The Invincibles: 10 years on

[clockender1]

they were a great team, but imho not as nice to watch as the 2002 team - maybe we were a little more solid in 2004, a little harder to beat then, but from 1998-2004 we had some fantastic comebacks didn't we ?

as far as Europe goes, i've said this before - when we had the best team, we were shocking in Europe despite the players all having a lot of European Experience. our domination at home just didn't translate.

i feel very blessed that i got to watch those teams week in week out - even the media said we were better to watch than united, in my mind it repaid 1980 to 1987 many times over.

happy days.

[VoiceOfReason]

Mad Jens made a great save away at Fulham (I think) right at the end of the season, very late on in the game that kept the run going. Can't remember too much about that season considering the amount of alcohol comsumed

If I recall correctly the Fulham away was the penultimate game and they were wearing their next season's light blue away kit. Think Reyes tackled van der Sar and scored early on and it petered out to a 1-0. Remember a superb save he made in a draw at Bolton in the middle of the season and think we drew at Pompey late on in the season, might have been that game?

It was the Portsmouth game, which finished 1-1 (Reyes equalised in the second half). Remember watching this in a pub opposite my flat at uni and was absolutely shitting myself, because Pompey were all over us in the second half and - if not for the aforementioned Lehmann saves - could've well won. In hindsight, it's ludicrous that I could be so edgy during a game after we'd already been crowned champions (!), but I think we all knew how historic going unbeaten would be. I also remember being unconvinced about the players actually caring about achieving that feat - they definitely switched onto auto-pilot after the title was won at WHL. Fortunately, even in second gear they were still way better than any of the dross we played in the last four games.

Ps. On that note, you'd think that being 1-0 down to Leicester at HT in our final game, we'd have been slightly worried about fucking it up right at the end. But not even 1% of me thought we might lose. I didn't sense any nervousness from anyone in the stadium that day actually. Weird really, because even 3-0 up now, I don't necessarily fancy us to go on and win it. How times change.

[Bunting14]

I know a lot of us think we should have won the CL in 2004, however that was the year Porto won it with Mourinho as manager. Giving what we know now I doubt we would have beaten them in the final.

I also think the 2002 team was better. That was year we finished behind Leverkussen in the 2nd group even though we outplayed them in both games.

[VAVAVOOM 14]

Mad Jens made a great save away at Fulham (I think) right at the end of the season, very late on in the game that kept the run going. Can't remember too much about that season considering the amount of alcohol comsumed

If I recall correctly the Fulham away was the penultimate game and they were wearing their next season's light blue away kit. Think Reyes tackled van der Sar and scored early on and it petered out to a 1-0. Remember a superb save he made in a draw at Bolton in the middle of the season and think we drew at Pompey late on in the season, might have been that game?

Yep, it was against Portsmouth: Toure's mishap allowed Yakubu to go one on one, Lehmann made himself big and came up with the most vital save of our season.

[Lee1]

Had it all......verve, sublime skill, passion, power and a ''fuck you'' attitude that said, when it needed to be said, ''come on then'' and never took a step backwards. That was a football team

[StuartL]

Mad Jens made a great save away at Fulham (I think) right at the end of the season, very late on in the game that kept the run going. Can't remember too much about that season considering the amount of alcohol comsumed

If I recall correctly the Fulham away was the penultimate game and they were wearing their next season's light blue away kit. Think Reyes tackled van der Sar and scored early on and it petered out to a 1-0. Remember a superb save he made in a draw at Bolton in the middle of the season and think we drew at Pompey late on in the season, might have been that game?

Portsmouth had a late chance with the score at 1-1, a one on one which Jens saved (might have been Yakubu ?) to preserve the unbeaten record.

[VAVAVOOM 14]

as far as Europe goes, i've said this before - when we had the best team, we were shocking in Europe despite the players all having a lot of European Experience. our domination at home just didn't translate.

This is my biggest regret and something I still can't understand: why were we so poor in Europe?

Between 2002-2006, we should've won the CL at least once; we had more than enough talent in 2004 to win the treble yet we were knocked out by Chelsea FFS.

[Clash]

What an achievement this was. One of the things I do every year is breathe a sigh of relief when every team has lost at least once because I never want to see this repeated. I am not even sure I want Arsenal to repeat it, I want that team to remain unique.

As for as I remember with at game at Portsmouth though, Reyes put is in front and it was Portsmouth who equalised before Lehmann made a crucial save to stop them taking the lead late on. It was a strange feeling to have won the league but still feel stress in games the games that followed although I think the only time we were behind in a game when going unbeaten was being talked about was the last game at home to Leicester.

Still not my favourite Arsenal season under Wenger though. That was 2001/02. 2003/04 is slightly tainted by those crushing cup defeats to Man United and Chelsea in a 4 day period. We could have won the treble, although I suspect if we had we would have lost at least one league game at the end so it was either one or the other.

[VAVAVOOM 14]

I am not even sure I want Arsenal to repeat it, I want that team to remain unique.

Fear not, you don't have to worry about us ever going through another season unbeaten. Trust me.

P.S.

We were actually trailing in that Portsmouth game: Yakubu put them up, and Reyes equalized.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 663945.stm

[Clash]

I am not even sure I want Arsenal to repeat it, I want that team to remain unique.

Fear not, you don't have to worry about us ever going through another season unbeaten. Trust me.

P.S.

We were actually trailing in that Portsmouth game: Yakubu put them up, and Reyes equalized.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 663945.stm

haha I think you're right about us going unbeaten again.

And yes, apologies to Voice of Reason I see I was wrong, Reyes did equalise. I used to be 100% reliable about this stuff but I'm starting to lose my touch. That's what watching the same season 8 years in a row does to you. Or maybe I'm getting old