Dennis Bergkamp is one of the greatest players in Arsenal’s history, but even he has admitted to being amazed by the quality of some of his teammates.
The Dutchman arrived as perhaps the highest-profile signing the club had ever made at that point in time, joining from Inter Milan in 1995, and he subsequently won three Premier League titles, going down as an Invincible.
Whilst Bergkamp also played alongside other world-class players in Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira, he has now highlighted legendary defenders Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown for their outstanding contributions during his successes at Arsenal.
Dennis Bergkamp praises Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown
Speaking to David Seaman on the Seaman Says Podcast, Bergkamp claimed that whilst the trio of centre-backs were perhaps not all individually outstanding, their chemistry as a defensive unit was better than any he had seen at Ajax, Inter or the Netherlands National Team.
“The players we had, with Bouldy, Martin Known or Tony Adams in the centre. They were different but in training sometimes we played against them, attackers vs defenders. And in some moments I was trying to get the ball and would shout ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’. And then I got the ball and I looked around me, and I was six yards offside,” Bergkamp claimed.
“Maybe individually they weren’t the best defenders but as a line they were unbelievable. I have never seen that before, how they knew exactly from each other, if one did a step forward the other three would close in at the same time. For me that was an eye-opener.”
Arsenal’s defensive backbone under Arsene Wenger
Although Arsene Wenger was renowned for his philosophy of free-flowing, attacking football, with the likes of Bergkamp, Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil lighting up North London over the years, his three title-winning sides were propped up by rugged defensive solidity.
Adams, Bould and Keown played a huge part in 1998, whilst Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure were the key pairing for the Invincibles.
A midfield pairing of Vieira and Emmanuel Petit helped provide a strong base for Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka to win the first title, and Gilberto Silva later came in to partner Vieira in midfield with the Invincibles.
For every technically outstanding attacking player such as Robert Pires and Marc Overmars, there was a solid base behind them, and many have attributed Arsenal’s lack of league title since to a failure to replace Patrick Vieira’s physical presence in the middle.
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