Arsenal was the one team in Europe that had the largest number of its players playing for various countries at the 2006 World Cup.

By: Ole Gunner

I really am sick of hearing about why Manchester United will win the league because they “have more strength in depth” than Arsenal. Just what does this mean really? That the Manchester United players can each benchpress 300 lb at the depth of the ocean floor?

I personally am not buying it. I did not believe all those pundits during the close season when they told us the Spuds were going to push us out of the Big 4 this year. I remember arguing with every singe Arsenal fan I knew who believed we had no hope this year. I didn’t believe it then. And now I am even more convinced that our squad is as strong as any in England bar Chelsea. Here are ten reasons why.

1. Manchester United have lost 4 times in the league this season. Arsenal have lost just once. The Premier League is what shows the depth of your squad. I think it is absurd to say that the team that has lost just once this season is worse than those that have lost four or more times each. In Europe Arsenal are recognised for what we are The strongest team in England. Just yesterday, Carlos Ancelotti and Filippo both recognised this fact.

2. Arsenal was the one team in Europe that had the largest number of its players playing for various countries at the 2006 World Cup. The players are: Henry, Cole, Adebayor, Gallas, Senderos, Djourou, Toure, Eboue, Rosicky, Fabregas, Gilberto, Van Persie, Lehmann, Walcott. 14 Players in total. That’s more than the number that went to the World Cup from Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United and Juventus. I think that shows the strength of our squad in a very clear way.

3. Arsenal’s squad scores more goals than Manchester United’s. Quite a surprising number of people fail to note this. This season, 14 players have scored for us. Our midfielders have scored 19 goals, even leaving out Walcott’s 2 goals.

For Man Yoo on the other hand 10 players have scored. Only four players have scored 5 or more goals. More damning is that their midfielders have scored just 6 goals this season. As many goals has Rosicky has scored for us.

This stat shows squad depth because a championship winning squad typically draws goals from many sources. If more players are scoring in your squad, it’s obvious you have a strong squad.

4. Half of their squad are dead wood. Giggs is the most exciting player of the Premier League era perhaps. He’s a player I respect a lot. But he is past his prime. As has Scholes. Players like Neville, Silvestre as well are past their prime. Then they have a series of extremely ordinary players like Dong, Fletcher, Park, O’Shea, Brown, Evans, Foster, Kuszczak, Eagles.at least 11 of their 28-man squad may well be playing for Reading.

5. The exploits of our second string have been phenomenal. Last year they hammered Liverpool 6-3 at Anfield, the Spuds home and away, and the midfield quartet of Diaby, Denilson, Fabregas and Walcott completely outplayed the Chelsea all-star midfield of Lampard, Ballack, Essien and Makelele. This year our second string hammered Liverpool, and with 10 men beat Blackburn at Ewood Park. 2 semi/finals in a row is not a bad record considering that for those same seasons the Man United second string got kicked out by lowly opposition at the first try. Our second string have won results for us this season in the Champions League.

6. Arsenal have had a tough time with injuries and absences this season. So has Manchester United by the way. But the Arsenal team have coped much better. Emmanuel Adebayor has had to play most of the season alone upfront but he’s still leading the league in goalscoring. Our main goalscoring threat has been missing most of the season and we still lead the league in scoring. When Toure went missing for the African Nations Cup, the bigmouth pundits said that’d do us in. Instead Senderos stepped up and we extended our lead. For like three games in a row Wenger had a squad of of 14-16 players to chose from. But Arsenal still top the league. As far as I know, the only Arsenal player who has not missed games due to injury this term is maybe Bendtner and maybe Hoyte!

7. Our squad have more experience than it seems they have. They’ve been to the Champions League final. A significant chunk of the team are veterans of the invincible era. Most of them are established internationals who do well for their countries. Senderos is even captain of the Swiss team. So many of them have played more than 100 games in the Premier League. Even Alex Song went to the African Nations Cup and was voted into the tournament all-star team as the best player in his position!

8. I think the best starting 11 of either club is a match for the other. I however think Arsenal has much better options beyond those 11. I think our strongest team now is Almunia Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Rosicky, Hleb, Flamini, Fabregas, Hleb, Adebayor, Van Persie. Man Yoo’s is Van der Sar, Neville (Brown is just as crap but take your pick), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Scholes, Hargrieves, Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney. Benches are, Arsenal; Lehmann, Gilberto, Walcott, Eduardo Senderos; Man Yoo: Carrick, Kuczak, Nani, Anderson O’Shea.

I think having the Captain of Brazil on the bench, A World Cup winner in Lehmann, is self-evident. Our other three players are just as promising as the Man U equivalents but have more experience in the Premier League and in football. And players who don’t even make our bench include such bright lights as Eboue, Bendtner, Diaby and Denilson!

9. The quality of the Arsenal squad is underrated because we haven’t spent as much money on players as have other clubs. That includes the smaller clubs. But this is not the measure. Think about it this way. Carrick, Hargrieves, Nani, Ronaldo and Anderson all cost about £90-100 million which might be how much they’re worth. But if you were going to buy Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Flamini and Diaby you’d better be prepared to shell out at least £90-100. Fabregas might even alone cost a Chelsea or Real Madrid (the silly spenders) £30 million. Arsene buys quality at the right price. It does not by any means mean he buys weaker players.

10. Arsene Wenger says this is the best squad he has ever had. I believe him. I trust the judgement of Arsene over Ferguson’s multiplefold. This squad is one that Arsene selected from scratch. That has a lot of weight in my judgement.

In conclusion, I have to say that Chelsea have a stronger squad than we do. Luckily we have five things they can not have: Class, a good club structure, better and realer fans, a better footballing legacy and philosopher and lastly, the best manager in the world.

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