The Arsenal team that went through the 2003/04 season unbeaten has a good claim to be
the best side ever seen in the Premier League.
Building on the 2001/02 team that went unbeaten away from home all season to claim the
title, Arsene Wenger added Kolo Toure and Gilberto Silva in 2002, and Jens Lehman n
in 2003, to an already superb squad, and achieved
a feat not seen in England’s top flight since
Preston North End managed it in 1888/89.
The team lined up in a nominal 4-4-2, but with Dennis Bergkamp dropping into space and
Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires pushing high ahead of full-backs Ashley Cole and Lauren,
the shape could resemble a 4-2-3-1.
Without the ball, Arsenal pressed, though not as aggressively as many sides do now.
Thierry Henry and Bergkamp would pressure the opposition
defence but once the ball had transitioned into the Arsenal half, Bergkamp
would tend to drop between the lines and Henry would drift out to the left, both players
finding space for the almost inevitable counter-attack.
Behind these two, Arsenal defended with two banks of four, with Gilberto Silva and Patrick
Vieira dropping off to screen the back four.
Gilberto Silva tended to sit deeper anyway and
Vieira would sometimes press across to send the opposition wide before dropping centrally.
The wide midfielders would press if the opportunity arose, supported by Vieira, but the back
four tended to keep their shape more.
The intention was to win the ball back in one on ones,
or to force the opposition to try to play long, engaging the well-drilled Arsenal offside
trap.
All of Arsenal’s back four were quick, too, and Lehmann was a commanding ‘keeper, and
so balls that went too long would be swept up.
Arsenal could then spring forwards on the counter.
While they were not an out-and-out counter-attacking side, and certainly did
not play a counter-press to afford attacking opportunities, their pace and movement was
devastating.
In attack, Sol Campbell stayed deep to sweep, while Kolo Toure, a converted defensive
midfielder, sometimes stepped up into midfield.
Gilberto Silva was the pivot, receiving the ball from the centre-backs and transitioning
it forwards or wide.
Bergkamp would also drop into space, creating a midfield three with
Gilberto Silva and Vieira that gave the team shape
something of a 4-1-2-3.
Ashley Cole and Lauren both played as advanced full-backs, providing width while Pires and
Ljungberg drifted inside.
Patrick Vieira played as a box-to-box midfielder, helping Gilberto
with transitions, carrying the ball himself, or arriving in support of the forwards, Bergkamp
and Henry.
Henry, who with 175 goals and 74 assists in 258 appearances for Arsenal is one the greatest
players to grace the modern game, was the spearhead of the Arsenal attack.
He would often drift wide onto the left before making darting
runs inside, or stay central, bursting into the
box for crosses, dropping off to pass or shoot from distance, and distracting opposition
markers from other Arsenal players’ runs.
Henry was part of a forward line, with Bergkamp and the wide midfielders, that dazzled with
its fluidity, movement, pace, and creativity.
Behind this front four, the two central ​ midfielders and the two full-backs also made
runs from deep, interchanging with the forward line to create an ever-shifting point
of attack that was incredibly hard to mark.
The Arsenal of 2003/04 had a clear tactical identity, with a focus on pace, the ability
to pass key in every position, the use of inside runs
from wide and overlapping full-backs, and the
drifting positions of the forwards.
Having said that, this was also a team whose personnel
were so good and whose natural understanding of movement and runs with and without the
ball, drilled by Wenger but also instinctively understood by players of true brilliance,
made them incredibly hard to beat anyway.
Wenger managed to create a tactical set-up that required excellence throughout the team
to play scintillating football and then recruited
and developed the players who could achieve that.
It was the perfect marriage of system and squad.