Friday, August 31, 2018

Arsenal French Best XI

French Connection
Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.
Arsenal All-Time Team Under Arsene Wenger
Arsenal
France
Arsenal All-Time Team for English Players
Arsenal All-Time Team for Foreign Players

Arsène Wenger joined Arsenal in 1996 and spent 22 years at the club.  During his reign, be brought many French players to the club.  This my selection of the best XI of French players who played with Arsenal FC.  There are approximately 31 French players ever to have played for Arsenal at the time of writing.  This blog was intended for all French players ever to have played for Arsenal.  However, no French player ever played for Arsenal before Wenger.

Team
GK: Guillaume Warmuz
Guillaume Warmuz started with Marseilles in France, but gt his opportunities with Louhans-Cuiseaux FC in 1990.  From 1992 to 2002, he had a relatively successful career with FC Lens.  In 2003, he spent 6 months with Arsenal without playing a single game.  He joined Borussia Dortmund when Jen Lehmann went the other way. He later played for Monaco. 
Guillaume Warmz
RB: Bacary Sagna 
Barcary Sagna his career at Auxerre, before transferring to Arsenal for £7 million in 2007. In 2014, shortly after winning the FA Cup, his first trophy at the club, he made a move to Manchester City. From 2014 to 2017, Sagna played for Manchester City.  He played for France at World Cup Finals in 2010 and 2014, and the European Championship in 2016.
Bacary Sagna 
CB: Laurent Koscielny  
Laurent Koscielny started his career in the lower division in France before moving to Lorient in 2009.  He moved to Arsenal in 2010.  Less than a season later, he was called up to the French national team.  He had also considered playing for Poland.  He played 51 times for France.  He played in the World Cup Finals for 2010 and 2014, but he did not play in the European Championship of 2016.
Laurent Koscielny  
CB: William Gallas
Before joining Chelsea in 2001, William Gallas played for Coen and Marseille in France. In 2006, he moved to Arsenal in a deal that saw Ashley Cole going the other way. In 2010, he moved to Tottenham Hotspurs and became the first player to appear for the three London clubs. Between 2002 and 2010, he earned 84 caps.  he played in the 2006 and 2010 World Cup Finals as well as Euro 2004 and 2008.
William Gallas
LB: Gael Clichy
From 2002 to 2003, Gael Clichy played for Cannes at home. Then, he played for Arsenal from 2003 to 2011. From 2011 to 2017, he played for Manchester City. Clichy earned 22 caps from 2008 and 2014.  He went to two major tournaments: the World Cup Finals in 2010 and the European Championship in 2012.  He played the last match at the World Cup Finals in 2010 after a strike by some of the senior players.
Gael Clichy
CM: Emmanuel Petit
Petit began his career at minor club ES Arques-la-Bataille before being signed by Arsène Wenger's Monaco side at the age of 18.  From 1997 to 2000, he again played for Wenger with Arsenal, establishing the French Connection at the club.  For France, he was a part of the Golden Generation that won the World Cup in 1998, followed by winning the European Championship in 2000. He scored one of the goals in the World Cup Final against Brazil in 1998.
Emmanuel Petit
CM: Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira was an all-time great with Arsenal.  He won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups.  In England. he was famous for his rivalry with Roy Keane.  He spent a season at Juventus, helping the team to the Serie A championship. Following Juventus' relegation , Vieira played for Inter Milan and then, Manchester City for two seasons. With "Les Bleus", he won the WC in 1998 and European Championship in 2000.  He earned 107 caps.
Patrick Vieira 
SS/LW/RW: Sylvain Wiltord 
Wiltord started with Rennes and Bordeaux before moving to Arsenal, winning two Premier League titles and two FA Cups. He also won the Ligue 1 title in each of his 3 subsequent seasons at Lyon.  For France, he was capped 92 times, scoring 26 goals. He scored in the last seconds of the Euro 2000 final that brought the game to extra-time. France then won the final from a golden goal. He is the most capped French player who was not on the 1998 World Cup team.
Sylvain Wiltord 
LW: Robert Pires
Pirès earned 79 caps between 1996 and 2004,  winning both the 1998 World Cup and  Euro 2000.  He started his career with Metz and then, joined Mariselle.  He became famous while playing for Arsène Wenger's Arsenal.  He was the FWA Player of the Year for the 2001–02 season. In 2008, Arsenal fans voted Pirès as the club's sixth greatest player of all time. He later played for Villarreal and Aston Villa.
Robert Pires
FW:  Theirry Henry 
Theirry Henry is the all-time leading scorer for both Arsenal and France.  He was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the FWA Footballer of the Year three times. He spent 8 seasons with Arsenal. He also played for Monaco, Barcelona and NY Red Bulls. He earned over 120 caps, winning the 1998 World Cup played at the home and the following European Championship in  2000.
Theirry Henry 
ST: Olivier Giroud 
Giroud began his career at Grenoble in Ligue 2 before joining Tours in 2008. Gird joined Arsenal in 2012.  He won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and totalled 105 goals in 253 games for the club. In January 2018, he transferred to Chelsea on an 18-month contract.  Since 2011, he has played over 70 times for France.  He played at the 2018 World Cup Finals, where France won their second title.
Olivier Giroud 
Honorable Mention
Samir Nasri, Mathieu Flamini, Abou Diaby, Francis Coquelin, Nicolas Anelka, Alexandre Lacazette.

Squad Explanation
-- This blog was not meant to be for players under Arsene Wenger.  It was intended for all French players ever to have played for Arsenal.  At the time of writing, 31 French players have played for Arsenal's senior side.  Only two of them were signed after the departure of Arsène Wenger.  In effect, this is a team with players under Wenger only.
-- Arsene Wenger's tenure with Arsenal was known for its "French Connection".  
-- I did a blog team for  Arsenal All-Time Team Under Arsene Wenger.  Four French players (Laurent Koscielny, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira) are selected on that team.  
-- Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry are on my Arsenal all-time team.
-- Arsenal has so many French players that every French national team from 1996 to 2018 in a major tournament consisted of at least a single French player.
-- According Transmarkt, France has the largest nationality group in Arsenal after England.  More French players have played for Arsenal than Scots(30 Scots played for Arsenal), but the number is wrong.  I noticed Alex James is not listed among the Scots. So there must be players missing from their data.
-- According to various records, Guillaume Warmz never played a single game for Arsenal, but he is the only French goalkeeper ever on the book of the club.
-- Nicolas Anelka played for Arsenal from 1997 to 1999.   In all, he made 90 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 28 goals altogether for the club.  He secured a big move to Real Madrid from here, but his career here was too short. Olivier Giroud played here much longer, despite his reputation was not as good as Anelka's career over here. He had been here for 6 seasons. So I took Giroud over Anelka.
-- Remi Garde and Patrick Vieria were the first ever French player to sign for Arsenal.  They arrived before Wenger became the manager.  
-- Samir Nasri was the other big name not selected.  I took World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit over him.
-- Arsene Wenger had a successful career with AS Monaco between 1987 and 1994. Emmanuel Petit also played for Wenger with AS Monaco.  He is the only player who played for both clubs under Wenger.  Thierry Henry did not play for him in the senior side of Monaco.  He came from their youth academy under Wenger's guidance.  Henry joined Wenger's Arsenal in 1999.
-- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was Arsene Wenger's last purchase before Wenger left the club in 2018.  He was born in  France, but represented Gabon internationally. Technically, he is ineligible.

Formation



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