Qwiss! wrote:
General wrote:
The 07/08 team were anything but bottlers. It may have lacked quality in a few areas but it is the most cohesive team Wenger has produced post Highbury. Bottlers don't come back from 2-0 down on a rain soaked pitch away to Bolton in March to win 3-2 against all odds. The team overcame many adversities from lack of depth, to injuries and some downright bad officiating to record our highest points total in the Emirates era. It is no coincidence that we haven't managed to hit 80+ points since and the PL was brutal back then. I think we finished 4points off the top in the end. Don't forget also that this was the same season United and Chelsea competed in the CL final.
So even against distracted teams who were playing more games they couldn't do it. Just look at the main players in that team. Almunia, Gallas, Fabregas, Adebayor, Hleb. What a spineless spine that is. Beating a Bolton team that barely avoided the drop is hardly a great show of character.
The spine included Sagna too who was frankly immense until he picked up an injury at Chelsea and we lost the game. Context is very important when looking at the 07/08 team. United were very strong and they only played a few more games than us as we made it into the CL quarter finals. Chelsea also picked up form after Hiddink took over. Both had massive squads back then. We played Liverpool 3times within a short space of time and it was impossible to get result in the league as our squad was massively overstretched.
I think you are doing the team a massive deservice. Bolton was the equivalent of the Sunderland team today we've struggled to beat for the past two seasons. That game was intense and bottlers don't emerge from it with anything especially considering the circumstances. Diaby was sent off for an innocuous challenge and the task from 2-0 down was impossible.
It wasn't just the Bolton game, we equalised in the last minute against United at home earlier in the season. The team might not have looked great on paper but it was solid and compact on the pitch. Fergie has won the league with far worse teams. The media managed to twist the narrative around Gallas's sitting protest after Brum and ignored one of the most incompetent refereeing display you'd ever see from Mike Dean. It was downhill from here and it became impossible to escape the constant media scrutiny.
