ARSENAL going 49 games unbeaten in the Premiership is quite an achievement.
I think it was ten games ago that people were talking about Sunday's game against Manchester United as being potentially the one where the record would finish. It just shows the magnitude of what they have done when they have gone 40 games unbeaten and people are looking to the 50th one against United.
But Man United being Man United put an end to it.
It's a massive achievement no matter what level of football you are playing, and, while I know records are there to be beaten, I doubt if it will ever be done again.
There are always days when you have an off-day, you get a man sent off or are hit with an injury crisis. But with Arsenal it shows what strength in depth they have in their team.
When people are out injured or suspended, there's an international waiting to come in who could make the starting line-up of any Premiership team.
Arsene Wenger has got together a squad now that's not just going to hold their own in the league but in Europe as well and in that respect, they are looking like that Man United team of three or four years ago.
Because they are so strong, they are putting the fear factor into the opposition so that even before a ball is kicked, they have written themselves off.
I don't know how they have managed to keep it going for so long, but I think that is why everybody wants to tap into Wenger and what he is doing.
What he does is get a belief and togetherness in his players and slowly add something extra to them along the way. You don't really see them going out and getting loads of new players in.
Manchester United have made a significant amount of changes in the last few months so it will take time for them to come back.
Arsenal, on the other hand, have had their transitional period and have managed to stay together a couple of seasons.
As a manager, you have got to learn from the best. Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson are the two people you put on a pedestal but they both have their own very different qualities.
Wenger gets inside people's minds and is very psychologically clued up. You don't often see him screaming and shouting and he makes sure the players are the best prepared physically and mentally, whereas Ferguson has always been a bit more dictatorial. Both elements can work and they are both good at how they do it.
I have been managed by both types in my time and I feel there's a time and a place for both styles. There's a time when you scream and bawl and throw tea-cups around and there's a time when you have got to be a bit cuter.
Relating to the last game at Barnet, we have gone in at half time and have had to say one or two things about what's going on. A few choice words were spoken, a bit irate to say the least, and we certainly got a response from them and for a 25-minute spell we were on top.
But you have to know when they need a lift. One thing you have to understand is that they are all human. Someone's lack of form can be for a totally different reason.
You have got to know them as individuals, then you have to use that knowledge to decide whether they want a pat on the back or a kick up the backside.
If you rant and rave all the time, people just switch off and you don't get through.
Updated: 10:38 Thursday, October 28, 2004
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