Monday, December 23, 2024

Henry: Everything better…but that should be standard

Thierry Henry says Arsenal’s performance at Chelsea should be the blueprint for future away days after watching Arsene Wenger’s men secure a creditable point.

After the recent 4-0 capitulation against Liverpool at Anfield, few pundits expected the Gunners to leave Stamford Bridge with anything but a defeat. A composed and tenacious performance proved the doubters wrong and had a flurry of chances not been squandered in the first half they might even have left with three points.

The improvement was noted by Henry in his post-game analysis on Sky Sports but he also pointed out that Arsenal remain winless and goalless on the road so far this season.

“It wasn’t difficult to be better than what they were at Liverpool,” he said.

“That was the standard for me for what you’ve got to do away from home. In terms of performance, that’s standard in terms of what you need to do away from home.

“When you are away from home, whether you play the champions or not, you need to be careful of what’s going to happen.

“So yes, Arsenal got a point. Yes, Aaron Ramsey was better but the team defended better, the wingers were tucking in, helping those two guys at times when Aaron Ramsey was going, again, too early, they were recovering a bit for him.

“The three at the back were also a bit better because the job was done in front of them.

“Everything was better today. We got back to the same thing, they’re still looking for their first goal away from home, and they still didn’t win away from home, but that was way better from what we saw against Liverpool.

“But that wasn’t difficult to, also.”

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Pedant

True, let’s hope it wasn’t a blip.

Decent run of matches coming up and a chance to be a lot nearer the top. COYR, keep it going.

IamaGoober

Yeah – it kind of bothers me that its taken us until this point now to put in a decent showing away at Chelsea, like whats the stat? We haven’t won any of our last 13 away games at ‘the top 6’ the majority of those being losses. Walking into the ground yesterday it did feel like an awfully long long time ago since we had actually turned up and performed on the bigger stage in the Premier League. I know we had some decent performances in the FA Cup against the bigger teams, with last seasons FA Cup Final… Read more »

Don Cazorleone

Can someone explain this “top 6” stat that’s floating about? How is it calculated? Which top 6? Is it the current top 6 that includes Newcastle and Huddersfield? or is it our results against every team that finished in the top 6 over the last two/three seasons? Because if so, that’s a good 7 or 8 teams including Leicester and Southampton (who finished 1st & 6th respectively). Or is it any team that was in the top 6 WHEN we played them? Is it just in the league? Cos we’ve beaten top 6 teams in the cups. Just away games… Read more »

Nachos in Montreal

It’s last season’s top 6;we haven’t won in any of their grounds since Man City in January 2015

adriano

Everton is the Only club who is somewhat close to the top 6 clubs. the top 6 are very obvious…

bubs

“But in the league I literally couldn’t remember when we turned up against someone in the top 6 and put in a decent performance.”

There was Leicester during their championship season….

adriano

Be real. We all know the Top 6 are: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Man C, and this other shit team with white kits.

*whining* “but Lester finished 1st, Newcastle is in the top 6 now, etc, etc….”

Don Cazorleone

Ah January 2015..

So the season when Liverpool and Chelsea finished 8th and 10th

eternalflamini

I have no idea why TH14 has to be so negative about this team – I guess in his head he is constantly comparing them to the invincibles. On that measure, they will likely fall short for many years to come.
Having said that, I’m sure most fans will agree that this game has to be a template for the future and is not some massive achievement in itself.

Martin

I don’t think he is being negative just realistic just like ant true supporter

Martin

Any not ant

JustBrowsing

I’ve got a pet Ant that supports Arsenal!? Goes to all the away games on the train ?

Leah\'s Left Foot

By himself or in a jam jar in your pocket? 😉

eternalflamini

I’m sick and tired of people deciding that people on one side of the fence are “true supporters” while everybody else is.. what? Fake supporters? What does that even mean?
I don’t mind people disagreeing with me (as most seem to have done on this occasion) but why question my love for the club?

kaius

Wait who questioned your love for the club? He said “not negative, realistic like any true supporter”.

Some of you get a little bit sensitive when you discover that many of us don’t see anything wrong with what Thierry Henry says. Frankly it’s the negative attitude towards him that always surprises me, considering he just detailed a number of very positive tactical details about our performance.

Mootilated

”Like any true supporter” hahahaha that’s cute. Have you ever been on the comments section of this website? Commenters change their minds more often than I change my underwear… (which is quite often for the record)

Bordan

No one is expecting the Invincibles and I don’t think Henry is. But he is expecting us to put in the minimum amount of effort and discipline to compete. He’s just calling a spade a spade. The fact that the side is shitty at the moment guarneteea negative comment

kveb

*a club a club.

eternalflamini

fair enough

Gonzogunner

You sound like getting beat 4-0 by Liverpool is acceptable to you. How is wanting your team to score away from home a high standard?

eternalflamini

Obviously I want the team to be able to score everywhere – I was referring to Henry’s general negative comments on Arsenal. I think it’s a genuine problem if we are going to hold this team up to the invincibles, because then our expectations are too high and it creates an air of negativity that doesn’t help the team. But hey, let’s agree to disagree.

Everesco21

But you’re the only one who mentioned the invincibles. He never said that’s what they should be.

eternalflamini

I said “I guess in his head he is constantly comparing them to the invincibles.”
And by “I guess” I meant I was guessing, and I said “in his head” because he didn’t say it out loud.
At no point did I claim this as fact. It was a guess on my part based on his general comments about the club.

ChrisGoona

It is a very good guess. Henry and all the other pundits reference the Invincibles pretty often. Of course he uses that as the yardstick and reason to create drama in the media. All ex-players and fans have biased opinions and Henry is no different. He has often compared the current team to the Invincibles in the past and of late. I know he thinks he is an Arsenal fan, but he only really appeals to the glory hunting section of Arsenal fans right now. That is his job, he is creating drama for television. If he was truly devoted… Read more »

ATG

I’m sorry I disagree with you with everything you wrote above. To start with in terms of application and desire to put in a decent shift as the Invincibles did this team is no way near that standard, and he’s spot on to point out that you require this kind of application for all the away games if it’s Chelski, Man U, Man C, Leicester, Swansea and so on. For me it’s not only the away games but also home fixtures too. Last season we saw glimpses of how good the team is, the only perfect for me performance was… Read more »

AndrewG

This team doesn’t come anywhere near invincibles. We just want a team that can compete and win games. If we have to lose, it should be after a good fight and to a better team not by the fact that we are poor or manager making experimental team selections or playing players out of position. The performance at Chelsea should be the basics for us. Now come on lads, let’s go for wins at other top clubs away from home. And not forgetting the traditional wins at that bunch called sp*rs.

William

TH14 has a point, much as he is a gooner legend he needs to assist the team with objective criticisms not just praising and praising. TH14 would be ideal success of Wenger

Bob\'s Mexican Cousin

It’s telling that Wright talks about we and us, while Henry talks about they and them.

chidi

He works for sky sports…. He needs to maintain a level of objectivity!

clins

if you read what wright is telling about this club , you’d be surprised that wright is much harsher on the team and wenger than henry . the things being said here that henry is negative towards arsenal and all doesnt make sense , because he is only saying the truth . how could someone say performances till chelsea game has been satisfactory . what would you have rather him say , that everything is going fine and well , its just matter of mental strength and all all that shit…..we’re already getting all that from wenger

Dan Hunter

Wright criticizes Arsenal far more than Henry

ronaldo

lol, whats with the th14, henry is just being honest that’s all, and I don’t know why you got the thumbs down

OdalGooner

I really like this Arsenal. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone be scared to play us since the “good old days”. Chelsea were intimidated for periods of the game. And I absolutely loved hearing the blue shirts at my local go absolutely mental when their team couldn’t break through our defence. I know, we played Chelsea, who attacked us. We can’t do the same thing against opposition that just sit back. It’s been a problem for a decade. But in Iwobi we have someone who can dribble in tight spaces without losing the ball. In the Tanc we have someone… Read more »

kveb

I agree, that’s why Iwobi started – he rarely loses the ball – classy feet.

cagooner

I agree. I’m not anti-Sanchez and Ozil, but i think a lot of the good points from our performance yesterday came from them NOT being on the field. Much more discipline from the like of Welbz (get well soon) and Iwobi.

Also, don’t know where Blogs gets this “Iwobi lacking confidence” stuff from.”

Stringer Bell

You mean like the cup final when we were superb and won, that sort of good point coming from their absence.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Yes, it’s hard not to agree with what he says. We are always better when we work harder. It even worked on an individual basis for Walcott for a few months. The harder he worked the better he got. Wenger made a big point this season about “Look what Leicester did. That is inspirational.” The problem is we haven’t been working hard for eachother as a team this season, and that is the fundamental thing that allowed Leicester to win the PL. He should have said “Look how hard Leicester worked to win the PL. THAT is inspirational.” He needs… Read more »

Loose_Cannon

It’s very strange that Wenger would point to Leicester for inspiration when we play nothing like that team…

ATG

TOP COMMENT OF THE WEEK! CLAP CLAP CLAP!

Ivan Parasite

Henry’s comment wasn’t suprising as he is also pissed off on how we got thrashed at liverpool. And also as most of us fans, is happy when our team showed an improvement. Henry is a true Gunner.

Damobot

I’ve said it many times that Wenger can and is able to utilise those tactics but is unable to do so because of corporate pressure. The sponsors wabt exciting attacking football we are famous for but don’t care about the risks of other teams exploiting that. Everyone keeps on saying if this this guy or that guy it would be different, it wouldn’t. Because it takes a lot out of your creativity to play that way. As far as I’m concerned we only need to play like that against the top six away from home

Faisal Narrage

How well-fitting is that tinfoil hat of yours?

Vedant

Corporate pressure? What a load of bollocks!

btw

They would rather have us lose gloriously than win boringly. Of course… it all makes sense now. I actually think that it is Kronke who is the football purist and won’t let Wenger use any other tactic than all out attack. I also heard that Kronke personally told Ramsey to get forward whenever possible.

Damobot

Kroenke doesn’t and never knew anything about football. And they would rather us win this way and not lose but thats not happening because what they want is very hard to achieve. Anyone can win the Premier league the ugly way but its way harder to do while also being entertaining which is the whole point of football for the spectators regardless whether they are supporters or not. Moaninho has won everywhere he has been but nobody talks about his teams of being entertaining, in fact they label their football boring. So lets see if he can win the league… Read more »

Bai Blagoi

It just makes me sad to hear TH talking for Arsenal as “they”. I know he has to, in his role of pundit, but still makes me sad.

ronaldo

you are right henry, it should be standard, but unfortunately its not

Andy Mack

23rd December 2000, Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0. The Arsenal squad included T Henry and GOD.
Shit happens.
Yes this last loss was a pathetic display but every team has the odd pathetic display (OK we have them a bit more often than we should…) but the media god into meltdown when we’re the team doing it.

ronaldo

because we are the only top team doing it

Andy Mack

How many did $iteh put past Liverpoo!?
In most seasons ‘almost all’ the top teams have a really bad game, and it’s not always the team that finish on top that miss out on that.

Loose_Cannon

The problem is that every time we turn a corner it turns out we’ve been going in circles. I remember when we beat City 2-0 away, one of Cazorla’s first games as an out and out CM and we thought we’d turned a corner. I remember beating United and Chelsea 3-0 at home and we thought we’d turned a corner. It’s like after these performances there’s a Men-In-Black type that erases everyone’s memories and we forget how to play against the best sides again. The players have shown they have the ability and potential before but they lack the tactically… Read more »

midgunner

I seem to remember the word ‘blueprint’ after that away win at city two seasons back…

btw

I support Arsenal because I am a big fan of that Bill Murray movie “groundhog day”

Riku

Was it me ?
I thought ramsey player end at ten and iwobi played basically alongside Xhaka not on the wing. Like others have suggested. That’s why we had bodies in midfield with welbeck getting back also.

Any one else think only play ozil at home and in europa league ( and appropriate fa cup games). He can play home or away in Europe, his game is well suited for more technical opposition. This will help us Get back into champion s league

santori

The issue is not the ‘standard’. We have met this standard before many times. The issue is replicating it on a consistent basis. Particularly against lesser opponents where we tend to lose our discipline. As mentioned, Ramsey has held together midfield before with Flamini two seasons past in a stretch that saw us beat City and Olympiakos away with many of our top assets missing. Last season, he held with Granit over remaining 13 games in a good run. The discipline is key. It helps the defense considerably to have a functioning and solid midfield pack. Iwobi in particular I… Read more »

Manninger

lol

Ramsey and Flamini was a complete horrow show.

Our title challenge was over when Cazorla (top asset) got injured. See 3-3 (away to liverpool) and 4-0 (away at so’ton)

Redcore

Yes. That is what I remember. He had a completely dysfunctional and miserable partnership with Flamini.
Gallas / Silvestre level dysfunctional.

sixteen swans

This is where Henry loses me. The humiliation at Liverpool wasn’t down to not adhering to the ‘blueprint’ we employed yesterday it was everything. It was attitude. It was belief. It was players playing out of position. It was the wrong players being on the field in the first place. It was players on the field going walk-about leaving huge holes in midfield. It was a fucking perfect shit-storm … … not the lack of any wanky blueprint. If this is the kind of thinking that TH14 is engaged in these days then let’s hope to hell he never becomes… Read more »

ronaldo

whats with the th14!!!!

Dan Hunter

Because TH14 is cool

dufferene

Needed Wilshere where Iwobi was.
Wilshere is the best we have in Santi’s absence who can make things happen.

odalgooner

I’d love to agree. But Wilshere hasn’t played for a stretch of games for our club for quite a few seasons. He might have been the answer to all problems big and small – but we simply don’t know his level yet. I’d love for Jack to be back – he’s one of our own – but if we select players based on what they could do at their best at some point, we should start Theo. And Bendtner.

dufferene

I felt he was quite good even in the last U23 match he played.
He’s still got that hustle and vision about him.
The only way we can all find out, is if Wenger decides to actually put him in this Arsenal team.

rob2gud

Am I the only one to read his quotes in his voice in my head….. must be the vavavooooom

Lula

Yep. People were ecstatic at the basics being done well. I still am.

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