Arsenal America

Ed.Note - I’m not totally in agreement with ScottyUS’s assessment of this article. I think there is some credence to the notion that the Premiership below the top four or five is fairly weak. Still, take nothing away from Arsenal’s accomplishment, there have been weak teams in the past and strong ones who won the League, but didn’t go undefeated…

I understand that belittling criticism of great feats done by great teams goes with the territory, so it comes as no surprise when I read articles attributing our historical EPL achievement to taking advantage of weak 2003-2004 league competition.

There is so much wrong with this argument, I don’t even know where to start. The fact that it implies there has never been a “diamond in the rough” team in the EPL for 115 years immediately comes to mind. To say that this season’s competition to The Gunners underachieved, thereby parting the seas for our “good” team to get the “golden egg” in the L column is akin to saying that there has NEVER been those sets of circumstances since the dawn of the league. Ludicrous. Great teams are beaten by lesser sides all the time in every sport (Man City/Wolves vs. ManU, Bolton vs. Chelsea, etc.). Arsenal just had the stuff to avoid the inevitable. For me, that is the essence of their accomplishment!

And the league is literally filled with star internationals these days. Many of the best players in the world come to play in England and the past few seasons are no exception. There are still many greats in other leagues, Galacticos and so forth, but the strength of the EPL stands up to the rest quite well, I should think. The CL and UEFA Cups borne out some proof in semi-finals, with Newcastle and Chelsea “slipping out” more than “crashing”. One need only to count EPL club players in the Euros this summer. Representatives can be counted from teams across the table.

There are also historical precendents involving dominate teams in the EPL like ManU and Liverpool who, while never managing to go unbeaten, have stretched the point margins to even a greater extent than this year’s Arsenal have, yet those efforts were considered dynastic feats, not big fish outgrowing small ponds. All year long, The Arsenal’s style of play was praised up and down, called “revolutionary” and Wenger a “visionary”. Awards amassed almost embarrassingly. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat happened “regularly”. In addition, the collection of punditry that described The Arsenal’s sheer class, character and mettle would fill Highbury to the upper tier. Even after The Battle of Old Trafford had everyone jumping on the cannon with both feet, backpedaling and clever doublespeak eventually changed the tunes sung about our great team. If we were so outsized to our competition, why hadn’t anyone predicted our unbeaten streak and our losses in the other tournaments, events that go hand in hand in my opinion? Why the Comical Wenger shirt? What up, folks?

Yes, there were woeful sides. And the Leagues within Leagues argument does hold a certain amount of validity, in this and any other league across the world. But the point of going unbeaten is to get results that bear that gap to wit. And The Arsenal did just that.

Makes we wonder…does a close league race mean great football, or just more exciting table watching? Maybe, just maybe, those teams that have managed to pull far ahead through hard work and talent are not only making history, but trying to schlep the essence of their league into even greater heights. One thing’s for sure: we’ll see better play next year because of our Immortal status, as teams will be chasing us and doing their best to copy us, so as to become one of those sides that must forever defend their greatness.