During a debate on another article, it was suggested that a comparison of Arsene Wenger’s Invincible squad be made with Mikel Arteta’s top of the current PL squad. I decided to have a go at this and have broken it down into three sections, depending on the response. Defence, Midfield and Attack will be the three articles, so let us get started with my opinion and it will be interesting to see yours.
Assessing The Goalkeepers
Lehman vs Raya: While I recognise the part Raya has played in our brilliant defensive game, I am never comfortable with the way he plays out from the back and he is always susceptible to the lob. Likewise, Lehman’s antics were sometimes bordering on the maniacal side of things. I am going for Lehman with a rating of 9 just above Raya with a rating of 8.
Reviewing The Defence
Right back. Lauren vs Timber: It has been a pleasure watching Timber going forward and developing such a good bond with Saka, something that Ben White has also done. Lauren was so competitive and never seemed to put a foot wrong, although his penalties were suspect to say the least. I am going for Timber with a rating of 9 just above Lauren with a rating of 8.
Left back. Califiori vs Cole: Califiori seems to have overcome his injury problems and brings more than just a defensive frame of mind to the game. His powerful and accurate shots are great to see. Cole is the best left back I have ever had the privilege to watch and it was such a pity he left us. Nothing more to say. I am going for Cole with a rating of 10 above Califiori with a rating of 8.
Centre backs: This is a minefield of conflicting thoughts, do I do the players separately or as a twosome? Campbell and Toure, Saliba and Gabriel, just so hard to call, but I have gone for Gabriel and Campbell, banking on Saliba to become even better as he gets older. Campbell with a rating of 9, Gabriel with a rating of 10, Saliba with a rating of 8.9 and Toure with a rating of 8.5.
So here is my line up: Lehman, Timber, Campbell, Gabriel and Cole. Reserve keeper Arrizabalaga. Reserve back four Lauren, Toure, Saliba and Califiori. White, Hincapie, Mosquera and Clichy as even more back up. For those of us lucky enough to have seen these players, what is your view on my selection?
Let’s discuss in the comments.
Ken1945
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My picks would be
Raya
Lauren ( wouldn’t fight over Timber though ), Gabriel , Campbell , Cole
Lehman
Timber Campbell Toure Cole
Easy choice for me with the 2 centre backs ,Campbell the best centre back I’ve seen at the club ,and maybe the prem ,Toure complemented him perfectly .
Ken1945,
I don’t need to discuss this section of you’re excellent piece.
I agree with it to be fare. i don’t like the way Cole went about getting his move, but purely from a footballing angle. The best left back we’ve ever had, and we’ve had a few good ones to be fare.
As I said earlier, an excellent piece by you’re goodself. 👍
That is a tough call.
For the keeper, the choice depends on how you want to play. Lehmann is just not on Raya’s level when it comes to playing out from the back. On the other hand, Lehmann had such a presence about him. Raya for me, if we’re playing today’s style of football.
Cole at LB is an easy one. No need to discuss.
Lauren just shades it for me, but I imagine I’ll be picking Timber come the end of the season.
CB choice is tough as well as both pairs worked so well together. I’d rule Toure out, only because the other 3 are better out-and-out central defenders. He was still an amazing player though!
Gabriel has to go in, not only because he is the best CB in the world at the moment, but it’s the threat he also offers at the other end. He scores so many goals, and causes absolute chaos at the other end. I have never seen a CB so potent in both boxes.
I love Saliba, but a fully fit Campbell was an absolute beast on his day.
Raya
Lauren Campbell Gabriel Cole
Great article!
Thanks Lucy78 👍
My choice is: Lehmann (we should bring Diogo Costa/Marco Carnesecchi soon to replace Raya in a long term) – Cole-Big Gabi-Campbell-Timber
Cole and Saliba and Timber are the obvious ones for their age and therefore the amount of time they will be at this level. Then Campbell of course.
Lauren was good but remember that he came as a midfielder. Loved his aggression but Timber has scored more this year than Lauren in his career…and Timber is no slouch on D.
“Lauren was so competitive and never seemed to put a foot wrong, although his penalties were suspect to say the least.”
What was wrong with his penalties? I thought he was very good at them!
I love both GKs – it’s too close to call for me. Raya plays a dangerous game but he plays it brilliantly well and his record speaks for itself. Lehmann was an incredibly underrated GK imo, mainly because there was another great GK ahead of him for most of his international career, but for us, he was tops. A save he made against a solskjaer shot always stuck in my head as one of the best I’ve seen – I couldn’t believe he saved it.
Only other minor change I’d make is on the CBs – I’d give Campbell 9.5 or slightly higher (another who’s incredibly underrated) and Gabriel a 9 or 9.5 (deserves the high praise and recognition, but he’s not quite perfect and I think Campbell was slightly better than him, though not by much – Campbell’s pace meant he could cover mistakes by others, which he frequently did).
If it’s the same save as the one I’m thinking of where we won 1-0 ,won us the game .
Fingertip around the post ?
Yup, that’s it – solskjaer absolutely nailed the shot and couldn’t believe it didn’t go in
Think it won save of the season .
👍
I think he was our best penalty taker. I am surprised by that sentence.
Davi,
You say you could not believe the save. If you read Solskjaer’s lips, neither could he. 👍😂
Davi, have a look at his penalties and you’ll see he never varied his kicks always down the middle…. at least that’s how I remember them.
I don’t remember it that well but I thought he always looked incredibly composed and I do remember talking about how good he was at them at the time. No big deal anyways – I don’t think he took too many of them overall
Cole. Gabriel. Campbell. Timber.
Lehmann.
We have an excellent defense. The best since the Invincibles but they are not the Invincibles so it’s the full Invincibles defense for me.
They’re not invincible yes, but have had more clean sheets per game than the invincible.
Clean sheets are not Invincibles make. There is a reason it is a once in a century happening. It takes a really special manager and a very special squad of players to pull it off.
They are called invincibles for a reason.
It’s their attitude as much as ability as to why they went a whole season undefeated.
Of the current team , I’d only put Saka and Rice in the invincibles squad ahead of Freddie, Gilberto, but only just. NOT Rice over Vieira.
The difference is more acute in forward line.
Henry, Bergkamp, Pires. If we had 3 forwards like that we would be 15 points clear at this point.
You’ll be interested in my midfield opinions then Eamon12.
I’ll be posting it after the Brentford game.
Thanks for giving your views 👍
Haha Ken, I’ll be sure to read it 😊🤙
Keep up the great content!
Okay Timber otherwise all Invincibles. Campbell incredible with his courage to do that transfer from Spurs and played throughout resisting the pressure thereof. Campbell’s goal v Barca at Paris UCL final 2006 still memorable. His aura. His injury free status and availability unlike Maghales. Maghales’ unconvincing place in the Brazil team and starting eleven and the lowly results of the team compared to Campbell at England team participating in WCs. So Campbell supersede Maghales.
Not Cole then Ambachew – the best LB for Arsenal, Chelsea and England ever?
Abit surprised to to not see some of the big Arteta fans not joining in on this Article.
Seems they gave it a wide birth ,wonder why .
Could be that some of them were not around when the Invincibles were doing the business DK.
It is over two decades ago, though, for me, it only seems like a few years ago.
Let’s see how my midfield choices go, as I have six Invincibles and seven current Mikel players to choose from!!
Na Ken .
We’ve all seen the Article where Wenger and Arteta were compared (ridiculously).
Must have been about 5-6 posters talking about wengers time ,just confused why they haven’t given their 2 pennies worth on this Article where.
We all know the names ,shame they couldn’t be as loud on this one as they were on the article i mentioned.
No surprise really .
And as for your midfield ,would depend on on what formation you pick ,personally would do a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-4-2 ,but I’m sure it should t make much difference ,already got my picks in place anyway 👍.
Can’t argue much with your choices ken, I do think Raya edges it in goal. And Campbell was so dominant and commanded the defense well. I do think, the 2006 champions League was stolen from us and we could have been the deserved winners, so much went against us.
Timber is destined for greatness, but I’ll take Lauren all day. Cole,! I despise him, do admit he was the best in his position.
Raya
Lauren Campbell Big Gabi Cole
Sad that Toure closely misses out! But what a bench to have him and saliba
Let’s not forget Martin Keown on that bench also…
For me he embodied the spirit of that team more than anyone.
Of course, once the squad has been selected, the final choices will be who would be the best owner, the best major backroom staff, who should coach and who should manage them.
That might get a few more involved!!
I’m sure once you mention who should coach (managed)them ,they will all come out of their little bubble to give their opinion.
Till then i wait for your next instalment 👍
You can pick some positive, they are supporting the current manager, and the Emirates is noisier might add. 😀😀
Don’t tell me you ain’t supporting Arteta!!!
I’m supporting ARSENAL ,which I’ve always done 👍
Fair enough, that means you’re supporting whoever puts that shirt on and whoever is in-charge.
Interesting, and a very good article Ken.
Mad Jens or Raya is a hard one for me. Both top keepers in different ways. For me Raya just edges it.
Another hard one is Lauren or Timber. Timber just edges it in my view.
Left Back is easier, Ashley Cole all day long.
Campbell and Gabriel would be my preference at CBs.
Regarding Lauren and penalties, the one that sticks in my mind is the one he took against that lot from N17 at Highbury in the Invincible season. We were 1-0 down iirc and he stepped up to take the penalty and just rolled it down the center of the goal. Good job their keeper dived to the left.
Wasn’t in the Invincible season
No, but that’s the way he took penalties Dan… 🤔
Yeah in Wenger’s second double season and the season after the Invincibles
For Cameroon mainly
The first Derby he went down the middle
In the 5-4 and FA Cup Final not really dude
I have a freakish memory lol.
I’ve just replayed both matches Dan and he most definitely sends the ball down the middle, while the keepers dive to their right.
Not that it really matters – I’ve just submitted my midfield article and I’m sure they’ll be more than penalty taking to discuss!! 🤔
Yeah I might have a pick that divides opinion but I’ll wait
My mistake.
I’m in the Raya camp but only just as Lehmann getting sent off in the Champions League final is etched in my memory for all the wrong reasons He had attitude which can be good but I’m wary of it and prefer a less volatile character and that goes for all players now and then. However, and my memory is hazier these days , particularly as I didn’t get to watch as much football as I’d have liked back then with family commitments, so I would automatically have to stay with the remaining invincibles as their record speaks for itself. Others have said the same – it’s that mentality thing. GM is getting plenty of votes and I’m not surprised as he has been superb. Not very scientific in my case, I’m afraid and Fulham are now clawing their way back into the City game.
That’s the one that made me make the comment HD and he did it again when we beat manure 5-4 on penalties to win the fa cup… straight down the middle, but a bit higher.
I met him at a Invincible evening and he was such a fantastic guy.
He said that joining Arsenal and becoming part of the “family” was the making of him (in so many words!!) and he signed one of my shirts.
I have to admit I feel guilty not selecting him, but I think Timber is going to be as good as Ashley Cole for us.
Ken1945,
You say that Timber is going to be as good as Ashley Cole was for us.
I only hope he doesn’t leave us in the same way as a certain Mr Cole did. 🤦♂️🤷♂️
I agree Derek and I see your not putting all the blame on Ashley.
David Dein has talked about the situation and it’s clear that both the club (the board) and the player had a massive fall out and nether party comes out of the situation with any sort of entitlement to say they were in the right.
I cannot see this happening today, as we have a owner, not a board and we seem to be able to compete, financially, with the likes of chelsea, city 115, manure etc etc etc
Ken1945,
As the saying goes, there’s two sides to every story. 👍
I always seen this from Cole’s point of view
Shame though
I did an article way back for JA Dani, asking the question “should we welcome Ashley Cole back?”
The response was negative, but I’m with you.
Dani, I also saw it from his side. I wonder how many who are against him would be happy if their pay rise was dropped by 8.5% like his was.
Herr Drier,
Ordinarily I’d agree with you regards his wage drop. But we’re not talking about a regular 9 till 5 job here are we.
He was hardly be going to get peanuts for his new wage was he. Whether the club reneged or not, he could still have gone about getting his move differently, i.e. put in a transfer request.
But to be honest, the whole issue left a sour taste to be fare.
It’s not always easy to compare teams from different generations. English league has evolved over the years, and has become much more competitive. The best players from all around the world are now playing in EPL. Then we had fewer competing for the title actually. Now we have the likes of City, Chelsea become so powerful, and even less fancied teams becoming so tough. I wonder if the invincible of those days will be able to achieve the much they did if they face the current oppositions. What they achieved is terrific and hard to discountenance.
SueP,
The Norwegian ref of the 2006 UCL final regretted for seeing red to Lehmann. He said seeing yellow to Lehmann and allowing Giuli’s goal to stand was rather the correct decision in line with the rule of ‘advantage’ after a foul. I remember the then FIFA president Blatter also admitted the ref made a mistake in sending off Lehmann.
Thank you for that Ambachew. The sending off was so negative after such a good start and no VAR to check it more thoroughly
SueP,
VAR, now there’s an idea.🤦♂️😂👍