Former Gunner Philippe Senderos has announced his retirement from football.
The 34 year old joined Arsenal in 2003, and was in the team that beat Man Utd in the FA Cup final in 2005.
Arriving in North London ahead of other options like Real Madrid, his career began in promising fashion, but injuries meant he never fulfilled the potential Arsene Wenger saw in him.
After loan spells at AC Milan and Everton, he left permanently in 2010, joining Fulham where he spent four injury hit years.
After that he played for Valencia, Aston Villa, Grasshoppers, Rangers, and spent time with Houston Dynamo in MLS before finishing up at FC Chiasso in his native country. He also won 57 caps for Switzerland, and played at three World Cups.
❤️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Gc5b7XtqLs
— Phil Senderos (@Philsend4) December 16, 2019
He remains best known for his time at Arsenal though, and last year I spoke to him on the Arsecast about his life, career and his time at a club which he still holds very fondly in his heart.
Have a listen.
So he’s available on a free
So is Johan Djourou.
That pair would do better than Luis and Papas even today. They were lot doubts about their quality but not about them getting us to top four.
So is Ancelotti, for about another hour, until he signs for Everton
‘Lehmann still holds the record with the most consecutive clean sheets in the UEFA Champions league with 10. His back four was for the most part: Eboue, Senderos, Toure and Flamini. This was the 2006-campaign.’
995 minutes without conceding, Senderos should be proud.
Decent, intelligent player, could speak 5 languages but wasn’t cut out for alpha dominance battles. He was also the first and poster boy for the soft ‘underbelly’ tag that we carry to this day. Never came back from that dreaded Drogba encounter, made him doubt his ownself..
That defence just shows how important it is to have a midfield who can control the game and help the defence out. Our midfield just let everyone through.
And to add to that he was part of a Swiss defense that again did not concede a goal in normal play in a World Cup until he dislocated his shoulder. From there missed the start of the season which allowed some block to start instead and that was the downfall of the Arsenal and Senderos.
so is Saloman Kalou
Man I would still take him over Luiz. How that man has survived being at Chelsea and Arsenal is amazing.
Arsenal legend! Part of the back 4 that got to the CL final without conceding, and still searching for Drogba in his pocket.
Lol what are you on about? He was basically Drogbas bitch.
I was trying to big up one of our former heroes. Keep up mate.
Classy right there.
Sarcasm was wasted on you mate
May want to google “sarcasm” though mate
Did his best, but Drogba took his soul.
Drogba always had our number. Ugh…..
I shudder every time i revisit those memories….
I still feel guilty how we sent him out as an inexperienced teenage CB in a team with not much defensive support and blamed him when he was getting annihilated by Drogba etc.
Chambers still can’t get past that montero moment imagine how Sendaros felt getting run ragged week in week out.
Good dude tho, I’m sure he’ll have a good post-playing career.
He should now have a coffee with Drogba as part of a therapy against post traumatic disorders. This is very important.
Oh the senderos days.. he laid the foundation for our error prone defending.. strong foundation I must say.. ?
2006 CL – he was an absolute beast for us!
Best wishes, hopefully you continue working in football.
That’s our January loan option no 1 gone.
Option no 2. Kim kallstrom. I don’t even care if he’s retired
We’ll probably end up with a 35 year old winger with a broken neck and fractured testicle.
I think Chelsea sold us a defender that fits that description.
Amazing how we left Kosc and Monreal go, both of them would be guaranteed starters.
I think that’s why they left. At that age in the rough and tumble of the premier league, their careers would be shortened by an yr or 2.
despite his technical limits i much rather liked him wearing our shirt than his/my compatriots xhaka and lichtsteiner. very committed player but always on the fair side of the game.
He made a cute little ‘thank you’ video here – https://twitter.com/Philsend4/status/1206582153041129473
Cheers for the link
I thought he retired whilst still playing for us but he still got game time.
saw those on twitter first catching only his name in the subject.
initial thought was we’re announcing him as the new manager.
He scored on my first visit to the Emirates, 3-2 win v Sunderland.
Wishing you all the best in life, Bro.
Blessings
Thank you Philippe and all the very best for your future. You always gave everything you had. It has been a pleasure to see you play for The Arsenal.
Well we need coaches apperantly. Get the old gang together to give this lot some lessons.
I’ll remember him for being part of that backline that set such an unlikely but amazing clean sheet streak in the 2006 Champions League. As a guy who played for Arsenal since he was young and spoke something like 6 languages fluently I always thought he might lead us to trophies one day. Oh well. All the best
Thanks, Big Phil. Loved your heart – you always gave 100% and that matters.
He had his flaws, but what a great Champions League run in 2006! Unbeaten all the way from group stage up to the final in which Wenger messed up by breaking the invincible CB pairing (with Kolo You’re) to introduce an unfit Sol Campbell (just back from injury) just to appease the British media crying wolf at “no British player in a team representing England” bla bla bla. Quite tellingly it was him that got turned upside down by Samuel Etoo in the buildup to the sending off of mad Jens. The rest as we know it is sad history.… Read more »
*Kolo Toure . Fuck auto correct
part of a record breaking defence in our run the the 2006 champions league final. Along with Flamini as RB.
Fact.
Flamini was LB actually
Makes me feel old seeing a young prospect being old enough to retire