Van Gaal appointed United manager, Giggs retires (Confirmed)

How many of the following is the "unbeaten" season really better than?

1998/99 when we won the Premier League, and won the FA Cup and the Champions League undefeated

1999/2000 when we won the world title - first ever English team - and the Premier League with 91 points

2000/01 when we won the Premier League for the third consecutive time, getting to keep the trophy permanently

2007/08 when we won the Premier League and won the Champions League undefeated

2008/09 when we won our third consecutive Premier League title - first team to do it twice - the League Cup, the Community Shield and won the World Championship for the second time, something no other English team has ever achieved once

The Premier League is a great competition to win, but it's only one competition. There are others, and Arsenal got slapped around by half of Europe in those, even getting eliminated by an English team in the UCL.

Scott_LFC wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:League performance by position since 2004/05.



Liverpool's claims to be "on the up" look even more ridiculous when you look at this chart.  This season looks like a normal continuation in a series of dizzying peaks and abysmal troughs that they've spent the last decade experiencing.

Shows the stagnation of Arsenal, which was the original point.

#REKT

Keyser Söze wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:

European Cup > all. You'll probably never witness Arsenal win a big trophy

As for currently more successful. You're also currently more successful than Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man United, Barcelona, etc.

Unbeaten PL season > European Cup > all. Scrub teams have won a "European Cup", it's only 13 games. Only one team has gone an entire PL season unbeaten.

And you didn't even witness it!

An unbeaten season is more difficult than a treble, IMO.

Scott_LFC wrote:

Keyser Söze wrote:

Unbeaten PL season > European Cup > all. Scrub teams have won a "European Cup", it's only 13 games. Only one team has gone an entire PL season unbeaten.

And you didn't even witness it!

Oh, good one Scott!

Even though I was 3, I was still alive when it happened.

Keyser Söze wrote:

Scott_LFC wrote:



And you didn't even witness it!

Oh, good one Scott!

Even though I was 3, I was still alive when it happened.

Fucking embarrassing.

I was alive when we last won the League.

Vela wrote:An unbeaten season is more difficult than a treble, IMO.

It's a weird achievement because nobody really aims for it at the start of the season, in itself it's not worth anything, it's only an achievement if you win the title. If you want to win the title you aim to win your games and that means you risk losing, and it's not a big deal. You need to be lucky enough to get pretty close to the end of the season before you even start aiming for it, that's if you can afford to risk draws.

The Treble is different in that everyone in Europe who is involved in European competition aims for it as their ultimate goal, Quadruples and Quintuples notwithstanding.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Vela wrote:An unbeaten season is more difficult than a treble, IMO.

It's a weird achievement because nobody really aims for it at the start of the season, in itself it's not worth anything, it's only an achievement if you win the title.  If you want to win the title you aim to win your games and that means you risk losing, and it's not a big deal.  You need to be lucky enough to get pretty close to the end of the season before you even start aiming for it, that's if you can afford to risk draws.

The Treble is different in that everyone in Europe who is involved in European competition aims for it as their ultimate goal, Quadruples and Quintuples notwithstanding.

It's a truly unique achievement at the highest level of competition. Especially when the Premier League has long been billed as a league where "anyone can beat anyone". It requires extreme focus, determination, and a lot of luck. For example, Juventus wouldn't have gone 2011-12 unbeaten if Muntari's goal wasn't disallowed. Chelsea conceded an odd penalty and hit the post twice against Manchester City in 2004-05 when they suffered their only loss. Bayern conceded two fluke goals -- one in the 88th minute -- against Leverkusen in 2012 which was their only loss of the 2012-13 season. A match in which Bayern absolutely dominated, but they got unlucky. Arsenal had their own scare but RvN missed a 90th minute penalty.

You can win trebles even though you lose several matches through league, cup, and European competition. As a Bayern glory hunter, this would have been our best chance of ever going a full season unbeaten but the team lost focus after the title. A treble is a greater achievement, but going a full season unbeaten is more difficult IMO.

Speaking of unbeaten seasons, Louis Van Gaal enjoyed an unbeaten season in both the League and the Champions League while achieving the European Double with Ajax in 1995.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Speaking of unbeaten seasons, Louis Van Gaal enjoyed an unbeaten season in both the League and the Champions League while achieving the European Double with Ajax in 1995.

Due to referees