
Merson was inconsistent, but brilliant at times.
Keown was in midfield at times too!

[Only One Tony Adams]

Not a chance, our current team just has better players, almost throughout the entire team.

If 2012 played 1995 ten times then 2012 would win 7 or 8 of them.
I'd still find it easier to support 1995, far more players I actually liked in there.

Sorry, just can't see that.

Ian Wright would terrorise 2012. I wonder what the 1995 team would think when they saw Gervinho running round and round without actually doing anything.

I think we can all agree Gervinho vs Winterburn is one match up that would be great to see.

Only one winner there !

[topcat]

Best way to judge a team is on their league position, we are an average side yes.

But were 10th and IMO that's thr lowest we'll be all season (could well be wrong)...in 1995 we FINISHED 12th...dosnt take a genius to work out that the current team has to be better!