In what has been a very trying and generally pretty miserable season for Arsenal fans I found myself becoming increasingly irritable and maybe ultra-sensitive every time I read an article or saw a discussion about how Liverpool were likely to overtake Arsenal’s Invincibles in their run of unbeaten games and how they would be able to go through the season unbeaten. This is partly because a number of Liverpool fans who I have met ( by no means all) desperately need a course in humility and partly because the very sizeable anti- Arsenal lobby in the media were urging them on to destroy the uniqueness of the achievement that Arsenal completed in 2003/4.
The moment that Vieira seized on Dennis’ through ball and waltzed around the Leicester keeper on that rapturous May afternoon at Highbury I think every Arsenal fan felt a huge wave of euphoria, relief and pride as we realised that not only were we Premier League Champions ( we had been for weeks) but we were UNBEATEN throughout the whole season . We were Invincible, the first team in the modern era that could make that claim. The fact that we had done it playing football that was utterly sparkling on so many occasions and with a team that was studded with some of the greatest players ever to play for our club made that achievement incredibly special for every Arsenal fan. I’ve never met a Gooner who fails to swell with pride when you mention the Invincibles. They were a truly special team and they were our team.
On occasions listening to the cretin that is Adrian Durham , a man utterly consumed with spite and jealousy I have heard him rubbish the achievements of that side because of the number of draws that we had in that season . Arsenal fans loyally refused to countenance that argument because the pressure of competition is such in the Premier League that to play each team twice and NEVER lose represented a monumental achievement.
But wait we were told here come Liverpool , a side so complete that not only will they set a new unbeaten record and go through the season unbeaten they will win virtually every game that they play. So we watched and disconcertingly it seemed that Liverpool always found a way to win games that they really didn’t deserve to and always seemed to get a break that proved decisive. We could be accused of sour grapes and were as they approached our record and we wondered if a cataclysmic clash at our place might see us rob them of the Invincible tag…..please!
Well we need worry no longer. I’ve already drunk a toast to a Watford team that blew them away tonight and made what is an extraordinary team look very fallible indeed. Watford produced an unforgettable effort and in doing so underlined the huge difficulty that any side has in going through a Premier League season unbeaten. Watford were next to bottom, had not won for five games and desperately needed points with sides around them winning. Well win they did and they shattered Liverpool in a second half where the Scousers looked as if they were running on fumes.
The inquests and debates will begin, I can almost hear the nauseating drone from Durham now as he seeks, as he always does to denigrate Arsenal . But the big news is that whatever he says, however Liverpool fans claim that they were never really worried about being Invincible and Sky pundits try to rate them in comparison to other champions we can console ourselves that along the length of a season in which we competed in the Champions League and the FA Cup to the later stages ( beyond where Liverpool are now) no side could lower our colours, no side could beat us …we were Invincible and what happened tonight goes to prove just what an extraordinary achievement that is.
One of the great satisfactions of my life is that I became an Arsenal fan. It has meant, heartbreak, frustration, anger and deep, deep joy at different times but the thing I am proudest of as an Arsenal fan is that we did something remarkable in that season of 2003/4. Nobody could beat us, in that season very few teams ever led us and never led us close to the end of games we played and no team can make that claim or share that achievement, in a season that hasn’t been much fun that fact resonates triumphantly tonight. Enjoy your invincibility fellow Gooners…it’s a very exclusive feeling!
What a wonderful piece TTG. It encapsulates the joy we are all feeling about Watford’s win tonight. Yes it is small minded and petty and is boiling the piss of scousers everywhere. DON’T CARE!!! 😂😂😂
Thank you for calling out the gobshite Durham. His wife, of course, is a Gooner.
There’s still only one gold trophy.
Super piece, ttg.
I am, I always have and I always will enjoy our Invincibiity.
I’ve never even heard OF this Durham chappie. I will take every precaution to ensure that I never actually hear him. Sounds like a talking turd.
TTG, an excellent piece and dare I say Faberesque in both velocity and quality. A fitting tribute to the Invincibles whose achievement has been emphasised as truly remarkable and certainly a unique achievement in the modern era. A toast to those heroes, their boss and to Watford. 🥃
Top stuff TTG. A rousing piece to mark a unique achievement.
Only one Invincible side. The greatest English team I have seen. Tougher than old boots and not at home to off-days leading to 3-0 defeats. They turned up every time and did something that was thought to be impossible.
Legends. Every one.
Dave is somewhere with a big smile on his face tonight!
Also, I have just fulfilled an ambition I have held for many years… I did the chevrons in the last bar!
I feel like a rockstar. Ismaila Sarr has nothing on me!
An excellent vignette TTG. In our present trying circumstances it’s a rightful opportunity to remind us all of of the phenomenal achievement of The Invincibles. Yes, the scousers will win the league for the first time in 30 years ( in fact their first premier league title ) but they are not Invincibles, there is only one 49 49 !
Magnificent, TTG… a lot like the Invincibles themselves.
Super stuff TTG!
Don’t let the scousers fool you that they “were not thinking about Invincible.” They very much were, they have had a deliciously (for us) horrid record in PL with so many collapses when they could sense the title and this season they were hoping for something truly extraordinary to wipe away the frustrations of last two decades …
Arsene not only had the courage of his convictions to really go for being undefeated as a goal but he had been able to manage to make the team believe it was more than capable. It was a group of extraordinary players but to have that vision, courage and conviction as a manager is extraordinary…
YES!!! What a happy surprise
in the morning news.
Thanks TTG, great stuff, off
the cuff👍
I hope AW and The Invincibles
are happy wherever they may
be tonight.
Durham is certainly a turd, though
he was just copying the too many
draws to be considered a great
team line from a begrudging
Red Nose.
I had no idea Mrs Durham was a
Gooner, the things you learn in
here!
A 🍾🥂🥂🥂 day for Gooners,
something ticked off the At Least
column for this season.
In other recent Invincible news, today Thierry Henry coached Montreal Impact today in his first game as coach in MLS, and his team was victorious over New England.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberklopp?
Come to my arms, my beamish Troy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
With apologies to Lewis Carroll.
Heh! Nice one Ned.
👏👏👏👏👏👏
@13
🙂
Full version:
’Twas Watford, and the Vicarage Road
Did gyre and gimble in the pits:
All Scousey were the Anfield Reds,
And the Milner raths bindipped.
“Beware the Jabberklopp, Pear’son!
The teeth that bite, the beards that catch!
Beware the Salah bird, and shun
The frumious Henderson!”
He took his vorpal Sarr in hand;
Long the gegenpressen foe he sought—
So rested he by the Deaney tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberklopp, with cap of flame,
Came whiffling through the hornet wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal Sarr went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberklopp?
Come to my arms, my beamish Troy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas Watford, and the Vicarage Road
Did gyre and gimble in the pits:
All Scousey were the Anfield Reds,
And the Milner raths bindipped.
With even more apologies…
👏👏👏👏
brilliant 🙂
Stupendouys wordsmpthery, Ned. 👏👏👏👏
bravo, ttg. we remain invincible. the scouse may win by a million points, may gain more points than any other this season, etc. but those things are, at least in part, down to how other teams are playing in the league this season.
only that invincible team never lost in the league *regardless* of how the other teams played. in other words, it was down to that team determining they wouldn’t lose.
ned, that’s an amazing post. i dare say lewis would be the first to buy you a drink. another on the bar for you, and one for ttg.
I wish formally to nominate NBN’s@16 for March Drink of the Month. Staggering stuff. Congratulations, Ned.
I don’t recall hearing that interview with Old Big Head before. Another nice one; thanks for posting.
Thanks, all. Fun to do and inspired by TTG’s post.
A comedy turn from De Gea.
NBN @ 16. Chapeau Ned, a brilliant interpretation.
Cloughie, puckish to the end. But, as always, wise words in there among the braggadocio. He was spot on about what made the Invincibles so great — even if they weren’t quite as great as his Forest team…
Like Pangloss, I hadn’t heard that clip before. Thanks for posting, Bath.
Truly terrific stuff Ned ..and from Cloughie. I heard Clough speak at a lunch when he was ‘ past his best’ shall we say. There was huge concern and affection around tye room. He did an incredible job at both Derby and Forest
All to play for Wolves
– our drawing masters
title is on the line.
Oh Jimenez 3-2 hahaha
Had hoped for two draws this afternoon but one and a Spud mashing is pretty good. The Special Needs One will be as sick as the proverbial parrot.
Good result for Wolves as
Spud woes continue. I thought
Everton could take points off
Manure.
The only little fly in the
ointment being our game in
hand is away to Shitty.
Anyway, task is still the same
really – win the next three and
see where we are.
Short of a Totts-Wolves draw, results today as good as they could be.
Wolves are the form team in the race for fifth, I’d say but, yes, it looks like winning the next three will be necessary if any of the later matches are to count for much.
Kudo of Kudos to Ned @16. 🙂
Great link Bath @20
Great spud slaying by Wolves earlier.
Does anyone else think that the Odious Portuguee may soon be parting company prematurely from another set of employers with nothing more than a huge cheque to console him?
It’ll be hard to work up much moral outrage about it this time around.
COYG
That’s excellently excellent Ned @16. Kudos!!
Wolves are in form but they I think will go a little deeper in Euro and legs will tire.
One match at a time. If the team plays with the intensity and focus demanded by Mikel and as per the tactical preparations we can yet make things happen. I believe … 🙂
@34 Pangloss
Yes, the thought occurred as
I watched today and new SHL
crowd was fairly sullen and
despondent through most of
the last 15 minutes. Maureen
was low key and there looked
a pathetic inevitability about the
defeat today and the ultimate
failure of his latest misadventure.
I enjoyed it and though I get that
a draw was probably better for us
league wise I still didn’t want a
Spuds equaliser.
I think he’ll be gone at the end of
the season when Spuds finish
10th.
While I thought at the time that Mourinho was a very flawed appointment , Daniel Levy will be very reluctant to pay out a lot of compensation to Mourinho after sacking Pochettino . We have yet to see Jose spit out his dummy at the lack of a transfer budget in pre-season , the rant against referees, fixture congestion, UEFA and a punch-up with one of their best players . This was always going to be a match made in Valhalla especially after Pochettino did so well for so long at a club with no tradition of competing at this level in modern times. I think Pangloss is right in that it is inevitable that he will leave but the end will be protracted because of Levy’s ego and tightfistedness. That makes it all the more enjoyable from our perspective. What might speed his departure is if we could beat them at the new WHL in April !
You make a persuasive case why we might prefer not to win a nWHL in April, TTG.
You should be ashamed of yourself!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>