Story By Oma Akatugba and Mohamed Sohail
Arsenal went 49 matches unbeaten in the premier league season of 2003-04 which earned the team the tag “invincibles”. Whether it was the greatest Premier League season of all time is up for debate, but Arsenal’s 2003-04 team will always stand apart from the rest.
The fortune of the club has dwindled since then and Arsenal has not been able to win any premier league title till date. Wenger’s men have won 4 FA Cup titles and reached the UEFA Champions League final since then, but many would still rather consider the team as failures simply because it is yet to win the prestigious English Premier League title. Millions of Arsenal fans worldwide have not failed to express their displeasure at the transfer policy of Arsene Wenger who seems to have changed his philosophy of buying established stars which saw him go 49 matches unbeaten in the 2003/2004 season to grooming young talents. This change in approach has earned Mr Wenger the support of the Arsenal Board but on the other hand, the club fans worldwide have become disenchanted haven seen their team go several seasons without winning the English Premier League title.
some fans believe the current Arsenal team lacks the fighting spirit and hunger, one of such persons is a very prominent member of the “Invincibles”. His name is Robert Pires.
“I don’t like to compare teams, managers and players. The “invincible” team, for example, was a special team, maybe one of the best team in the premier league for some time now. If you want to compare my set and now, Maybe now Arsenal need more spirit, more players to fight on the field like warriors, like a Viera, like Martin Keon, like Adams. So maybe this is the difference. But if you watch Arsenal now, they have very good quality, they have players who can reach high levels. I think yea, this team needs to find the right spirit.” Pires told omasports.com’s Mohamed Sohail @ThatsohailGuy in Singapore.
Pires, who was the second top scorer in the “invincible” team with 14 goals went further to throw his weight behind Arsene Wenger. He says: “I think Wenger is the man for Arsenal. I understand some fans because sometimes, they want to say thank you very much, Arsene Wenger, it’s time to leave. But you know its impossible to forget everything. Yes its difficult for arsenal but its very important to stay focus on the objective and to play together, that is why Wenger, he believes so much in the squad and his players, that is why he keeps the same philosophy, so even for the fans, it’s very important to push the team to reach, I don’t know why maybe the final of the Europa league this season. Everything is possible now.”
