The design of this season’s away kit has a special meaning in it - to mark the 20th year anniversary of that famous Anfield 89 night which comes next May.
If ever our young guns need inspiration during the course of the coming season, perhaps all they need to do is just take a look at the shirt they are wearing - it simply reads “IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING”.
The scenario of season 1989 was similar to today. We were a young team as well back then. With a few exceptions such as David O’Leary, Brian Marwood, Alan Smith, Kevin Richardson, and Paul Davis, the rest of the side were young and inexperienced. The famous back 4 were already in place, yet in Steve Bould and Lee Dixon’s cases, it was their first full season in the English top flight football.
Chelsea and Man Utd are incredibly strong these days, yet nothing can compare to the task George’s young guns had to face - to remove the seemingly unsinkable Titantic of Liverpoool FC from the summit of English football.
And in terms of spending power, while Liverpool had been collecting the best players of the English game, the likes of John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge and had the great Ian Rush returning from Juventus, George bought in the journeymen (Richardson, Marwood), the unknowns (Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, Perry Groves) in recent seasons. While letting go the STARS of our side (Kenny Sansom, Viv Anderson, Charlie Nicholas, Tony Woodcook, Paul Mariner). Opting instead to build his team around a group of up and coming youngsters.
Sound familiar?
Daily Mirror’s headline on the eve of Anfield 89 night will stay forever in my mind “YOU DON’T HAVE A PRAYER, ARSENAL”.
To a certain extent, I believe many people are thinking of the same thing this summer - that we don’t have a prayer.
If a football match, and indeed, a football league season is decided on the TEAMSHEET, then yes, we don’t stand a prayer.
Fortunately, as history has testified, that it may not necessary be the case.
Class of 89 has shown the world it can be done, as long as you really want to do it, and as long as you really believe you can do it.
Class of 2009 are far more superior in terms of talent, let’s hope they are hungry enough to repeat the history comes next May.
Yes, few of the current squad have actually done it before (winning a championship), but hell, back in 1989, Arsenal as a football club had no experience winning a league title for 18 years. So why not?
To the players, and the fans, when you start losing faith, all you need to do, just to take a look of that yellow and black kit.
35 Responses to “The Away Kit”
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August 3rd, 2008 at 6:55 am
Andez,
Maybe you are joking around and I’m not catching on this early in the morning, but no way the shirt says Impossible is Nothing. That’s the current adidas tagline, can’t believe kit supplier Nike would do that.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
rick i know the slogan “impossible is nothing” is from adidas. but i think it describes perfectly that 89 season.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
Are you sure it doesn’t say “Become Legends”? I think that’s the motto that goes with this kit. But I like the article and I like the kit.
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:16 am
I’m gonna start early this time. We WILL win the league this time
.. but no I’m serious, there’s too much talent in this team. If they don’t win something it’ll be a shame. Hopefully this time its their time.
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
Being a born pragmatist LDE, I just can’t make that leap of faith yet. However, you are right, the talent is there and we do have some young steel in Cesc, Sagna and Clichy.
Hopefully you are right.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
I was to young to see this game in 89. Does anyone know if they have aired it on a broadcast station such as FSC, Setanta, or Gol?
I am sure there is a DVD of it. Just curious.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
LDE, you’ve lost your mind.
I appreciate the HOPE and FAITH.
But we don’t have a prayer of winning the league or CL with the team “as is”.
Less depth and less experience … with the same defense as last season.
Those 3 things were our undoing last year, and NONE of them were addressed.
Andez, I read in a few places that Ade was BOOED … Wenger even stated he’d overcome the fans jeering him. So that DID occur.
Also, you mentioned 5 experienced players in the 1989 team.
Ummm. I’d kill for that in this squad. With 5, we might be able to really make a run…
LDE? what are you drinking? and where can I get some!
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I agree with LDE. I believe we’ll win something this year - my heart says EPL or CL, my head says Carling Cup
Seriously I think this is our season. Obviously I’m on something stronger than even LDE :))
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Being confident is good but being realistic is another thing. With this squad a second place is an achievement. If we win something this year it will be a bonus for the fans. If not, well, tough luck, I am use to that now.
The way I see it, we might be in the semis again in the CC. We might be in the quarter final for CL. As for FA cup, I am not really sure.
I have no doubt what so ever that we will play the best FOOTBALL in EPL. No doubt. We have the talent, we have the quality but not the consistency that we need to secure the top spot.
As for Ade, he will score goals but half of what he got for us last year. I am hoping RVP can stay fit, but if not, we all shouldn’t be surprised. As for Rosicky, I counting him out already for the 1st half of the season. He is not ready and I think his injury is far more serious than we know. He will be back in the 2nd half of the season, but then, depends on our current standing, god knows if he will make an impact.
I see Theo getting more confident on the field. I believe he will develop his vision for his pass and getting more good crosses.
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
@ Andez: Some of our first team players were not even born in 89 ….
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
LDE:
1) Rosicky and Eduardo were fit at the beginning of last season. These two will probably not come back till November….and thats even iffy.
Last season, those two were fit and had a FULL pre-season behind them.
2) We had Diarra, Denilson, Diaby and Gilberto as backup in CM at the beginning of last season! Now we have Ramsey, Denilson and EBOUE!
3) We had Lehmann and Almunia last season. Now, we have ONLY Almunia (the worst keeper in Arsenal history).
4) We had problems in CB last season - the manager even CLEARLY pinpointed it. There has been no solution to that problem yet.
5) We had a problem of depth last season. We didnt have effective backup numbers for the AM/wing positions. Hleb, Rosicky and Fabregas were flogged to death by March last year. We have just replaced Hleb with Nasri, that is it.
Our depth problem remains COMPLETELY.
6) Eboue is STILL a major component of our attack for crying out loud!
So I really fail to understand the “we will win the league comment”….its a bit head-in-the-sand to me. As if last season didnt happen.
Dont get me wrong, I have always, always been optimistic … last season I said second with an outside chance of winning (this was when everyone was talking about we dropping from top 4). I thought we could hit it close then add 2 solid bodies this summer. Instead we have motherf-cking Bischoff - a guy whom even Wenger CONFESSES is a gamble.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I have the same sentiment as you have Fred on our chance this season. Instead of upgrading we are downsizing. We are getting younger and younger. And yet we are hoping miracles to come from heaven to help us win the league/ or win anything at all. But I am trying to keep my head up. Be positive all I can.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Denilson seems to play a lot this pre season. Is he the guy Wenger trust to partner Cesc? My head is thinking that way.
If it is Denilson, I hope that boy grow up quick and be solid in time for this season.
On another signing, i dont think it will happen.
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I don’t think we have less experience than last year. Going into last season, obviously we hadn’t experienced last season yet. But now, going into this season, the players have last season’s experiences under their belt. They led the League for a good 6/7 months and only finished 4 pts off the pace. They’ve been through a sustained season-long title race now; no, they didn’t come out on top but they were damn close and–most importantly–they know what it takes to get that extra 4 pts AND they know they have it in them.
I think we’ve improved experience-wise last year. Everyone keeps saying we need players who have experience winning/being successful/etc. Well how experienced were Flamini and Hleb in those departments? NONE!! So how does it affect the team’s experince that they’re gone? (Other than the fact they went trough last year, but so did the rest of the squad.) We lost two “experienced” players this summer, Lehman and Gilberto. But both of them lost their starting spots last term and never regained a consistent spot in the starting line up.
I’m not saying we’ll win the league, but we have a decent shot and I think everyone is making too big a deal out of this lack of “experience”. Our back line has plenty of experience, and so do Cesc and Ade now as far as I’m concerned.
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Well, but Ramsey, Vela, Wilshere have no experience whatsoever of last season.
Diaby and Denilson dont really have significant experience of last season either.
The best we could possibly do is a reiteration of last season, our first 10 matches are straightforward, so that will propel us in the beginning, but my March next year, the shit will probably start hitting the fan.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I am with Fred. I am confident that the team will perform well, but fear a repeat of last season where we ended trophyless.
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
What exactly did we win with the inexperienced Hleb and Flamini?
NOTHING.
We choked down the stretch. That partially comes from lacking the experience of having been in that position. In the clutch. When it counts. All the pressure.
I don’t know of any teams with such a lack of depth and experience that have won anything… in any sport.
We won’t win shite with the squad as is.
Partially, because we don’t even care about the Carling Cup or FA Cup any more, and we don’t have the team to win the big trophies.
We are caught in the middle, unsure of what direction we are going… or what we are trying to acheive.
Fred, right on in regard to Almunia. Where is the competition for his place?
The defense was abysmal at times, its the same as it was previously. What has changed…
so why would we invision winning a damned thing this time around?
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Stag and Fred you guys are being overly pessimistic. (LDE losing his mind? I mean, WTF is that??)
The experience factor is a huge element. First teamers that can reasonably expect to get better, due to the fact they are still young and haven’t reached their peak include: Fabregas, Bendtner, Walcott, Diaby, Clichy, Sagna, Denilson, Djourou, Song, Adebayor, Senderos (ok maybe not Senderos), Traore. Even Almunia, as goalies tend to peak later and he is now playing every week….
These players alone maturing could give us an extra 5%, maybe equating to the 4 pts that we were behind last year. Yes the loss of Flamini and Hleb are significant, but Hleb has been replaced with Nasri, and there is still 3.5 weeks until the transfer window closes. So let’s wait until then and see if anyone else comes in before making our predictions for the season.
Adebayor will be HUGE again this year. And if Van Persie and Eduardo come back and stay fit that is 20+ goals extra, at least.
Yes the team is young, but they are all f*cking good. And the point has been made before - just because we haven’t spent loads of money on experienced players doesn’t mean we don’t have players who aren’t worth a lot of money. And for that we have Wenger to thank.
Stag, Fred, I share some of your frustrations, but there is no way I’m writing off the team yet.
So Wayne and LDE, I’m with you! Up the ARSE!
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
First and foremost dont put me in with Stag.
Next, I am not pessimistic and I am not writing off the team, I think we are in for another 3rd or 2nd season and I am reconciled to that. I fully expect this season to be similar to last season because we havent solved any of the main problems we had. The problem is when people come out and say talk like its all great and perfect as if they dont live in the real world.
I have never been more frustrated than at the end of last season, when it was painfully obvious that just one or two more “eduardo/sagnas” would have won us the league despite the injuries.
Rafael Van Der Vaart just went to Real Madrid for 7 million pounds!!!
That is Wenger price range! Five years ago we would be going for that kind of player for that kind of price. I dont want or need or clamor for big money signings. I just want 1 or 2 more competent 24 to 26 year for a reasonable price. That is NOT pessimism.
PS: You are expecting 20+ goals from Eduardo this next season???
Really???????????????????????
I mean, REALLY???????????????????????
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I thought it was clear that I meant an extra 20+ goals from Van Persie AND Eduardo.
And I am hopeful that Wenger may still make an additional signing in that “24-26″ year old category. There’s certainly enough time.
I think Vela, Ramsey and Wilshere will also play important support roles this season, giving some depth to the squad. For example, I would be more confident with Ramsey in the side over Gilberto - he gave us NOTHING last year.
August 3rd, 2008 at 7:33 pm
“I would be more confident with Ramsey in the side over Gilberto - he gave us NOTHING last year.”
Really? Yes, Gilberto was a donkey last season, but at the end of the season when he played the big games he acquitted himself quite well.
Gilberto is a 6foot 3inches veteran. Ramsey is a 17year old 5foot 9inches apprentice. I was never a big fan of Gilberto ….but where does the confidence in Ramsey over Gilberto come from?
At the end of the season when Fabregas, Nasri, Adebayor are really dead tired the likes of Wilshere and Ramsey will be incredibly lightweight and useless.
Apart from Vela and Bendtner we really dont have a bench.
August 4th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Where does the confidence from Ramsey come from? Have you been watching pre-season?! And apparently he lit up the FA Cup final when he came on.
I was a huge fan of Gilberto, but is it any wonder that he is now playing in Greece? When it came to it, NO big clubs, in England, Spain, or Italy came in for him. That says it all.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Actually, Everton came in FOR him and offered Arsenal a larger transfer fee!!!
It was Gilberto’s decision to go to Greece because the pay was much larger - which is fair considering this is his last big contract.
Have I been watching pre-season???
Yeah, I have and I have seen him look like a slightly better version of Randall … I have also seen become out shone by Wilshere.
Ramsey is a talented youngster….but if we have a spate of injuries and its March next year … is it really Ramsey you would be hedging you bets on the hold it down??
Isnt that kind of pressure ridiculous on a 17 year old ???
What exactly is wrong with going out and buying 2 24-27 year olds for about 6 to 8 million each????
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
As could be expected, youtube has a boatload of awesome videos about the 89 title win at Anfield. My favorite though is probably the 9-minute one about the parade and celebrations in Islington. Legions of Gooners celebrating their first title in 18 years, and in such dramatic fashion. 18 years… puts the current lack of silverware into perspective.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
anyone saw the match Vs Real? i missed the game. heard that wilshere did well again with his 15 mins of action.
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:18 pm
@ Yawn. try ebay, there are football nuts there selling old video/dvds, i bidded an old Arsenal season 88/89 review, our 94 Cup Winners’ cup final match Vs Parma.. the price was affordable.
mind u though, if you don’t wanna fall asleep midway of the match, better buy the review highlight version, not the full match version! ; ) particular that Cup Winners’ cup final, it really bored my pant out!
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
LDE, i m with u. i wont’ say we will surely win it, but i have faith that we have a real chance winning it.
also wanna point out a few points of our opponents that they are not unbeatable:
MANCHESTER UNITED -
one thing ppl probably haven’t paid much attention. United’s assistant, that coach from Portgual,( his name slip my mind, Carlo Q or something), has left United for Portugal national team. his important to Man U should not be underestimated. Fergie is rather a great manager than a great coach. over the years he always relied on a good right hand man. Kidd, McClaren, Carlos Q.
and the fact that Man U had won the title past 2 season coincident with the time Carlo Q back to join them showed me he’s impact to the club has been significantly overlooked.
CHELSEA -
A.Grant hadn’t really changed the Chelsea side much from the Jose days. so they did well last term. steability was the key. now u got a new manager who hasn’t managed club football for over a decade. and as far as i m concerned managing a national team is quite different from a club side.
and those current players Chelsea had were asembled by Jose to play a certain type of football. now apparently Roman wants them to play attractive football. to me, it’s like all a sudden asking Arsenal players to play defensive football. players, however talented they are, have a different type of mind set. that’s why different type of managers would want different type of players. had George Graham in charged the past few years, Dennis Bergkamp would have been forced out of door, so did Pires, Henry. those players were never GG’s cup of tea.
so can big Phil change his team (’s playing style and mentality) upside down in one season?
LIVERPOOL -
the fact that they wasted 18 mil on Robbie Keane says it all. Rafa is brilliant when working his tactic, not so much on working the transfer market.
SPURS -
17 mil for Bentely looks like a DBII to me (Darren Bent II).
and it’s the same old cr*p like last summer - spent spent spent, here we go, lot of great (names) players, this is going to be our season!
how about new players need time to settle in? how about with big spending come bigger expectation? WHY martin jol was sacked last season anyway? Had him never spent that much, he probably would have kept his job, a bit longer i believe.
August 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
You also have to remember that Ramos is a winner!
Spending is only bad if you buy the wrong players or if you are spending money you dont have. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with it. They have the money and they spend it…simple!
Ramos is someone we should be afraid of. The way he is shipping out the likes of Tainio, Robinson, and co. at a very fast pace it is quite obvious he is a no-nonsense kind of guy.
August 3rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
No chance of winning it “as currently constituted”.
NONE.
What would it be based on? Tell me what we have done to improve the team from last year. It makes no sense to say “we will win the league”.
We might add someone before the season starts, and maybe someone in January? But who would bet on that occuring? And by someone, I don’t mean a “project” or someone under 21.
You can enjoy your unbridled optimism all you like, but I am very unimpressed (so far) which the off-season moves, and any chance of trying to build on last season, and make the team better.
I am sure the Fulham and Sunderland and Newcastle fans are full of optimism too… everyone is before the first match. Its natural. But when we are supposed to be vying for trophies every year, and we only really are after the CL and League… then its all very unrealistic to think it possible.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
well i m just pointing out some potential weaknesses of our rivals that’s all. and the not every team’s prospect look better than us. every team has its own strength and weakness. depends on what angle u look at it.
personally no point just pointing out our own weaknesses, while hyping up our rivals’ strength.
and please Stag, as a FAN, of any football club, you don’t write off ur own team with stuffs like “no chance of winning it”.
this is one lousy attitude. Football is football, anything can happen. and our current team is not as bad as you thought.
i don’t wanna oppose ur opinion everytime, but statement like that it really get to me. if i wanna read stuffs like that written about our team, i might as well go to Spurs/Man U/Chelsea forum.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Fred, i agree spending is bad when u buy the wrong player. IMO, 17 mil on Bentley is a very bad piece of business.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Forget the price tag on Bentley, unless he was free they shouldn’t have bothered. Same goes for lots of the players they have signed this off-season. I wrote a letter to the F365 mailbox which happened to be published today on this very same issue. Spurs were 5th in the League last year in both goals scored (66) and goals allowed (61). You tell me what caused that 11th place finish. For the life of me I can’t figure out why they are buying so many attacking players while completely neglecting their back line, which is the area that clearly needs the most improvement.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
What do u mean he should be free?
I mean we cant mock Spurs much about Bentley when we have Eboue can we???
Bentley is better than Walcott and Eboue combined. And those two are OUR right midfielders!
Dont forget that no matter how we hate him … Bentley was trained COMPLETELY under Wengerball. He is not some whack-ass English player like Stewart Downing.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Yes in terms of HYPE, Bentley is surely better than Walcott and Eboue combined together, u may throw Nasri in it as well.
In one or two years’ time, Walcott will take over the England starting place from rat face down the right flank. u can mark my words on this.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-l5YDNnK2M&feature=related.
This is what 1989 was all about. Stay w/ it, the quality does improve. When you search for Arsenal,1989, you’ll also find a 9min movie that follows 2 Arsenal supporters on the count down to that historic win starting w/ the loss to Derby(!). The curly headed guy reminds of stag133. See if you don’t agree.
We are going into this season w/ a lot of promise but not as strong as we were last season. In this, I agree w/ Fred. That strength got extra points and a better finish but the vagaries of the season did us in. Since this Arsenal, we might as well put “bad luck and troubles” into any equation for where we’ll finish. It’s never about how we start but about how we finish.
Right now, we’ve got Fabregas and Toure still in training. I’ll be nervous if they don’t get into the Amsterdam Tournament for some match play tune ups. Our Real Madrid line up failed to score a goal from open play and that concerns me.
Forget Rosicky and Eduardo because if we really NEED them by November, December, then we are in the crapper.
Wilshere is getting the no.19 shirt. This kid just continues to impress. If he can avoid injury, ego and the British media machine, then we could have something big on hands.
According to the Guardian, we’ve ask Pool to lower their 18mil valuation of Alonso. Maybe so, maybe not. This is not the first inkling that we’ve been sniffing around him. Benitez is in a corner, he wants Barry but has to come up w/ 18mil and he needs to get rid of Alonso to finance that deal. Nobody (but us?) wants Alonso and certainly not for 18mil. August 31th will be interesting again for us this year.
Chelsea smoked Flamini’s team 5-0. AC Milan have no defense and no CF’s. They do have a nice, new shiny DM and a new striker who is in China choking down smog.
Chelsea will start the season w/ just one striker, Anelka. Boo, hoo.
Pool w/ the Keane transfer have improved their attack.
Imagine where ManU would have been if Saha (remember him) had been healthy. They are still the team to dethrone.