I don’t know a single football fan in this world who doesn’t respect Thierry Henry. You don’t even need to be a football fan to love him. He was that type of player whose talent surpassed all else, but to add onto that, he had a great personality in his playing days. Yes he got divorced so there must have been something wrong with him, but for us football fans that is irrelevant. He carried himself well as a player and was one of those ex Arsenal players who would never be booed under any circumstances by Arsenal fans despite ditching the Gunners for Barcelona. So when Thierry Henry speaks, we all stop and listen.
As you all know he is now a football analyst with Sky Sports and sadly we never get to watch him live in Africa, but we read about what he says particularly when it is deemed controversial by some quarters. We all know that Henry and manager Arsene Wenger have a great relationship. Wenger brought him to Highbury and Wenger welcomed him back for a short stint with Arsenal when the MLS was off season. But Henry stuck his head out for all Arsenal fans during his post match analysis following the Arsenal Chelsea tie on Sunday. He tore into Wenger’s “spine” or lack there-of when it comes to Arsenal’s first 11.
He said for Arsenal to win the league, Wenger would have to invest in a goalkeeper, a central defender, a defensive midfielder and a world class striker. He said as much as Olivier Giroud was the first choice striker, we would do okay but never win big titles. And Henry was right! At least many Arsenal fans accepted this piece of advice, which, mind you, has been given over and over again to Wenger, but this time it was being spoken by one of our legends. And when legend Thierry speaks, us mere mortals listen. I just hope that Arsene Wenger listens too.
If you look at the last decade or so and compare this season’s performance, Arsenal have done well in terms of where we’ve reached. Potential to finish second and in the FA Cup final. But if you look at where we want to go, we are still a little far from our goals. And we all know that the “spine” Henry talks about could make all the difference to the side. He went on to note how Chelsea bought Thibaut Courtois, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa and voila! The league title is theirs! By the way Congratulations Chelsea for winning the 2014/15 English Premier League season; now don’t expect me to keep repeating it after every game between now and the end of the term. You deserve it so enjoy it while it lasts because if Wenger listens to Thierry Henry and he should, then you won’t be smiling so much this time next year.
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