RETRO TACTICS EPISODE 2
Team: Arsenal FC
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Era: Premier League Season 2003/4
In the second instalment of our Retro Tactics series, we look at arguably the greatest team to ever grace the English top-flight, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal 'Invincibles'. 38 games, 1 Premier League trophy, and 0 defeats, this was arguably where the North London side (and football itself) peaked.
Key Players: Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, Dennis Bergkamp, Jens Lehmann, Robert Pires.
Honours: Premier League 03/04 (undefeated).
Team: Arsenal FC
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Era: Premier League Season 2003/4
In the second instalment of our Retro Tactics series, we look at arguably the greatest team to ever grace the English top-flight, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal 'Invincibles'. 38 games, 1 Premier League trophy, and 0 defeats, this was arguably where the North London side (and football itself) peaked.
Key Players: Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, Dennis Bergkamp, Jens Lehmann, Robert Pires.
Honours: Premier League 03/04 (undefeated).
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00hello everybody Adam Cleary from 442 here we are yet again in the midst of an international break
00:09which means there's all going on right now so it's time for another
00:13anyway yes hello now hardcores on the channel may remember we did one of these for Mourinho's
00:24Chelsea not very long ago and we asked if we ever did this again because obviously we're going to
00:28do this again what team would you like to see and the overwhelming answer we got by a million
00:35bajillion squillion miles was Arsenal's Invincibles one person did ask for Alan Pardew's Bananas
00:42Newcastle United side and I will do that one day just probably in the pub
00:46now one thing I want to point out right at the start okay is that obviously this is what everybody
00:54thinks Arsenal's Invincibles were right that is the 11 there's no disputing any of those players but
01:00just to prove we've really done our research here at 442 this 11 was only fielded by Arsene Wenger
01:06that season twice I know I know that's absolutely bananas isn't it but they also had Martin Keown
01:14they had Gail Clichy they had Eddie they had Ray Parler they had Jeremy Aliadier my favorite name in
01:19football ever Jose Antonio Reyes and Silvan Viltord but were you to give Arsene Wenger a live
01:27microphone on a big stage and say please sing the true song of your Invincibles heart this would be
01:33the lyrics these were the 11 players he always had in mind the others just filled in as like for like
01:39and obviously the reason I'm telling you this is because we're going to proceed with the video
01:43as if this was the 11 every single week even though it wasn't but it did definitely feel like it was
01:49all right so anyway the stuff you're actually here for this was the Arsenal Invincible squad
01:54wink it was a 4-4-2 in theory but this being the turn of the millennium 4-4-2 was slightly starting
02:02to get on the way out we're just a couple years away from Mourinho coming in and almost killing it
02:06completely and Wenger ever the innovator had made several adjustments to it so primarily you had
02:13Dennis Bergkamp here who never really played like an out-and-out striker was always in the pocket
02:17was always off Henry was always trying to be in this gap between the midfield and the defense of
02:22both his own team and the opposition team Thierry Henry did like to float out to both flanks primarily
02:27the left one he's loads of his good work there but we usually have to stay central because the two
02:32wide players Youngberg and Perez would push really far forward yeah combine that with the fact that
02:38both Gilberto and Vieira would look to get forward but only very late on in moves they were usually
02:43quite deep and yes well observed this is actually more of a 4-2-3-1 but the thing is while this is
02:51obviously quite innovative for the time it's not something that worked because it was really really
02:56clever and Wenger had found some magic formula to beat other teams in the league it's a system that
03:01worked because of the way it was executed one of the main advantages of playing 4-4-2 and something
03:07Arsenal still had even in this sort of 4-2-3-1 shape is that you get pairs all over the pitch
03:13so two centre backs two wide players two central midfielders two attackers so no matter what you're
03:18doing as a player there's always somebody who should be near you but as well as those pairs
03:23and this is going to start sounding like some bad GCSE revision video right now right is that
03:27Arsene Wenger also added loads of triangles and he did that by basically staggering the entire
03:33core of the team because Bergkamp would obviously drop off but he would favour the right-hand side
03:37while Henry would stay forward but favour the left Patrick Vieira would usually hold a very central
03:42position but Gilberto Silva had no problems dropping out of that space to sort of receive
03:47the ball off the defence and then in Sol Campbell you've got a really great conventional central
03:51defender but in Colo Toure a converted midfielder you had someone who liked to bring the ball forward
03:56and as massively over simplistic as this explanation is for it all of a sudden look you've got these
04:02little triangles all through the centre of the pitch where normally under a 4-4-2 you'd have players
04:07on the exact same line now just imagine for a second you're playing against a team that does
04:11this and you are using a 4-4-2 and it's just absolute bedlam for you like who would deal with
04:18Dennis Bergkamp here would you want one of your central midfielders to drop onto him leaving his
04:22pal completely outnumbered in the middle or should one of the centre backs push forward and allow Henry
04:27to run into the space he leaves and likewise when Toure is bringing that ball out from the back does one
04:32of you midfielders then press onto him in that space because you're going to be leaving your pal
04:37not just with both of these midfielders to deal with but remember Bergkamp's dropping in as well
04:41so it's a three on one or do you stay there and just let him have the ball it's so difficult to work
04:47out what to do across 90 minutes and what this commitment to finding space between the lines
04:53allowed Arsenal to be was a really direct quick side like it does kind of bug me a little bit that
04:59Arsene Wenger's now got this reputation for just building sides of little passing nerds who want
05:04possession for possession's sake because this is not what this team was at all like they didn't really
05:09have that much more of the ball across 90 minutes than most of the teams they were playing what they
05:13wanted to do was pull defenders out of position to allow any of their forward line all of which
05:19blessed with incredible pace to break into that space like if you just think back to the best goals
05:25scored by the invincibles over this season how many times in your head can you see either Henri or
05:31Perez or Jundberg running at a back four or running into the space behind them and scoring a goal that
05:38way that is that was their bread and butter move you up the field move you out of position and then
05:43get in quickly and also right for all this is like an early version of a 4-2-3-1 Arsenal sort of had an
05:50early version of a high press as well like do you know how your dad always says oh it was just called
05:55closing down in my day well it was it was just closing down but it was structured closing down
06:01now what Arsene would do when they didn't have the ball is the two wide players they would drop back to
06:05form like a really conventional two banks of four like the good old days the defense would push up
06:10leaving quite a high line and then Bergkamp and Henri their job was to press slash close down the
06:16center backs not very aggressively but just to let them know they're there and force them to put the
06:20ball out wide to the full backs now because Arsenal are simultaneously very compact but also very high
06:27and theoretically Bergkamp and Henri have shut down the options to get it back to the central defenders
06:32doesn't really leave the full back there with all too many options but they can see a load of space
06:38in behind so they're trying to tempt them to hit it long into that space now and you know not to show
06:44off or anything but 442's own Mark White spoke to some of the invincibles for a massive feature on
06:49them in the next issue of the mag look out for that he told us specifically about this system when you
06:55play with such an attacking team you have to have such speed at the back that's what Arsene Wenger did
07:01Sol and myself were fast we had power we were able to defend high lines and we could pin teams in with
07:07our quality and that was exactly the plan because in Lauren, Campbell, Torre and Cole you had four
07:12incredibly fast defenders who if the ball did go over the top could beat most forwards in a race to
07:18chase it back but also the reason they went and got in Jens Lehmann was because for the time he was a
07:23very sort of I don't want to say innovative again but sort of innovative sweeper keeper he would come
07:28out and close that space down and low if you can't play through them because I mean Christ that's
07:34Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira there and you can't play over the top because the defenders are
07:39really fast and the goalkeeper is going to sweep up doesn't really leave you with many ways of
07:43breaking them down and they don't get anywhere near enough credit for how good defensively they
07:47were that season I'm checked this I'm going to guess I think they conceded like 26 goals in the
07:54league I'm going to check that 26 what's 26 what I doubt myself 26 26 goals that's really good this is
08:01why I said at the start that understanding the invincibles is not about some clever system that
08:06Wenger stumbled upon it's all in the execution because while this is a system based around
08:11finding the space between the lines and dropping out of your own position to do so it's being
08:15executed by a group of players almost perfectly assembled to be like naturally inclined to do
08:23positional rotations with their teammates what do I mean by that well think about it this way you've
08:28got Dennis Bergkamp who loves to drop away from the forward line on the right hand side but you've
08:32also got Freddie Unberg who just adores to receive the ball in that sort of right hand half space
08:38confusing the central defender and the fullback as to who should be marking him you've got Thierry
08:42Henry who loves to go all the way over to the left hand side to receive the ball and be set for a
08:46counter-attack but you've also got Robert Perez who loves to drift into the center and loves to just go
08:51at goal himself and then when Perez does find himself coming in field you've got young Ashley Cole here
08:56who adores to bomb up the left hand side there he goes falling off the table because he used to be a
09:01striker to get that back you've got Vieira and Toure who both like to break forward from their
09:06position either carrying the ball or making late runs into the box but they're ably supported by
09:10Gilberto Silva and Sol Campbell two men with sort of the spatial awareness and the heft to cover that
09:17space all on their own now more than anything on this entire earth I want to pay special attention
09:23to this forward quartet because I would argue or at least in my opinion I think they are the best
09:30collection of four attackers ever in the Premier League but yes but I know there's arguments for
09:36loads of other different groups like York, Cole, Giggs, Beckham they were obviously really good
09:41Mane, Salah, Firmino probably the best in the modern age Duncan Ferguson and just the really angry voices
09:47in his head you could you could say loads but for me just the pace the inventiveness the incisiveness
09:53the creativity the fluidity everything between these four I think is just worth talking about because as
09:59we've already talked about this Arsenal side was built around dropping out of your position finding
10:03space and having players who were naturally able to fill into it and it was just so just lethal the
10:09way it was organized between these four and it all starts and ends with Thierry Henry teams were
10:14absolutely terrified of him and there was seven or eight different ways he could effectively score
10:20a goal against you like in its most basic sense imagine you are marking Thierry Henry and he pulls away
10:25from you and drops sort of into the space behind the midfield like do you go with him because if
10:30you do you might get the ball and just literally sprint past you and score a goal but if you don't
10:35go with him you'll just crack in a shit pinger from about 30 yards he loved to drift wide of the
10:41defenders and either receive the ball and drive directly at goal or receive a pass in behind them
10:45and dart diagonally and whenever his movement did create space for a teammate they were more than happy
10:51to fill it it was just impossible to work out what to do I think honestly maybe I'm getting slightly
10:56carried away with this I think Thierry Henry might have been the first center forward in the Premier
11:02League ever who could just score every kind of goal anyway though for one entire Premier League season
11:09just this creativity and this fluidity in attack this sort of robustness in the center of the pitch
11:16and this sort of structural ingenuity that allowed them to play forward and just every single
11:21element of this team that Wenger had designed worked perfectly and it worked perfectly for 38
11:27games you couldn't get beat now just one final little point before I go okay you do get a lot
11:32of people trying to talk down the achievement of going unbeaten in a Premier League season like
11:37obviously yes they were not the first team to do it shout out my boys Preston North End in like
11:4218 89 90 or 99 80 or whenever it was they obviously did it first and they did get knocked out of
11:50all the cup competitions and they did draw like 12 games as well but there is a reason why you did
11:56not see this for over 100 years and you have not seen it in the 20 since so many tiny little individual
12:05things have to happen at once here like Jens Lehmann had just arrived but he hit the ground running
12:09straight away there was no bedding in period for him all the really key players were getting into peak
12:15points of their career at the same time and stayed largely injury free every single week Arsene Wenger
12:22had to sit down and analyze their upcoming opponents and make certain adjustments and he
12:26never got it badly wrong even once that season like that's all it would have taken just you know
12:32getting the marking disorganized at the corner oh back post 1-0 oh no we're not going to be
12:37invincible anymore happens to every single team no matter how good they are but for 38 game weeks
12:42it did not happen here like they were really frugal at the back they were unbelievable to watch
12:49going forward they set up in a 4-4-2 so they represented all those best bits of that british
12:55footballing mainstay but they also innovated it in ways that would change how a lot of other teams
13:00set up in the future they were the perfect balance of just everything and we will leave it there now if
13:07you have enjoyed this video i will say this is not the kind of thing that the algorithm on youtube
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13:21might normally get that would be really really helpful it made me do this and also hey while
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13:31and what's going on but when nothing is going on we do this little fun stuff as well and not just for
13:35of course for all the clubs can you hear my voice going i can hear my voice going so i'm gonna wrap
13:40up even quicker than i normally would you can get me on all the socials at adam cleary c-l-e-r-y
13:44just joined tiktok don't know why the latest issue of the mag is not upside down it is right here
13:49trent alexander arnold is on the cover but the new issue is coming very soon and includes a massive
13:54piece not just by myself tactically but from the entire team about the invincibles because we think
13:59they're mint right yes that is it i do need a tweet now so i'm gonna go um love you bye
14:05that'll do
14:06you