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Video – Arsene Wenger names the best Arsenal team he managed

Arsene Wenger discussed which team was the best 98,02 or 04?

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed on BEIN Sports TV what Arsenal team he managed was the best. The teams under discussion were the 1998 double-winning side, the 2002 double-winning side and the 2004 invincibles.

Three great teams no doubt, two double-winning sides and of course, the invincibles. It was interesting listening to Wenger describe those respective sides.

Anyway, have a watch and hear which team Wenger believes was the very best.

Do you agree with Wenger or is there another year that should have been included for consideration? Let us know in the comments section below.

42 Comments

  1. This is a difficult one. All three teams were outstanding I can’t choose which one was best, they were all born winners and we should be so proud of them. Our current squad, bar the odd one or two pales into insignificance in comparison. It is so easy to forget who assembled those teams, memories are very short sometimes when it comes to AW’s achievements. He is so right, they were true warriors and will always be part of the history of our great club.

  2. There’s only 1 gold PL Trophy, tough to go against them.

    Until liverfool matches that, as great as they are, they’re still not INVINCIBLE.

    1. To be fair though, Liverpool last season only had the one defeat in the league, got more wins, and more points than the ‘Invincibles’, and in a much more competitive league. They also won the CL last season, runners up the season before that, and have won every league game this season so far. Liverpool’s record has also been phenomenal against top clubs. I’ve never seen an English club perform so well domestically, and in Europe against the big boys.

      No one can take anything away from the ‘Invincibles’. Unbelievable achievement, that lives long in the memory, but this Liverpool team is better. It pains me to say it, but the facts back it up.

      1. With all due respect third man
        Shut your lips u bell 😁😁
        The invincibles was a massive achievement in our history and the history of football
        No need to compare it to Liverpool until they achieve the same end of
        Be proud buddy

        1. @Solly gunner

          I am proud! I was just replying to a comment that mentioned Liverpool, and Arsenal, so there’s your context. Of course if you had bothered to take the time to read mine, and the other comment, you wouldn’t be running your mouth.

          My advice…maybe read what people say before commenting, so you understand context, facts, etc, then you wouldn’t look so foolish. I await your apology.

          1. Liv’s game is built on working harder than the lesser teams and focusing on errors, they actually built a game around errors, so to force teams to either go long (giving possession back) or risk having pressure when building the play. Some people might think that that is great football but I am not one of them, it’s been successful for them as it was for Dortmund, Dortmund will not be remembered as a great footballing side in Germany and Liv won’t be remembered as one in England. Successful yes, and if you’re getting luck along the way then you/they can be very successful with it, like in Liv’s case with how they receive much less cards on average despite attempting to win the ball on much more regular a basis than every other team in the league. They are not a great footballing team however, unlike the past Arsenal (AW) sides who demonstrated some of the best football ever, ever to be seen on these shores or any other shore for that matter.

            Winning, and playing great football are two different things. Mourinho has won a lot, Simeone, Leicester, Liv remind me of a money rich Leicester, and we’ve seen that that can be successful even before big/decent money is spent. Wenger’s teams played great football, and they were successful.

            I respect your opinion, but I just don’t agree with it, not on this occasion.

      2. Had the Invicibles still been in their prime today, I also believe that they would have a hard time if they have to face the current Man City and Liverpool

        In my opinion, Wenger’s greatest mistake is he tried to imitate Barcelona’s system, after watching Barcelona’s domination at that time. His effort was commendable, but he forgot the physical aspects that made his team great and collected a bunch of small/ slow tactical midfielders instead

        Emery is trying to re-introduce the physicality into Arsenal, but the process is slow/ boring and he should have taken higher risks in big games. Klopp has successfully replaced the CAMs with powerful athletes at Liverpool and I hope Emery can make Arsenal quicker like that

          1. You are talking about some of the finest players ever to grace these shores and you think they would struggle against Liverpool and Man City today .
            Player for player they are not even close ,maybe some of you should go back to bed ,unbelievable ,next your be saying Emery’s team this year is the best our club as ever seen .

          2. Dan kit, isn’t it funny where the Wenger bashers have disappeared when discussing this topic?

            How any real gooner can try to demean the achievements of the Invicibles just makes me wonder if they really are fans,or simply Arsene Wenger haters.

            Of course, some have come out of the woodwork and try to hide their hate, with begrudging sound bites.

            This absurd thought that City or pool would beat them is irrelevant…the question should be: Have either of them gone a complete season unbeaten in the premier league?
            The answer, of course is NO.

            as for the CL, it is a knock out competition and everything depends on how a team plays on the night and is won after playing just ten games.

            CIty have spent billions of pounds buying players to try and do what our club achieved and yet, we have so -called fans trying to say others have scored more points, won more games, scored more goals and then start on about Wenger’s mistakes – geez, with fans like this, pool and city must just sit back, scratch their heads and laugh out load that we have “fans” who want to beliitle our clubs proudest moment in it’s history!!!

            I just wish they would go and support these clubs they admire so much and let real Arsenal fans support the club.

        1. He could but City kept buying our players…

          The budget squad almost won the title in 2008 beautifully if we had not lost Eduardo or if we had a senior player to guide the midfield….

          we lost Hleb and Flamini in 2008

          Adebayor and toure in 2009

          followed Clichy,Nazri and Fab in 2011

          RVP in 2012

          losing 3 key players in 1 season in 2011 which will that take time to rebuild especially with limited budget….

        2. Like Emery is imitating Liverpool and Manchester city right now and arsenal definitely will suffer because of this.we need a manager with new ideas and system that suits the team of players we have

          1. I couldn’t agree more. UE knew the type of players he was to inherit but still insisted on forcing his philosophy on them. Result, square pegs in round holes especially when it applies to playing out from the back. If he doesn’t have the nous to adapt to what he has got he should move on.

      3. You are right but also Liverpool was completing with only one team in the league.
        The invincible team would beat this Liverpool

        1. They’d boss them, bully them, and outplay them, this team would be about as difficult as a middling team back then as they’d be trying to keep us out most of the game and look for the odd break to go against the run of play, Liv aren’t good passers when we’re talking about the best passing teams. Our midfield could keep those forwards at bay never mind the defence, Vieira and Gilberto would stop them from getting near the CB’s, Bergkamp, Henry, Pires and Ljungberg would have a field day playing in this league with the offside rule almost gone and players not tackling from behind also one dangerous tackle could be red, they’d blitz todays game. Teams had to make it a scrap v Arsenal back then ..because at football ..we were poetry in motion.

        1. Only dvd I still have which was that season ,think we lost to Chelsea 2-1 (haven’t watched it in years )
          Also the season we had points deducted I think .

      4. People like us remember and still talk aboit invincibles over a decade later.

        Another 10 years people still will. Who will speak of 18-19 liverpool almost invincible?

        That’s the difference my friend, Liverpool is a great team, but not INVINCIBLE.

      5. We are all entitled to our opinions but do you think Liverpool currently have better players than the following?

        Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Patrick Viera, Robert Pires, Freddie Llungberg, Dennis Bergkamp & Thierry Henry.

        In my opinion they haven’t.

    2. WE’RE INVINCIBLE, YOU’LL NEVER DO THAT. The perfect chant when any of these former European Cup/Champions League winning teams start crowing about their achievements.

      1. During Arsene Wenger’s first ten years, if Manchester United were not helped by crooked referees such as Mike Riley and a bias television platform in Sky Sports, AW would and should have had at three more Premier Leagues under his belt. Yes, we were that good.

  3. I wholeheartedly join Andrew and Solly to hail a yet unmatched achievement in Premier League history.

    You don’t change the parameters of comparison willy nilly just to hail Liverpool’s feat. Or do we start the hair-splitting contest. Like how many ‘undeserved’ penalty kicks were given to them and how many offside goals they scored?

    Let it be man. The Invincibles have a special place for themselves in history. They’ve earned it and nobody can take it away from them. Simple.

  4. No team gets dissected to bits and then get re-dissected again and again like Arsenal. No coach gets his mistakes and faults x-rayed like Arsene Wenger. I wonder if the likes of Alex Ferguson have any faults at all to talk about. It must always be Arsene Wenger that get examined like no man’s business.

    The topic of the post is so clear. Must people piss in other men’s fires to make them a bit smaller? Anytime the topic of discourse is about Wenger’s achievement, some can hardly resist the temptation to say something to make him look a bit smaller than he is. Yet they never extend the same scrutiny to other ‘great’ managers whenever they are discussed.

    Nothing can change the facts about Wenger’s achievements. Alex Ferguson has said his bit about the man. Take it or leave it. Others have paid homage to the man. He will continue to be a legend of the game, long after he’s gone.

    People should stop trying to make the man a little less than he is. He is a great man with great achievements to his credit. You only show how much you resent him and how you will jump at every chance to demystify him by your comments.

    In case you haven’t noticed, I am a fan of his and I will always be a fan of Arsenal Football Club. No matter how many Champions Leagues Liverpool have on their shelves, I won’t become one of them. I am an Arsenal fan.

    Always will be.

      1. Well said gunnerphillic
        And got no idea
        Are you saying the invincibles and team leading to that had no physical element ???
        Come on man

        1. Agree gunnerphillic absolutley….Solly gunner not only an absurd conclusion from gotanidea, but not one bit of praise either…as I say, fans with no idea of how we made history – after watching city rolled over by Wolves, they would have been blown out of the water by the Invincibles!!!

          Did these “fans” actually see this team of superstars play? Can you imagine Vieria saying “we were scared of Watford”?

          More likely they were too scared of each other not to end up Invincible…that and a certain manager who, between them conquered the premier league – the first club to do it in over a century.

    1. Alex Ferguson has his faults tooo….

      but he has the support of his board… he wants a striker he gets one

      Additionally theres the assistance from the linesman and the referee….Fergie time

      Half of his titles won are with ‘external assistance’

    2. I could not have said it better. Not only a great manager he had something called class, never heard him bad mouth one of his own players in 22 years. Unlike our present one!!

    1. It’s insane that they had something called “Fergie time’ and nobody kicked up a storm over it. Pundits would also be laughing when teams didn’t get a penno and they would say well it’s at old Trafford before telling us the last time a penno was won by an away team at that place. Seriously, we could have won a lot more trophies only for the favoritism and fear that that club received, utd also threatened to join a world league with Real and SA teams among others, this was before they invited us and other top four teams to join European league.

  5. I hope Emery was watching the Uragauy-Peru game. Torriera was played in his proper position covering in front of the back four and totally smashed it. Why Emery has been trying to convert him to our most forward midfielder is beyond me. He even initially put in on the right wing wing when he came on against Bournemouth, what a total waste.

  6. The Invincibles was a great moment in our clubs history, but it“s about points and the team that has accumated the most points to win a league is the best imo, points matter most not going unbeaten and our points total for that season has been bettered by Chavs, Man C and although they did not win the league…..Bindippers…………….the maths dont lie !

    1. The stats argue otherwise, if what you say was true then why has only one team ever achieved it in modern times. Every side sets out to either win or to not lose, the Invincibles are the only one who managed the feat. If some-other team pulls it off again then I think they will try to say whichever one accumulated the most points in the best one, but football was a real scrap when the Invincibles won it ..whereas the league winners in last ten seasons didn’t have to scrap nearly as much. It’s why the Invincibles was so damn good, they had everything in the Arsenal ..top scrapping, technically superior, defensively solid, best attack, quickest all round, stronger on most occasions, brilliant flair players, really great leadership, they had it all ..except for maybe a Giroud!!

      I can’t believe we dismantled that team for the sake of the Emirates, Kroenke should’ve accepted investment from Usmanov for the sake of keeping that side together and building on from it ..what man of football would want to break that team up.

  7. If they hadn’t of changed the offside rule how many chances would Liv create. If it was back to how good you timed your passing and your runs, Liv wouldn’t be creating many at all. I preferred the old rule when you had to work a pass, this new way makes the chance rate go up and generally there’s more goals, but the old way had the better players standing out much more regularly. Players like Bergkamp and Pires, Kanu and Fabregas, the talents compared to other players stood out as they should do. But in today’s game you can stick ten workaholics in the side and you can get good chances so long as they aren’t bad players, you couldn’t do that in the old game. Those players were truly world class, Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira, Cole, Adams, Campbell, it’s a joke trying to compare this Liv side to those older Arsenal sides. Wenger created the best passing teams that this league has ever seen, only City can compare favorably from this modern era.

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