Best Soccer Formations: The Philosophy, History, Pros and Cons Behind the Numbers
Take a look at the best soccer formations that are synonymous with the sport and have marked entire eras.
Coming on the British television comedy talk show - The Graham Norton show, Arsenal legend Ian Wright spoke about his time at Highbury when Arsene Wenger arrived at the club.
Famously, Wenger instilled strict dietary restrictions for the players, which was a precedent at the time.
"I was devastated. You're talking about a black man that needs seasoning on his food. So Arsene Wenger came in and we're talking about having to eat that," started Wright while pointing at a vase with flowers.
Before continuing.
"No salt, anything. All we can do is drink water and eat food like the chicken was literally boiled. And it looks just wrong. Everything was just for fuel."
Wenger went as far as forbidding players from drinking tea. In England.
"Couldn't have tea. Couldn't have anything. I remember, at the time I used to share a room with Dennis Bergkamp, and Dennis is the greatest player I ever played with. We shared a room and we're total opposites in terms of personalities. Once we started doing the diet, Dennis stuck to it to the maximum. If the boss said to drink a quarter of a pint of water, he would do that. I would still the full pint."
Wright's cravings went so far that he even started smuggling... tea bags.
"I remember I snuck in some tea bags. Dennis was just on the bed and watching the telly, and he said 'is that tea bags?' and I said 'yeah'. 'But the boss doesn't want us to drink tea,' and I said yeah but he won't know," continued the back and worth Wright.
Then, Bergkamp gave his two cents on the, as Wright recollects.
"Bergkamp said to me, 'Ok so the whole team is doing it but you're not going to do it. When we need you most, you're probably going to let us down. And you're letting us down.' So, in the end, I didn't have the tea, because in the end of the day, what we ended up doing with that team, because of Wenger is because we adhere to what he wanted us to do. He is an amazing man, an amazing man," finished off the former striker.
