Sport

Arsenal forever 'Invincible' but greatness debate continues

Kenny Archer

Kenny Archer

Kenny is the deputy sports editor and a Liverpool FC fan.

Liverpool could not cope with Watford and especially Ismaila Sarr, losing their unbeaten record in the league.
Liverpool could not cope with Watford and especially Ismaila Sarr, losing their unbeaten record in the league. Liverpool could not cope with Watford and especially Ismaila Sarr, losing their unbeaten record in the league.

END of. As annoying (and untrue) as that usage usually is, there is definitely no doubt that Liverpool are no longer ‘invincible’.

Watford put that potential accolade beyond question with a destruction of the English league leaders, to the delight of probably everyone apart from supporters of the Anfield Reds.

Especially Arsenal fans.

Yet Liverpool supporters shouldn’t have been confidently expecting to earn that accolade anyway, not with trips to old rivals Everton, champions Manchester City, and – yep – Arsenal still to come.

Those Reds with any intelligence would have been wary of the potential embarrassment associated with premature celebration.

The way Jurgen Klopp’s men have been playing since the winter break their full focus should be on getting more than 90 points to ensure that City cannot catch them rather than thinking about breaking or matching any records.

Especially that ‘invincible’ one.

There’s a good reason why Gunners are so proud of that label - its rarity value.

Quibbles can be (and are) raised about the number of draws Arsenal had (12), with the suggestion being that towards the end of their 2003-4 league campaign they were playing not to lose almost as much as to win.

Yet argue all you like (and football fans love to argue), going unbeaten remains a phenomenal achievement by a magnificent team.

Such was Arsenal's control of games that they never once trailed during the last 20 minutes of games during their entire unbeaten run. They eventually extended their unbeaten league run to 49 matches, and even that only ended in highly controversial fashion at Old Trafford against their then great rivals Manchester United.

However, there’s still debate about the ultimate greatness of that team.

Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ did lose at home to English opponents that season - to Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Success on the European stage is usually the benchmark for greatness and Arsenal’s failure to win the big one counts against them.

There was a certain churlishness about their then manager Arsene Wenger when he talked about the element of luck sometimes involved in winning a Champions League, rather than acknowledging the achievement of the clubs which did so, claiming that it was better to win the Premier League.

Paul Merson repeated that line this week, which weakens the argument even further.

After all, an English team wins the English League every season, obviously. That’s certainly not the case with the Champions League.

You can be sure that Wenger would have recognised the true value of the European Cup had he been able to lift it.

Yet, extending that argument, a team also wins the Champions League every year – but going unbeaten throughout an entire English league campaign happens almost never.

Preston North End are the only other English club to have earned that ‘Invincibles’ crown, way back in the inaugural league season of 1888-89. Of course they only had 22 league games (albeit winning an impressive 18 of those), but they did also win their five FA Cup matches to make for a fully unbeaten season. That also meant they did ‘the Double’ – remember when that was something deemed worth noting?

History rolls on…

The very next season after Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ campaign Chelsea took the (league) title off them, collecting five more points – but they did lose one game. Rather surprisingly in those days, that defeat came at Manchester City.

Two years ago City exceeded Chelsea’s 95-point tally, indeed they reached 100 points (scoring more than 100 goals to boot) – but they still lost two matches.

In terms of assessing the greatest ‘single season’ achievement, the points tally aspect is pretty persuasive, although it must be borne in mind that the totals of the teams at the top have been generally trending upwards.

Besides, as far as points tallies go, last season Liverpool achieved the third highest ever (97), lost just one match (at reigning champions Man City) – and still didn’t win the title.

Having said that, an invincible team could also conceivably get relegated - but the key point is that Arsenal did win the title.

Liverpool will be satisfied, nay delighted, if they do likewise.

Debates about a place in history can, and probably should, wait.

But they won’t.

One of the few upsides of VAR has been the confirmation that debates will never end. Even without almost unprecedented incidents like offside being awarded after a pass backwards or an own goal being ruled out for offside there’ll be disagreements about matters of opinion.

Maybe motivated by Liverpool’s form this season, even after being badly stung by the Hornets, Manchester boss Pep Guardiola talked up their place in history.

He quite rightly pointed out City’s remarkable recent domestic achievements – but, rather than adding gloss, counting Community Shields smacked of unnecessary desperation. Winning the last two Leagues, the most recent FA Cup, and three consecutive League Cup is notable enough surely.

After all, Liverpool haven’t even got one Premier League title, although they are reigning European champions, something that City cannot say…at least not yet.

Widening out to the bigger picture, debates will always rage about the greatness of teams, despite the difficulty of sensibly comparing different eras.

Liverpool might, just might, break through that 100-point barrier reached by City in 2018.

Yet even if they do Arsenal will still have their ‘Invincibles’ tag…