It is 24 years since the most beautiful goal in Premier League history was scored by Arsenal against Newcastle.
On March 2, 2002, a Saturday night at St James’s Park, Dennis Bergkamp received a pass from Robert Pires on the edge of the penalty area and suddenly morphed into the ultimate trickster.
Cushioning the ball with a left-footed touch so light pickpockets would have been consumed with envy, Bergkamp pirouetted around the back of Nikos Dabizas before steadying himself to roll a right-footed finish past Shay Given.
When you watch replays of it now, you still want to give a standing ovation and grab the person next to you and exclaim: ‘Did you see that?!’ It was poetry on a football pitch, a genius in the zone.
Such was the majesty, even Newcastle fans applauded. Where it stands in the list of great modern goals can be argued but this was graceful and balletic, a glorious snapshot of Arsene Wenger’s soon-to-be Double winners.
Dennis Bergkamp scores his iconic goal for Arsenal against Newcastle back in 2002
Wenger’s men weren’t always angelic – they wouldn’t flinch if someone wanted a fight – but how they played football. Bergkamp, Pires, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg: they made you want to tune in whatever the day or time because, simply, they would entertain you.
And isn’t that what football is all about: entertainment? With the price of tickets, travel, food and drink and everything else soaring, the one thing you want in return is bang for your buck but, this season, all we have been getting is ‘bang’.
Take Arsenal’s latest victory over Chelsea. Yes, it has taken them a step closer to their ultimate goal of becoming Champions once again but while it is winning football – and could prove to be successful football – nobody will be able to tell this correspondent that they are playing good football.
If you look at the league table, everything is as it should be: Arsenal have scored the most goals, conceded the fewest, accumulated the most wins and that’s exactly what you want to see from the league leaders but do they have that X factor?
They should do. Martin Odegaard is as good a midfielder as there is playing in Europe at present, he’s got craft, guile and has always had the capacity, like Bergkamp, to see the landscape in front of him a little bit differently; really, you would want him to be a contender for Player of the Year.
But Arsenal don’t ever open up and score the kind of goals you used to see from Manchester City, when they were never more dangerous than defending an opposition corner. One error of judgement and, suddenly, it would be ping-ping-ping at high speed before a final flourish.
It was a difficult watch on Sunday, seeing Declan Rice take an age to hurl in a corner – it’s almost comparable with how Jonny Wilkinson used to steady himself before taking a penalty – as an army of Red shirts grappled, jostled and bullied those in blue.
The antics that go on in penalty areas now regularly leave you thinking about rugby union scrums and line outs or first downs in NFL when it is all about strength and power and gaining an advantage through physical output.
What makes this so curious is that Arteta, during his time as a player with Everton, had such wonderful gifts. He was the one in a progressive David Moyes team that everyone wanted to pay to watch, so adored that Goodison Park christened him as ‘the best little Spaniard we know’.
Arsenal have mastered set pieces in the Premier League – but it is difficult to watch
Arteta always wanted Everton to be on the front foot, he was never afraid to speak out about the need to buy better players to take the team forward; he was signed by Wenger and has worked alongside Pep Guardiola, he knows precisely what good football should be.
Perhaps it’s a little unfair to major just on Arsenal because, let’s be honest, plenty of other teams are happy to go down the route of brute strength and time wasting; Chelsea and Brentford have given Arsenal as good as they have got of late, Newcastle wouldn’t win any prizes for prettiness.
The style of football in the Premier League has absolutely become a talking point and it was interesting to hear Arne Slot’s observations on Monday morning, with the rueful smile accompanying his words the biggest give away.
‘If I watch an Eredivisie game, which I still do, I see goals being disallowed and fouls on goalkeepers being given,’ said Liverpool’s Head Coach, who himself has faced criticism over his side’s style this year.
‘I think: “Wow! That’s a big difference!” Here, you can almost hit a goalkeeper in his face and the referee still says: “just go on”.
‘Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it. If you ask me about football, I think about the Barcelona team from 10, 15 years ago. Every Sunday evening you were hoping they would play. Now, most of the games I see in the Premier League are not for me a joy to watch.
Declan Rice is almost comparable with how Jonny Wilkinson used to steady himself
‘But it’s always interesting because it’s so competitive. That is what makes this league great because there is so much competitiveness. Everyone can win against everyone.’
Perhaps. ‘Competitive’, however, should not be confused with ‘class’ and it’s not wrong to be expecting more or to be tired about seeing set piece coaches standing theatrically in technical areas as if they have become the stars of the show.
One of the most rudimentary tactics in the amateur game is having big men up front and lumping the ball into them from deep. You would have anticipated the greatest minds in the professional game could come up with something a little more innovative. They should start by watching Bergkamp.
Games I’ve been to this season: 35
Entertaining games I’ve seen: 6
Most enjoyable match: Sunderland 3 Bournemouth 2: five goals, one scored from just by the halfway line; a red card, a stirring comeback and a riotous atmosphere, all played out at 3pm on a Saturday. It wasn’t the best technically but it was glorious bedlam.
