Thierry Henry is questioning the direction that Arsenal are headed in, with our performance against Brighton raising issues.
The Gunners started the season with three straight defeats, before a dramatic turnaround where we moved to win three on the bounce, climbing back up into tenth place, before a disappointing draw with the Seagulls gave them a reality check.
We didn’t create enough, and we didn’t show enough fight to overcome our rivals at the AMEX Stadium, and our club legend and former captain Henry is questioning the direction of the club.
“I don’t know if things are going in the right direction,” Thierry stated at the Prime Video Presents Sport 2021 awards(via TheSun). “I watched the Brighton game. Did you watch it?
“I’ve seen us beating Norwich before, winning at Burnley, beating Tottenham at home – because we always beat Tottenham at home.
“I was more than happy when we beat Tottenham as we were on a good run but I was waiting to see a performance, away from home, against a team that passes the ball. And, instead, we suffered.”
He went onto claim that he looked forward to seeing the match, but he didn’t see enough from his side, adding: “I was waiting to see the Brighton game, to see if we could have the ball and keep the ball, away from home, retaining possession, against a dangerous Brighton side.
“When we used to lose, even after I left the team, it was always said that ‘Arsenal don’t have a Plan B’ and that they passed too much for the sake of passing.
“But I didn’t see that from Arsenal in the Brighton match. I saw Brighton do that.”
While I don’t disagree with Henry’s comments about the match at the AmEx, I do question the reasoning behind his comments knowing that he appears to be a part of Daniel Ek’s team that wish to complete a takeover.
His opinion now could definitely be influenced by his intentions, although the latest takeover of Newcastle most definitely raises further questions over our ability challenge the bigger spenders in the division, and whether we do in fact need owners who are more willing to spend to get us to that point.
Could Arteta and the Kroenkes return us to being a regular top four side and title challengers in the coming years?
Patrick