Arsenal Dream Team: No 8 Liam Brady
It’s time to unveil the Arsenal Dream Team.
This summer we asked the fans to choose their all-time XI and we got a tremendous response. More than 12,000 teams were submitted as supporters all around the world had their say.
There were only two rules: no current players could be included and the formation would be a traditional 4-4-2. That gave the fans a difficult task - how would they fit their favourite players into the side and find the perfect blend?
We’ll reveal the Dream Team position by position, resuming today with a central midfielder who was selected in 31 per cent of the submitted line-ups.
http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files...jpg?ic=1e9e93T
NO 8 LIAM BRADY
Midfielder
Appearances: 307
Goals: 59
Liam Brady is Arsenal's Head of Youth Development, he's 55 years of age, and he's
still a pretty decent player. Back in his heyday, he was dynamite.
When
Jack Wilshere was likened to the Irishman last season, a few eyebrows were raised among the older generations of Arsenal supporters. Not because Jack isn't a wonderful talent - he is - but because Brady was so special for so long.
The Club's fans have seen some prized assets leave down the years but arguably none of those losses were mourned as much as Brady's. Unlike, say, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira, the Irishman was at the peak of his powers when he swapped north London for Italy in the summer of 1980.
Put simply, Brady
was Arsenal back then. He made 307 appearances, inspired the Gunners to three consecutive FA Cup Finals, was man of the match in the 1979 Wembley win over Manchester United and generally elevated Terry Neill's team from an above-average top-flight side to a serious force in English football.
Brady was the cleverest playmaker of his generation, a man blessed with copious amounts of skill as well as balance, strength, a powerful shot and the ability to glide past opponents. He rarely picked the wrong pass and, for all his brains, he never shirked a challenge. Brady could be spiky as well as spectacular.
Emmanuel Petit was Vieira's regular midfield partner and he received plenty of votes in our poll but the prospect of Vieira and Brady pairing up in an Arsenal Dream Team is a mouthwatering one.
To get the very best out of them you might need a more defensively-minded player in behind but, in our 4-4-2 formation, one would have to stay and cover while the other surged forward.
Together, Brady and Vieira would give our all-time XI's engine room everything it needed. They'd combine force with flair, graft with craft, and every now and then you'd get a goal to savour too.
If you don't believe us, click on the video link above to see what Brady was capable of.
Please login to Arsenal Player before watching the video clips on this page.
WHAT THEY SAID
"Liam Brady is my role model. He works with the youth players now and he has always been there in my career. He has helped me a lot and people have said I am a similar player to him so he is probably my role model.” - Jack Wilshere
"He is very important to us because he is in charge of the youth set-up here. You know how important that is at Arsenal Football Club so it is vital to keep our structure going." - Arsène Wenger
LIAM BRADY AT ARSENALCompetitionAppearancesGoalsLeague23543
FA Cup352
League Cup2310
Champions League
134
Totals30733
