Your All Time Arsenal XI

[berric]

GK: Seaman (Jens was great in the CL final run, but man, did he know to **** up stuff. He played only 4 solid seasons with us in the first team, and he was demoted to bench in his fifth. Seaman had his own moments of brainfarting, but much more consistent, and a great presence)

RB: Sagna (Tough call. Think Sagna and Cesc are the only players from the 'transition era' who would crawl into Invincibles. Rock at the back, solid in attack. Aston Villa clearance was unreal, and the way he kept pussies such as Ronaldo out of their casual showing. He was a nightmare for showboating wingers)

CB: Campbell (One of the best English center backs in history, watching this mothafvcking giant was a joy. He went awol in 05/06, returned and scored in a final. The manner in which he screwed up Sp**s just adds a cherry on top)

CB: Adams (Mr. Arsenal, wish he and Sol had a couple of matches together. If these two played as a pairing in their prime, they would be considered as the best club/international CB pairing ever.

LB: Cole (Was a joy watching him rise, was a disaster watching him fall)

RM: Pires (Just watched a clip of all his Arsenal goals. The guy was a football elegance maestro. I can't believe how Arsène picked up so many footballing gentlemans in a short period of time to form what I think is a prime representation of footballing class. We miss players like him nowadays)

CM: Vieira (Beast. Had everything. He was for us what Yaya was for City in his first seasons, but on a another level. Just take a look at some of the goals Arsenal scored during his time and his influence in the build up. He was never properly replaced)

CM: Fabregas (His breakthrough, the goal vs Juve in CL, his 19-year old destruction of teams, the 07/08 season run where he was a ****ing unplayable bastardo. One of the reasons youth of the 05/06 onward started supporting the club. Acted like a spoiled ***** in his last two seasons, broke my heart, but still a class. The moment he moved to Barcelona his individual importance and influence started to fade.

LM: Alexis (Yeah, I know, maybe it's too early with only one season, but honestly, the thing he brought to the plate with this team is unbelievable)

CF pairing: Bergkamp (A God. One of a kind player, underappreciated by many. Easily in the top bracket of footballing greatest. Ball at his feet had a mind of its own) and Henry (Are words even necessary)

Sorry for the TLDR post, I was just hit by a heavy wind of nostalgia.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

RM: Pires (Just watched a clip of all his Arsenal goals. The guy was a football elegance maestro. I can't believe how Arsène picked up so many footballing gentlemans in a short period of time to form what I think is a prime representation of footballing class. We miss players like him nowadays)

Yeah, I also watched that vid on Pires' goals. Brought it all back for me, Pires is comfortably one of the best players I've ever seen.

Btw, you're a player short mate .

 

[Vinci]

You're a player short, berric.

 

[berric]

Oh, ****, I forgot a left winger. That's cause I had some doubts, but eventually Alexis prevailed.

 

[BobP]

My stone cold inclusions include:

David Seaman

Ashley Cole
Sol Campbell
Tony Adams

Robert Pires
Francesc Fabregas: Say what you want about him now but in his time with us he was an absolute behemoth, at the center of everything good about us in a relatively dry period and it is a shame that he didn't play during a more fruitful era for the club.
Patrick Vieira

Dennis Bergkamp
Thierry Henry

RB and RM are up for grabs. I'd gravitate towards Lauren and Freddie mainly because I love the mentality of both players but it's definitely up for discussion.

Also, I know I am aware that in reality a midfield duo of Vieira and Fabregas didn't work but lets stay within the realm of theory.

Also imagine a 3 man midfield of Gilberto, Vieira and Fabregas. That should have been fine as Dennis was declining anyhow and not expected to play as much as he once had.

 

[bingobob]

Not sure who my team would be because I remember watching players like Merson and they really inspired me but it's really easy to get carried away with more recent players due to the saturation of football now and how recent these guys are in the memory. Players like O'Leary and Brady stand out for their Irish connection and being smashing players players although I never watched Brady I know from folklore he was great and O'Leary was declining around the time I started following football. Charlie George as well although well before my time must surely feature. I'd have to think long and hard about who I'd want as I can't distinguish between Bould, Keown or Campbell to partner Adams and have several other head aches

 

[Proof]

Seaman vs Lehmann is another non-contest. One of the weakest Invincible members with Kolo and Lauren.

In my opinion Lehmann had a higher peak than Seaman. Jens was Europe's best goalkeeper in 2006 and benched Oliver Kahn for the 2006 World Cup which is a huge achievement.

RB: Sagna he kept pussies such as Ronaldo out of their casual showing.

But he made Victor Moses look like Cristiano Ronaldo. Sagna was solid at the back but offensively he was useless, an overall average player. We don't miss him at all.

Hector Bellerin has given not just our full back play but our wide play a whole new dimension in attack and he is going to dominate our right side for years.

 

[berric]

Yeah, Proof, but that was later after the leg break and bunch of injuries from which he never quite recovered.

I agree he was average in attack and I knew that an offensive fb will give us a different dimension of play, but during the years when he displaced Eboue and was picked as a best RB in the league for 2 or 3 seasons he was really sturdy.

Adding to the fact he was a stand out in a shambles of defense we had from 2008 until 2nd half of last season. Eboue in 05/06 was good, and Lauren was a great RB, but neither would be picked in my all time Arsenal eleven ahead of Sagna. Bellerin is maybe on the course of taking the spot, but time will tell.

 

[Arai]

My choice :

Seaman

Dixon
Adams
Bould
Winterburn

Ljungberg
Vieira
Gilberto
Pires

Bergkamp
Henry

 

[Proof]

@berric
That's a fair assessment. I also rate Sagna higher than Eboue and slightly above Lauren but in my opinion Lee Dixon was better than all of them.

 

[berric]

Agreed, but unfortunately I wasn't that lucky too watch Dixon when he was in top form for the club, so I had to pick from the players I've actually seen play during the course of the season.

I started supporting the club during the 2002 double-winning season, and Dixon was already slowly giving his spot away to Lauren back then.

 

[BobP]

Holy ****, Fabregas was basically a 20 goal 20 assist player in the 2009/10 season, that is unreal!

 

[elber]

Here we go...

Between the sticks:
Lehmann(The mad German himself. Seaman was the better keeper but Jens was a proper character)

Back 4:

Lauren (Just shaded it over the money grabber Sagna)

Adams (Mr Arsenal. Brick wall, leader, piss head, and underrated footballer. Just an all round legend)

Keown (Solid yet unspectular, reliable, and dirty, what more do you want in centre back?)

Silvinho (Typical Brazilian fullback, great going forward, quite silky and good to watch and chipped in with the odd goal. Couldn't bring myself to pick that irritant Ashley Cole.

Middle of the park:

Pires (Nearly had it all, Elegance, touch, flair, vision, goals, assists, arrogance, big game mentality and was a real team player)

Vieira (Just a colossus. The most complete central midfielder the PL has ever seen. Left the club 10 years ago and we still haven't come close to replacing him)

Petit (Great passer, could tackle and read the game superbly. He and Vieira complimented each other perfectly)

Sanchez (Fantastic attitude combined with great ability the perfect formula to be successful in this league. Only a season at the club and already a legend in my book. Hopefully next season he will kick on and grow to be even more influential.

Bergkamp (What can you say? The iceman is simply the greatest player to represent the club)

Henry (Premier league's most complete striker)

 

[burnsjed]

-------------------Seaman
Anderson----Adams---Campbell----Sansom

Rocastle------Vieira------Brady------Pires

--------------Bergkamp---------Henry

 

[GDeep™]

Adams and Campbell have to be two of the best CB's I have ever seen, up there with the great Italians of the 90's

 

[GDeep™]

Is Kenny Sansom under rated? Before my time, but you hear people in the game talk about him as one of the great English fullbacks.

Maybe doesn't have the profile or status as he played just before the football boom.

 

[Refo]

Hipster Arsenal XI:

KANU x 11

 

[burnsjed]

Is Kenny Sansom under rated? Before my time, but you hear people in the game talk about him as one of the great English fullbacks.

Maybe doesn't have the profile or status as he played just before the football boom.

Kenny Sansom really was amazing, was way closer to a modern style full back than a full back of that period.
Offensively he was very strong, and had legs like tree trunks!

 

[Jury]

Seaman
Lauren Campbell Adams Cole
Vieira Fabregas
Bergkamp
Sanchez Pires
Henry
​

 

[Jury]

Holy ****, Fabregas was basically a 20 goal 20 assist player in the 2009/10 season, that is unreal!

He was the best midfielder in world football, bar none, for me. He'd still be performing so somewhere near that level at a club that let him do as we did, imo.