With the proud record of being the all-time record goal scorer for Arsenal Football Club and with some other significant records at the club and in the Premier League, Thierry Henry is not a man whose thoughts on anything to do with playing as a forward should be dismissed.
So even though he is no longer working behind the scenes in a coaching role for the Gunners, it is interesting to read in a Metro report his ideas about how Arsene Wenger might want to change things around a little in order to get the best out of the France international star Olivier Giroud and our Chilean star Alexis Sanchez.
Henry was obviously impressed by how his fellow countryman combined with his international teammate Antoine Griezmann for France at Euro 2016 and he thinks that the same sort of se3t up could work for Arsenal, with Sanchez playing the role of support striker rather than being stuck out on one of the flanks.
The former Gunner said, ‘You can see that (Olivier) Giroud becomes a better player when he has people around him.
‘Look how he played for France with Antoine Griezmann. He is very good when he can flick and hold up play – his link-up play is second to none – but he needs players around him making runs behind him.
‘When I see Sanchez play for Chile, he is up front, free. Not on the left, not on the right. That might be something. If Alexis can be used in and around Giroud, instead of being wide, both of them will benefit from that.’
Alexis may not have been at his best for us last season but he still often looked like our most likely chance of scoring and he also tended to come inside a lot due to his desire to score and his frustration about the team’s lack of incision. So I do think that Henry has hit upon a potentially great solution to Arsenal’s lack of fire power at times.
Do you think this strike partnership could work for us this season? And will the boss give it a go?
Bob.