In a lovely article in the Independent by Arsenal supporter Dermot O’Leary, Thierry Henry has spoken appreciatively of Arsene Wenger’s ever-consistent belief in the ability of his players.
Signed on loan in January, despite admitting that age had taken its toll on his athleticism, Henry scored match-winning goals against Leeds United and Sunderland, in a six-week cameo that has played an important role in pumping positivity around the camp at London Colney.
Reflecting on Wenger’s continued influence after 15 years in North London, the club’s leading scorer told broadcaster O’Leary:
“He makes you believe in yourself. He will let you be what you want to be. And obviously at times he has to be hard. That’s him, he will make you aware of your abilities and make sure you take care of it and take advantage of it.”
Admired as a professorial figure, rather than a shouty-cunt type coach, Henry stressed that Wenger wasn’t adverse to raising his voice in the changing-room if he felt his squad were not performing at the required level.
“He does now and then, but that’s often the way it has to be, kind of political. He loves them [his players] that much that sometimes … he’s not going to lose it like all managers.
“And that’s the beauty of him; he believes in his players so much, that sometimes, like you see recently, his players can turn around a situation just like that.
“In those four games, Arsenal were losing and they came back. He believes in the team.”
Thierry we love you!
He is our rock….has Arsenal right through him.
Back in Jan 2013 ?
I know Arsene has his faults, too much faith in some players sometimes, but that faith also allows players such as Kos, Song, Pires to grow when many were writing them off. I don’t think we can underestimate what a good piece of management bringing TH back was.
My role model….Thierry Henry!
Kudos to Le Professor
Every one makes mistake and Wenger has made some too. But Cesc wanting to leave and Na$ri wanting more money wasn’t Wenger’s fault. Wenger has always wanted the best for Arsenal. Hopefully he has realised his mistakes and is now working hard to rectify them and we should support him completely in these times.
In wenger we trusted, trust now and will trust forever. That man right there is an oasis of love in a desert of commercialisation.
It is great that he has belief in his players but he needs to be realistic.
There is a reason why we havn’t won anything for years!
There are a few reasons. We have a new stadium that everyone knew would take it’s toll on spending until we could afford to by top players again, we aren’t swimming in debt or have a sugar daddy that takes the best players for ludicrous amounts of money. Also, the scouting pool is smaller than it’s ever been. For every Henry Wenger finds, there’s a sugar daddy waiting to offer the selling club £10 million more. If Henry was 21 year old now and still at Juventus, do you honestly think Barcelona, Madrid, St Germain, or City wouldn’t turn his… Read more »
I don’t think the top clubs would have been fighting for Henry towards the end of his spell at Juventus.
Wenger obivously knew of his quality from his time at Monaco and signed him but i’m guessing the big clubs would also have scouted him throughly in this day and age and bid more
Hooops!
Dench baby, I love that guy(Henry), he’s got some Arsenal DNA running through him alright.
And thanks le proff, though sometime I don’t go with all your decisions but you are only a human being just like us, who have criticised you a lot, we love you for giving us the type of football played by the Arsenal and everything else, especially letting that chinlless cunt leave for shity!
I believe we will win the cup next season, COYG!
Always had faith in Wenger….unlike some people who are now jumping back over the fence and cheering for him again. Have faith.
Speaking of realistic, TH14 is refering to the real world and not some football manager stuff.
True we haven’t won a trophy for some years (the ‘gallas’ emirates cup doesn’t count) but that doesn’t mean the manager isn’t realistic. Over to you. Knock yourself out with the “wenger out! We need hazad, vertongen, samba, gotze, m’villa, garry fucking cahill before the end of the season to overhaul the gap to united” that will cheer you up and make TH14 speaking his mind about the club he’s recently been to sound crap.
Good article, but that’s a woeful error regarding the MLS season winding down. It makes me wonder if the idea for the article was at an earlier time? It’s strange how a Subeditor didn’t pick it up.
I apologise for wanting to see my team win titles rather than a feeder club for Barca/Man City etc
You don’t need to live in football manager fantasy world to reinvest money made from sales of Nasri and Fabregas in better quality.
Credit to the players and manager for climbing up to third place but we should not have been in that position in the first place.
Firstly, don’t say ‘etc’ when you only had two examples. And secondly, I don’t think there is a single right minded arsenal fan who would swap with a team like Liverpool, who did invest heavily in their squad and are now currently cementing 7th place. We have a great young squad with plenty of experience around it, and I for one feel that it finally has some balance about it. Let’s not knock Wenger now, right since the team seem to be doing what every one wanted and that is pushing on and showing some balls and nause about them.… Read more »
I wonder if Henry will have a role at the club when he hangs his boots up.
It pains me to see Veira “oop norf”, he too should be working with Arsenal somehow.Keowns been a sterling ambassador for the club recently.
Does Wenger have alot of faith in Park?
what about the cheap version of Gotze that we signed in January? I heard he has an injury track record and only played one reserve game before getting injured…
Do you mean Arteta?
I think he means Eisfeld.
It’s waaaayyyyyyyyyy to early to talk about him in any kind of definite terms.
I’m not that fond of these slogans like “in A we trust” or “in A we rust”. But I’d prefer the former as it has some positivity in it. But it doesn’t contribute to the argument in any way. What fascinates me in this debate (for/against AW) is that some people really think that sacking the manager solves all the problems of a club (influenced by the media?). I’d rather pose the question: would it be wise to sack him? Well, despite what some people may think, football isn’t a tug-of-war between two managers, like Gandalf Wenger in one corner… Read more »
agree the silence from Stan Kroenke is worrying!
No true Arsenal fan would ever want Arsene sacked, not that it’ll happen anyway.
Even when he decides he’s had enough, he needs to be our Director of football!
Imagine Wenger at Man City with billions at his disposal, it’ll be game over for the rest of the premiership.
“…some people really think that sacking the manager solves all the problems of a club…”
Yes, just ask a Wolves supporter how that’s working out for them.
On the other side of the coin, look at what’s happening now at Blackburn after Kean stuck with it though all the abuse heaped on him by their fans.
A change of manager has been known to turn around the fortunes of a club, but the policy of sacking the manager every time you go through a bit of a bad patch should be left to the Geordies…..
I’ve never understood the mentality of sacking the one person who is best placed to rectify problems – and that’s not just in football. Sometimes it seems like the world is run by armchair experts who at the first sign of anything going wrong instantly call for heads to roll.
Exactly.
I disagree with the idea of sacking Wenger.
Impressive that he has managed to consistently qualify for CL with limited spending, But he has made mistakes-maybe bring in someone to work with him that would give a second opinion?
I wish I could see how the dressing room is like just for a month or so, just to feel the love from within. thiery, wenger, RVP-symbols of the arsenal
Wenger is a brilliant coach, but lacks something as a manager. For some reason he just isn’t ruthless enough. Time and time again, in recent years, he has taken the team to the brink of glory and then thrown it all away by not taking that final step and signing the defender/forward/goalkeeper that we needed to take us over the line. This year he has been incredibly lucky that RvP has not has his usual injuries and has been able to (so far) play for a complete season. Without him we would now be about twelfth in the table. And… Read more »
he’s not ruthless enough because he trusts and loves his players, which is no surprise because it’s what TH14 is banging on about in the piece above
i suppose the dismal truth is that the ferguson method, whereby you manage through fear, is more effective than AW’s preferred route of trusting players to respond to his belief
you can’t help but feel that if the little sods weren’t paid so much money and so cossetted, then AW’s methods might be rewarded more appropriately by the players than they are. sad.
What you mean is: Wenger is a brilliant coach, but lacks something as a manager. For some reason he just isn’t ruthless enough. Time and time again, in recent years, he has taken the team to the brink of glory and then thrown it all away by… personally hiring a guy to break Van Persie’s ankles, failing to get rid of the old gypsy witch woman who walks up and down Holloway road casting hexes on players like Fabregas, Eduardo, Ramsey, Wilshire, Vermaelen Rosicky and Diaby, causing them to have bad injuries at the time they’re needed the most and… Read more »
It’s amazing how Man United can have injuries and yet still win league titles and cups, isn’t it? I suppose that we’ve had seven years of “the old gypsy witch woman walking down the Holloway Road”, that’s why we haven’t won anything. Fuck me, I never thought about that! We’re cursed! That’s it!
Brainless.
Some good points but if you’re going to say we’d be 12th if we’d lost RVP and are lucky then we have been unlucky to lose him in previous season and should have finished higher. Really we can only look at where we are.
Wenger “Lacks as manager”?
What planet are you on Fats?
That pic was almost perfect…
Because scoring that goal was a perfect moment, from a perfect player for a perfect manager…
And then I saw Squelchy
We will realise Wengers worth when he’s gone. He didn’t just revolutionise, expand and better our club, he represents our history and traditions in his everyday behaviour. All the big stars left and he’s still there. Only him and us. Also the way he speaks of the history, the standards that are expected, and the way he defends our club with such dignity makes me proud.
The greatest manager in our illustrious history. Respect is due.
He’s won fuck-all in seven years. Nuff said.
I always feel bad for people like you, who think football is about winning trophies. You have no idea what you’re missing out on.
I wonder if Fatgooner ever goes to home and away matches? Its not question of testing his allegiance to the club and team, i just don’t want to sit next to you on the coach to Sunderland or Swansea next season.
Get over it, for fuck sake! We have gone from 15th to 3rd this season and you still can manage to find some bile to spit out at the club you supposedly support.
Jesus, where do you freaks get off?
It looks like Henry is stabbing Wenger in that picture
i thought AW had just realised that Squilaci was right behind TH and hoping for a big hug as well
Why bless you, Fatgooner, for allowing Wenger to come back for another year!
But only if we finish in the top four. Otherwise he can fuck off.
The point is, heihaci, you might have a point but you kinda posted it on the wrong story. We all love the club and want to see it win things as does AW and TH14. But that’s not what le Tel was talking about. He’s talking about Arsene and how he handles his players. That includes the ones he signs in the future. He’s not talking about the boss thinking he has the best players in the world. He’s talking about how he believes in the players he has and how they responded in the recent run of good form.… Read more »
Fatgooner just like northern gooner are so negitave.why can’t they take the rough with smoooooth