Arsenal 2003/04
Starting 11:
​
Goalkeeper: Jens Lehmann
Centre backs: Sol Campbell, Kolo Toure
Full backs: Lauren (Left), Ashley Cole (Right)
Midfielders: Patrick Viera, Gilberto Silva ( Centre)
Robert Pires (Left)
Freddie Ljungberg
Strikers: Thiery Henry, Danny Bergkamp
​
​
Substitutes (With more than 5 appearance):
​
Antonio Reyes
Sylvain Wiltord
Ray Parlour
Edu
Pascal Cygan
Gael Clichy
Formation: 4-4-2
Simple, Direct football.
Defending:
-
only Henry will put pressure on the opponent, Bergkamp will move back and the two wingers will cover the passing lane of the opponent to the side so it is easier for the two fullback (Cole and Lauren) to defend.
-
The two central midfielders covers the defensive line great making it extremely hard to break through for the opponent.
-
One of the two centre midfielder drop back when attacking and became like a third centre back. It is mostly Gilberto Silva.
Attacking:
When attacking, they are very straight forward.
-
-The two strikers and wingers will do a lot if switching positions and sometimes the two full backs will do overlap.
-
Henry was originally a winger before he became a striker when he came to Arsenal, so he always drift wide when attacking, giving space for the wingers to cut inside.
-
Bergkamp is a striker, but he played more like a Attacking midfielder. He always drop back and help the build up play. He can always find the run of the striker of the wingers and then it lead to a goal easily.
Henry and Bergkamp
-
Striker Henry scores 30 goals in the league, which is 41% of the whole teams goal in total (73) and he was the top scorer of the league.
-
Out of his whole career Henry score the most goal per season in this season.
-
This partnership contributed 41% of the whole teams assist.
-
Their style fits each other. Henry is good at getting in behind the defenders more than relying on wing crosses, and at the same time Bergkamp is good at creating chances in the middle and giving deadly through passes.
-
Henry loves to move to the wing and stay wide although he is a striker, and Bergkamp usually stay central to fill up Henry’s spot
Other Title competitors
Chelsea:
-
New club owner Abramovich decided to spent £100 million to sign new players for the club, and some of them are unnecessary. Their new team take times to work together well
-
Arsenal only had one major change to their team which is their goalkeeper.
Manchester United:
-
United’s star player David Beckham was sold to Real Madrid before the season starts.
-
Their first choice centre back Rio Ferdinand were injured for the final four months of the season.
-
Therefore their squad has been weakened a lot and they are not as strong as the year before when they were the champion.