http://www.oleole.com/blogs/arseblog/posts/portsmouth-preview--arsecast-144 Keeper... Jens Lehmann [GER] Full-back... Bacary Sagna [FRA], Ashley Cole [ENG] Centre-back... Sol Campbell [ENG], Martin Keown [ENG] Midfield... Gilberto [BRA], Patrick Vieira [SEN], Cesc Fabregas [SPA] Forward... Thierry Henry [FRA], Dennis Bergkamp [NET], Robert Pires [FRA]
I don't know if Sagna is better than Lauren, and arguments can be made for Freddy Ljungberg, Ray Parlour, Robin van Persie, and Kolo Toure. Overall, though, that team is hard to beat.
For me I would change a couple of names. Lehmann is a great choice as goalkeeper seeing as he has won a handful of titles with us, but I think David Seaman would a more worthy candidate. Seaman had almost three times the amount of appearances over Lehmann, and was also around during Arsenal's 'Golden Age'. If anyone should get the 'keeper position, it should be Seaman. I completely agree with the fullbacks. Ashley Cole was and is (a ****) a fantastic player. Lee Dixon was a fantastic right-back for us and I have have a mind of adding him to the squad, so I'm sort of stuck between him and Sagna. Sagna is one of the best buys Wenger has ever made in the last couple of seasons and will definitely blossom in to a world class full-back, if he isn't one already. Like you said before, we could fit Lauren in there and Clichy deserves an honorable mention for the left-back position.. Clichy could possibly overtake Ashley's title assuming he stays fit and with the club. So as it stands, I'd go with Ashley Cole and Lee Dixon (sorry Sagna!). Centre-back is a very hard one to choose. We have the choice between Sol Campbell, Tony Adams (Arsenal's greatest captain, in my opinion), Kolo Toure, Martin Keown, or William Gallas. For me, it's a pretty fair fight between Adams, Campbell, and Keown. I'll give it to Campbell and Adams... For the midfield, there isn't really any arguing Fabregas and Viera. I don't really think Gilberto is a good choice, but then again, he did go for 4-3-3. If I went for the classic 4-4-2, I would put Pires on the left, Fabregas and Viera down the centre, and Ljungberg on the right. What a class team. For up-front (seeing as I went 4-4-2), I would put Thierry Henry (254 apps, 174 goals) and Dennis Bergkamp as a supporting striker. Other mentions: Marc Overmars, Liam Brady, Pat Jennings, Pat Rice, Nigel Winterburn, Steven Bould, and David O'Leary should all be in there too!
You still left in guys who left in or before 00 including a few of them who'd been retired for decades (Rice, etc.), so I dunno if you're drunk or what. I forgot Adams was still on the team in the very early 00's. He was on the domestic and overall team of the decade at that point as well but at the tail end of his career... since you can't really add the Adams of the 90s to the team I think he'd miss the cut purely because he was over the hill. Dixon peaked in the 90s as well. Certainly the idea with Gilberto is to have the defensive midfielder in that formation but you can go for broke and replace him with Freddy if you want to just have the most skilled players. Seaman vs. Lehmann... like Adams, Seaman crushed in the 90s but was fading in the 00s... when Lehmann replaced him he immediately played every game that season and gave up like 26 goals in 38 games, which is out and out spectacular... then he won best goalkeeper in 05/06 despite Arsenal finishing fourth... I dunno, I'd pick crazy Jens.
My 11 would be: Lehman Lauren Toure Campbell Cole Ljungberg Vieira Fabregas Pires Bergkamp Henry Gilberto very, very, very unlucky to miss out.
I'm wary because I don't know if he's physically up to it. Probabally dropped a step or two, and maybe not enough endurance to runout a match properly. This could lead to him giving away silly fouls. But if he's just been brought in to play reserves, and to mentor the young guys; then I like it.
