The Footballing Decade

Footballing Achievement of the Decade – Arsenal’s unbeaten league campaign 2003-04

Winning trophies is the dream of every fan, but making history in the way Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal did in 2004 is in some way even more special. The fact that the professor was widely ridiculed for his belief that Arsenal could achieve this feat a season earlier exemplifies its magnitude. Unbeaten seasons had occurred before but not in the modern era and not with 38 games per campaign. The fact that not many pundits, players or fans would be bold enough to expect this achievement to take place again is a testament to what an incredible season it was for Arsenal in 2003-04.

Final of the decade – UEFA Champions League Final 2005: AC Milan 3-3 Liverpool (Liverpool win on penalties)

There can be no debate about the final of the decade. After the footballing masterclass on show from the Milanese in the first half of the Champions League Final in 2005, surely nobody could have predicted the astonishing comeback that was about to take place in Istanbul. Kaka and Andrea Pirlo had torn Liverpool a new one in the first half with Hernan Crespo bagging a brace of world class finishes. In a period of eleven minutes in the second half, Liverpool clawed the score back to 3-3 following goals from captain Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and a penalty from Xabi Alonso. There was an air of destiny about the whole experience that transcended football as a game and sport. When Jerzy Dudek evoked Bruce Grobellar’s ‘spaghetti legs’ in the penalty shoot-out after having the game of his life in the second half, we all knew that Liverpool were meant to win this one.

Controversy of the Decade

Controversy plagues football but this decade had an incident that took place in the most high profile game on the calendar – The World Cup Final in Berlin, 2006. The match itself had long carried a scoreline of 1-1 following a cheeky chipped Zidane penalty and a thumping header from Marco Materazzi to equalize. How fitting, then, that it was the same two players involved in a moment that will never be forgotten in the annals of footballing history. As with many items of history, we may never know exactly what happened between them but it is safe to assume that Zidane headbutted Materazzi following an insult to him or his family. The referee had not seen the incident and the suggestion is that the red card shown to the Frenchman was due to the referee’s assistant watching a replay on a television monitor; FIFA doesn’t allow such modern equipment to influence decisions in matches. That Zinedine Zidane, the greatest player of his generation, should be sent off in his final game as a professional footballer carried a poignancy that encapsulated everything about the Algerian-born midfielder; like so many, he was a flawed genius with a propensity for the extraordinary and the insane in equal measure. When Zidane departed the field in extra time with ten minutes remaining, the Italians started believing that it was their time to banish the memories of their penalty shoot-out final loss to Brazil in 1994 twelve years earlier.

Manager of the Decade – Jose Mourinho

Journalists in this country lap up the Special One because he is never short of content for them to help meet their deadlines. But in truth there is a petulance about Mourinho that stops him becoming universally endearing, shall we say. What isn’t debatable is his meteoric rise over the last decade that has seen him come from an unknown to a manager that has won all the major honors the club game has to offer. Pep Guardiola has just achieved a debut perfect season at Barcelona, but if we are talking about the decade as a whole, there can only be one victor in this category.

After winning the UEFA cup and Champions League in successive seasons with FC Porto, Mourinho joined Chelsea and won back-to-back Premier League titles while supplementing them with Carling Cup and FA Cup victories. Upon leaving Stamford Bridge he joined Internazionale and won Serie A in the first season of equal competition since the Calciopoli scandal of 2006. His style of football is less than altruistic, but his results this decade have been unquestionably outstanding.

Player of the Decade – Ronaldinho

He may have faded in the last couple of seasons but if I had to choose one stand-out player this decade it would have to be the Brazilian. He announced his arrival on the world scene in 2002 with that freekick against England in the quarter finals of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. At the time everyone in this country took solace in the idea that it was a total fluke, but after watching Ronaldinho’s exploits over the rest of the decade, perhaps many observers felt they were a little disingenuous towards the man from Porto Alegre.

This blog is named after ‘fantasisti’ – magical players that make you dream. Make no mistake, Ronaldinho is a fantasista of the highest order; his improvised goal against Chelsea in the Champions League, his chip against Milan in the San Siro to set up Giuly and lead Barcelona to the Champions League final in 2006, his stunning goal against Real Madrid – all the work of a footballing genius and his ability was on display this decade more vividly than that of any other player in the world.

Goal of the Decade – UEFA Champions League Final 2002 – Zinedine Zidane against Bayer Leverkusen

There is always a discussion to be had regarding what criteria to use when judging what makes a goal great, but Zidane’s sublime volley in the Champions League Final in 2002 fulfills any element one might wish to throw at it. Firstly, the goal itself is of extraordinary quality; normal players cannot pull off what Zidane does, shaping his body and hitting the ball perfectly with his weaker foot into the top corner with the panache that only the best players possess. Secondly, it is in the biggest game in club football, the European Cup Final. Thirdly, it was scored by one of the all-time greats and it wasn’t a one-off, one in a million goal; Zinedine Zidane was capable of scoring in this kind of devastating fashion. This was a goal that was talked about for weeks afterwards and will be remembered for a very long time.

Football: Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea

In the words of C. Montgomery Burns of The Simpsons, “Please Sir, I can’t bear another thrashing.”

Today Arsenal lost at home to Chelsea by a three goal margin for the second time in successive seasons. I was hopeful that Arsene’s young guns would avoid another pummeling from the boys from the bridge but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea highlighted the rather large gap in class that currently separates the two teams – and it hurts to say that.

Arsenal were defensively naïve but the glaring deficiency in their team was a distinct lack of steel. This has so often been the downfall of Wenger’s recent teams but more troubling is the fact that Arsenal as a squad seem to get smaller year by year. In 2004 the side had players like Campbell, Vieira, Henry and Gilberto – all of whom had the physical presence to cope with the premiership. Now in their place are players with great talent but not enough brawn to battle on the same pitch as a robust and uncompromising side like Chelsea.

Luck is required to win the league in this country, make no mistake about it. Arsenal being deprived of their three physically imposing players in Van Persie, Bendtner and Abou Diaby made Chelsea’s job a whole lot easier. But for Arsenal’s main mode of attack to comprise of crosses into the box without these players seemed a rather strange strategic decision. Subsequently the better side ran out deserving winners today and truly do look like the champions elect even at this early stage of the season.

I feel for Arsene Wenger. He deserves success because he is a visionary in a world that doesn’t quite understand him. He develops players when others don’t and has a yearning to make football the art it can be, on a budget that would be laughed out of town by any other top manager. I also feel for Cesc Fabregas. He is Arsene’s most striking example of a player blossoming under his stewardship. He is well spoken and gives everything he has as captain of Arsenal. I hate to see him and his manager continually let down on days when it really matters. Today, unfortunately, was one of those days.

Can Arsenal challenge for honours without Robin Van Persie?

The bombshell that dropped over Ashburton Grove this morning has probably led some Arsenal fans to write off the league campaign of 2009-10. While this is a tad melodramatic, the fact remains that an Arsenal side bereft of the style, presence and link-up play of Robin Van Persie is unquestionably weaker than one with him as the spearhead.

Robin’s hugely successful transition to the centre forward role in a 4-3-3 this season has surprised a few people, notably those who originally questioned Arsene on the matter. He was well on the way to becoming one of the world’s most complete strikers – but of course when the Dutchman is concerned there is always an injury waiting to stop him from reaching that highest level where he deserves to be.

What makes matters worse for Wenger is that his options to replace Robin are rather limited. Nicklas Bendtner is the only feasible candidate as he is now Arsenal’s only 6ft+ forward. He is penciled in for a return at the start of December, but can the young Dane really shoulder the responsibility at CF for the remainder of the season? I suspect that Arsene will move again for Bordeaux’s Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh in January. But if the gunners are out of the race by then, will there be any point?

I suppose the key observation here is that what Robin Van Persie can give Arsenal cannot be replaced by any player on the market right now. But as long as the CF in this side can hold the ball up, work extremely hard and can bring his team mates into play, the boys from the emirates might be ok.

It would be very easy to side with the doom mongers on the issue of Van Persie’s injury; after all, would United have won the title for the last couple of years without Ronaldo? The evidence does indeed suggest that teams stripped of their best players don’t win trophies. But it would be far better to get behind this team and trust in the array of attacking talent that Arsene Wenger has assembled. There are some outstanding players in this squad and it just means that now is the time for them to show everyone what they’re made of.