One-Nil to the Arsenal: Part 4 - A Cup Team

0:05Current Arsenal women's physio Gary Lewin. It felt like a continuation to me. Winning the Cup Double the year before and getting into that knockout mentality, I think, really helped us in 94. I think the team, because we actually went into the final with a couple of injuries and suspensions, which made it really difficult. but the biggest thing for me was if you talk to any successful team the biggest thing players and staff will talk about is a camaraderie between the team and I think winning the two Cups the year before really set us in a place where the team spirit was fantastic and there were times when we played I think it was all there away when we really struggled and right he scored an absolute screamer and then the semi-final against PSG.

0:57Righty got booked and he knew that he was suspended for the final. At half-time, he was sitting in the bath crying his eyes out because he knew he was missing the final. Things like that happen. It's that team spirit, that camaraderie that you build up over a period of time that really takes the team to that next level. The final was a classic. Everyone wrote us off in the final against one of the best teams in Europe. We didn't have Righty. We had a couple of injured players as well. I know our midfield was very, very inexperienced. But we all stuck together. We had a game plan. We knew what we wanted to do, and we became boring past them.

1:40On May 4th, 1994, Arsenal travelled to Copenhagen, undermanned and decidedly as underdogs, to face Parma in the European Cup Winners' Cup final. This is 1-0 to the Arsenal, the story of the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup victory. I'm your host, Kent Malmros. Part 4, A Cup Team

2:08With October behind them, Arsenal started November with the second leg of the second-round matchup against Standard Liège. The Gunners had to travel to Belgium for a game on November 3rd, but had a three-goal lead in hand, making that road trip more palatable.

2:27Gary Lewin. Yeah, so for me, the biggest changes were the travel. They're staying in hotels. When you go abroad, you're never quite sure of the standard that you're going to be staying at. The food, the quality of the food. um i mean what we think is pasta and what the italians think of pasta is two different things i remember when arson first come over and he was with the japanese national team they used to take their rice everywhere with their own rice because they couldn't get rice anywhere else in the world so it was things like that and then and then the actual ground the atmosphere in the ground european supporters are very different to domestic supporters um uh the way the pitches are the standard of the pitches, the way the games are refereed are completely different.

3:16As a physiotherapist, the interaction between the officials and you is completely different. Whereas in domestically, you'll be talking English to the referee and you might be having a joke and a laugh and you'll be talking about in Europe it was dead serious and they didn't always speak great English. So it was the finer changes that made the big difference, I think. yeah historically i i remember we once played in our early days in europe we went to ukraine and we had to take all our vacuumed meat with us they vacuumized the meat in these plastic bags put it in freezers and take it with us and we had to go through all the agricultural laws and all the permits and licenses to take that with us so yeah i mean it's changed it has changed dramatically

4:09Not only did that win give Arsenal a commanding lead in the round, but it also created discord at standard as manager Ari Hahn, who had been with the team since July of 1991, left his position just days after the 3-0 defeat. He was succeeded by Rene van der Aiken, who was at the helm on November 3rd when the two sides met again, though the outcome would ultimately contribute to making his tenure short-lived as well. That day was celebratory for the Gunners, before the whistle even blew as Ian Wright's 30th birthday gave the team an off-field rallying cry. Happy birthday to you! Thank you. Happy birthday to you!

5:09Though with a yellow card in the competition already, Graham kept right out of the matchday squad to avoid the chance of a second yellow and subsequent suspension. renowned arsenal historian tim stillman and i think a lot of us had a lot of curiosity about what's this going to look like without ian wright like how are we even going to play like because he just played all of the games all of the time and you know never substituted or anything like that so you know it's like oh it looks like he's gone a bit 4-3-3 here and um you know like i said earlier that ends up being unwittingly a dress rehearsal for the final in a very different way I think in the final it's much more of a 4-5-1 than a 4-3-3 whereas I think there's almost the sense in this game that probably they just had a level of freedom that they weren't really getting um at that stage under George where you're 3-0 up Ian Wright's not playing as well it's almost like um you know it's almost like they're allowed to play acid jazz you know they don't have to play the hits in this one it's like they can have a bit of a yeah i can have a bit of a jamming session um here and and actually that's that's a slightly uh i think underrated element of george graham's management that that he did let them off the leash sometimes there's a story in the year um in the preceding this they play in the 93 charity shield against manchester united they go to penalties weirdly david seaman ends up taking a penalty and missing and apparently one of the and he's i think he's like the fourth penalty taker so arson were not taking it seriously and uh it turned out afterwards that george graham had no idea that the game was going to go to penalties um they because they used to just share the charity shield if there was a draw and i think this was the first year they introduced penalties and he had no idea so when they came to do that so there were some very odd penalty takers like it's not who you'd think and it really was because he was like yeah I don't care go on then you can take one but also like something you would not associate with George Graham that there were you know like the players used to call him Gaddafi but there were times I mean when you look at maybe some of the drinking habits of some of those players there were times where he turned a blind eye to things and I think this game this second leg was probably a bit of, you know, not that George doesn't care, you know, but we've probably got a bit of freedom here.

7:42Without right, it was fair to wonder who would provide the goals. But that proved an unfounded concern as Arsenal delivered a record-breaking performance against Liege. Legendary Arsenal striker, Alan Smith. Well, yeah, I mean, as you say, we certainly didn't expect to be rattling home, was it seven away from home uh you know so yeah i mean i got the first goal that night which which was a nice one for me as i said i wasn't scoring freely that season so um to get us off the mark in europe that was pleasing nice volley kind of at the far post but then i twisted my ankle and i had to come off um but uh that was disappointing but to see see us rattling home those goals it was uh it was fantastic and i suppose at that point you're thinking oh hold on a minute you know we might have a chance in this competition.

8:33We're looking pretty good. And the further you go along, the more comfortable you get in playing in Europe and against different sorts of opponents. So, yeah, it was a bit of a standout game for us. I'm sure the fans at that point thought, oh, we've got a chance this year.

8:55Within two minutes of the opening whistle, Arsenal had put the tie away. Paul Merson delivered a beautiful weighted cross from just outside the top right corner of the box to a plunging Alan Smith to make it 1-0 and 4-0 in aggregate.

9:14It's Merson. It looked maybe to banish any doubts at all with a goal. Here's Merson taking that ball from Selly. Smith on the far side! And exactly what Arsenal required! That opening goal is a little more than two minutes gone. And that's good night, standard liege. Only Alan Smith's second goal of the season. And what a good one it was. Excellent work by Merson leading to it. And Smith, who pulled away on that far side, getting the volley 1-0. No one would have blamed Graham and his team for moving in neutral at that point and relying on the famous back four to simply lock down the rest of the game and help the team advance to the quarterfinals.

10:04Instead, a long line of gunners had a chance to add their names to the score sheet. It took another 18 minutes, but the second strike came on a counterattacking action. After a rare Liege opportunity, David Seaman collected a cross, played a throw early to Lee Dixon, who delivered a 60-yard progressive pass to Kevin Campbell on the right channel. Super Kev picked his head up, saw Smith and Merson streaking towards the net, and delivered a cross of his own. Merson couldn't quite handle it, but managed a touch that acted as a perfect layoff for a sprinting Ian Selle, who finished the team's second goal with an audacious outside foot strike that rifled into the bottom corner of the net.

10:442-0. And here's Winterbone for Arskel. Trying to get it down the line. Cut out once again. was by Jenner well handled though by Seaman and Dixon quick on the break and Campbell even quicker on the break Smith and Merson are waiting in the middle will it come to Merson it may not but it might come to City it's another one for Arsenal

11:22Terrific goal by Youngie and Selle. And Arsenal go two in the lead. What a great break, starting from Dixon, taken on by Campbell. The cross came in, the ball came loose, and Selle walloped it home for number two. And they were far from done. Tony Adams and Campbell each added on before halftime, making it 4-0. thing.

11:56Arsenal back to full strength, Alan Smith back on and taking up a position inside that standard liage six yard area. As Paul Davis will hoist another corner in for Arsenal, leading by two goals to nil, 5-0 on aggregate.

12:15and knocked in and pushed away, Tony Adams! It's 3-0!

12:30This is developing into a route now. Beautiful corner served in well there by Davis, Campbell knocked it out, Vidalong can only shovel it out to Adams.

12:56Kevin Campbell 41 minutes gone 7-0 on aggregate Brainstoff again just lifting it over Murneron it's not just a rout it's a massacre now incredible performance and all remember without Ian Wright.

13:22Even as a fan, Wright was impressed by his teammates. Then Campbell scored again along with Merson and Eddie McGoldrick in the second half. Came off Merson. McGoldrick.

13:42He's gone around his man beautifully. There's the cross coming in towards Masson!

13:49Well, if anybody deserved a goal tonight, it was Paul Masson. Now, that's Arsenal's fifth, and they lead 8-0. And Standard have never been an English side in European competition. Masson with number five.

14:09A gold rack. The little touch again for Davis. Kept things moving along nicely through the midfield. Davis and his good work by Eddie McGoldrick. And it's another one! And it's Campbell!

14:25And probably got the touch. And Arsenal take the score to six and the aggregates to nine.

14:38Goldrick did so well here yes and Campbell just got the touch that mattered his second goal Arsenal's sixth

14:54safe landing again by Seymour not only that a super tour but since Merson racing forward McColdrick again. What an amazing goal to David McColdrick.

15:12Sheer simplicity from one end of the field to another. An astonishing goal on a truly astonishing night. The leg would end 7-0, the tie 10-0, and Arsenal sailed through to their quarterfinal matchup, though they'd have to wait until March to take that next step in their European quest. It was a game that a few thousand fans watched on brand new Jumbotron screens at Highbury, so they had a chance to celebrate together. It gave the Arsenal community a strong start to what would be an up and down month domestically. Because just three days later, Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa 2-1. Then a congested end of the month proved better, with the Gunners beating Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on the 20th, before managing just a 0-0 draw at West Ham on the 24th, but finally beating Newcastle at home 2-1 on the 27th.

16:05Those results had Arsenal in third place domestically, but already well off the pace of Manchester United. That meant that season was, once again, headed towards a cup focus.

16:21Alan Smith. Well, we had become a cup team, it's fair to say, although we hadn't won a cup during that little spell. That was the disappointing aspect, I think, everybody involved who'd been there when we'd won the league in 89 and 91. And then we kind of tailed off and we weren't challenging at the top, but we'd still got that amazing back four, stroke back five. and Ian Wright came to the club and, you know, obviously fantastic goal scorer. So we were kind of, we turned into this quite efficient cup team, which was a bit of a disappointment for us all. But he ended up winning trophies. So, but yeah, I do remember obviously the experience.

17:08As I say, we were having won the league a couple of times, then we weren't league challenges. So we're all disappointed about that. the players that have been involved. But the back four, the stroke back five was still, you know, our strength really. And Ian Wright had come to the club who could nick a goal out of nowhere. So we were a good cup team. And so it proved in the next few years. But George Graham decided to change the makeup of the side because he thought we were too open in the European Cup when we got knocked out by Benfica. And he changed to 4-3-3 in Europe to make us more solid in midfield.

17:46So on a Saturday, we'd play 4-4-2. Then on the Monday morning, we'd work on shape for the upcoming Wednesday game, as it normally was. And it worked really well. It made us more solid and obviously got us all the way through. But I don't think we had any massive expectations because compared to some others in the league at home, we weren't one of the best. so it's not like we went into it as favorites or anything like that, but we just hope that we give it a good go.

18:22The end of November gave the team a chance to avenge its loss against Villa just a few weeks earlier when the two sides met for a fourth-round League Cup match at Highbury. A 1-0 loss took the Gunners out of the competition and meant that for a Cup-focused team, they had two opportunities left for glory, the FA Cup and still the Cup Winners' Cup. Fortunately, Graham had built the squad just for this moment.

18:53Journalist Amy Lawrence. But what happened next was the Arsenal, the axis started to shift away from them being a league team to being a cup team. it's still even now a little bit puzzling as to as to why that happened but essentially being hard to beat was one of George's kind of golden aspirations for any team and when Ian Wright joined who was a kind of extraordinary presence to suddenly walk into Arsenal because he just seemed to be so different. He had this crazy energy and he was unpredictable and he wore his heart on his sleeve and nobody knew what he was going to do and he was a showman and, you know, this sort of slightly uptight Arsenal, you know, well-behaved class vibe.

19:55He was very different. But what happened was that it made George Graham realize that his two finest qualities in his team were his phenomenal back four that he created. And Ian Wright, who was this live wire striker who could do amazing things on his own. so I guess because of that it was just too tempting to to to be drawn into those two high high qualities as being the most important aspects of the team so maybe the the entirety of the team with different aspects got a little bit lost along the way so suddenly the league form dipped but as a cup team all the ingredients were there you you want to score against arsenal good luck uh can they get a goal against you yup if they do can you get back into the game not very easily so that's brilliant for cup football and in the you know they were very successful at it In 1993, they won two domestic trophies, both the first time it had ever been done to win them both.

21:19By being dogged and resilient and competitive and turning it on on a one-off occasion. And the next step was George's obsession. You know, taking that cupped team aspect into Europe was massive.

21:44Social media has created an echo chamber. Timelines for analysis are short, and the race to reach conclusions is fast. We take for granted that our ability to process events historically used to require time. Well, now we prejudice the historical significance of something happening in real time. But the immediate need to create historical context has always existed in sports to some degree. Football is no different. Whether it's an involuntary neurological response to embed the moment in your brain by creating contextual importance, or maybe the desire to compare something superhuman that you've just experienced to something in the past, in order to make sense of that surreal event you've seen in the present.

22:34It shouldn't be a surprise that before Twitter Instancy existed, there was an immediate sense in the early 90s that Arsenal shifted from league dominance to a cup team. On the surface, it's shocking because Graham's Gunners won the league in 89 in legendary fashion at Anfield, and then again two years later in 91. The idea that same squad was somehow no longer focused on the Premier League when the 93-94 campaign started was certainly wrong. But also the notion that focus had shifted to cups was already conceived, internalized, and accepted, not just by the fan base, but also by the players and the media.

23:22Arsenal great, Nigel Winterburn. I don't think we discussed it in great detail I think when you're on the start of a journey You get a feeling with a club and a group of players And you're sort of right We turned into a little bit of a cup team But I would say it would be later than after Because in 1991 we won the league only losing one game which is where I do some of the tours at the club now and I call myself nearly an invincible. So it wasn't too far away, that Chelsea away loss. So we were still a brilliant, brilliant league team. But I think you see that it's... I don't know for us, it seemed to, after we won the league, you hit such a high and you want to go on and achieve something greater but it is right, teams around you want to beat you that following season obviously we didn't do it again in 90 but we did it again in 91 92 no but then the 93 the 93 season was I know it did feel a little bit as if, you know, maybe you still focus on the league because the league is what you're really judged by.

24:59But we just had brilliant runs in the League Cup and the FA Cup in 93. And it did feel as if it was like it was a cup, you know, it turned into almost a bit of a cup team. But I don't think, you know, we felt, oh, we're not good enough to win the league now. Because when you've won stuff, you just think you can win everything. And then obviously Europe is, once you start winning things domestically, everybody, I don't know whether we talked about it as a group, But you know there's a feeling that you want to try and test yourself against some of the best teams in Europe, depending on what the competition we're in.

25:47But it didn't really matter back then what competition you're in. You were usually up against some very, very big and very, very strong teams.