these 2 together in the same team would have been cool
https://x.com/afcDW/status/1954470201581277488?t=FT6vr66GMLFWP3P7OeaDsA&s=19
https://x.com/afcDW/status/1954471220847493416?t=1ZgHqQkWOYUXqOftzOkZBA&s=19
lol
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Use AI transcription by all means, but you have to fucking proof read it!
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ai proof read it
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The vibes are back
Why is the 98/99 defence of Seaman, Winterburn, Dixon, Adams and Keown not mentioned enough when people speak about the greatest PL defences? They conceded 17 goals across the league season which is the second lowest number of goals conceded across a league season.
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That defence was arguably the best organised and most consistent in Europe and it’s why Adams is the only captain to have lifted the League title in three different decades for the same club.
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Surely it stands as the one of the best defences in European football in the 90s?
I can only think of AC Milan (early to mid 90s), Juventus and Parma (later 90s) as being comparable.
I remember watching shows like Premier League’s Season Review in the 2000’s. The late 90’s reviews that defence was always referred to as the ‘Arsenal’s famous English defence’. They clearly had a positive reputation but you’re right these days you never really hear anything about it, not just that season since we didn’t win the title. You don’t really anything about those players at all.
I would say it’s combination things:
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Recency bias
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Modern football culture especially narratives such as ‘more talent than ever’
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That they were English plays a little part, that isn’t sexy to promote.
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When Wenger came here he was often criticised for having more foreign players than other clubs by the media who never mentioned that when Graham was manager and won the title against Liverpool, every player in the squad was English except O’Leary who was Irish.
So even back then the anti Arsenal bias was still going strong.
I checked 1998/99 across other leagues, best defence in the top leagues by least goals conceded were:
English PL: Arsenal 17 Goals conceded
Serie A: Lazio 31 Goals conceded
La Liga: Mallorca 31 Goals conceded
Bundesliga: Bayern 28 Goals conceded
Ligue 1: Marseille 28 Goals conceded
Arsenal was clearing them by almost half.
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Worth pointing out that we conceded only 18 goals in 90/91 and narrowly missed being the first Invincibles thanks to an injury-crisis causing us a narrow 2-1 defeat at The Bridge.
If the 98/99 team don’t get enough credit the almost invincible title winners of 90/91 are pretty much forgotten about because it happened before football was invented by Sky Sports in 1992.
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Also the same defence Wenger had when he was successful.
Those first Ozil months were absolutely terrific. I remember his Champions League goal vs Napoli really well.
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That game vs Napoli might have been our best performance under Arsene in his whole last 7 seasons or so.
We were breathtaking that night. Absolutely flying. And also, I can’t remember any of our new signings slotting into the team and fitting in so quickly as Ozil did. That first PL game he had I don’t think he even had a training session with the team before it and he was the best player on the pitch. He first season will always be the most underrated one.
Shame we weren’t able to maintain anything near that standard for the most of the season.
Although we were playing really good for most of the first half of that season, before Ramsey’s injury.
Respect to Rice, but imagine having Ramsey in that form in this midfield in stead of him… Wow.
Scary.
Giroud also had the best period in Arsenal at that time, in the first half of the season. I was never as happy with him as during that time and it wasn’t about goalscoring as much as with his work rate and how involved he was in the build up in many different positions (that goal in the vid is the perfect example).
His finishing improved later on, but his presence and impact on the pitch was never as good as during that first half of 2013/14.
I am never taking that swap personally. Ramsey had a freak season and was incredibly unreliable the exact opposite to Rice
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Loss today confirmed, thanks DailyAFC
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