After Thursday’s 3-2 against Crystal Palace, Thierry Henry suggested in his post-match punditry that the Arsenal dressing room was divided because not all the players went to celebrate with goalscorer Alexis Sanchez.
Despite the fact that TV pictures showed the Chilean surrounded by teammates, and pictures proved he’d celebrated with Laurent Koscielny, the club’s record scorer insisted there was a problem.
That was something denied by Arsene Wenger who was asked about it in the wake of the 1-1 draw with West Brom on Sunday.
“It was never a problem inside,” said the Arsenal manager.
“There are some people who want always to create problems.”
When it was put to him that Henry was one of the people raising the issue, Wenger continued, “I don’t know, I don’t listen to what he says and other people say.
“We focus on our own problems, that’s the only thing. There are people who are paid to talk.
“It’s difficult sometimes when you are paid to talk, to talk, to talk and only say things that are true and intelligent.”
It’s not the first time Wenger has dismissed some of Henry’s punditry, and it’s worth recalling that when asked to choose between a coaching role with Arsenal and Sky, the former French international chose the money.
Which, of course, is his right but maybe it’s something which hasn’t gone down well with Wenger.
Great player, obviously, but a so-so pundit.
There are worse, but I certainly don’t find him particularly interesting or insightful.
“when asked to choose between a coaching role and sky, he chose the money” I don’t really get this fabricated notion that blogs has created here between the ‘club’ and ‘money’…. How could you possibly know his reasons for choosing how he did? Or the deals on offer for either role (though it still wouldn’t give you any insight into his reasons though). Maybe he chose the pundit role in spite of the money.. Maybe the contract length was more appropriate, or the workload better fitting to his personal schedule, or maybe he didn’t believe he could learn under Wenger,… Read more »
Sky were offering £20m over 4 years. Arsenal were not. Maybe he really, really wanted to be a pundit rather than learning his coaching skills over time for a far less significant salary, but I’m pretty sure he chose the money.
This is not a criticism by the way. Because I would too, but let’s be real about it.
Well, I would too perhaps if the choice were between £50,000 and £250,000, but I am not so sure about it if I have already earned millions, and am likely to earn millions more eventually.
Wasn’t it Wenger who demanded he choose between coaching or the Sky job whereas Henry was willing to do both and offered to do the coaching unpaid? If I recall correctly Wenger nixed that suggestion and Henry went with the Sky job. So now he’s a shit pundit.
It’s fairly well documented that he was offered a role at Arsenal, but that he had to be fully committed and could not work part time at Sky as well.
I’m not taking sides, I’m pointing out a missing part of the story.
He is a shit pundit though.
Or he’s just another footballing whore. There’s a long list. We have people like smith who make statements which are patently untrue even while tv evidence shows that what they say is rubbish. And yet they are not excoriated by the media. One has to ask why not.
Great player, so-so pundit.
There are worse, but I’ve never found Henry to be particularly interesting or insightful.
Wow people having a go at Henry because he feels the dressing is split over Sanchez.
He’s the kind of fan that leaves for Barcelona and refers to the club as “they” and “them” when we lose. Not surprised he chose the money. Fans don’t fuck off to Sky/Barcelona when the going gets tough.
All he did was point out that Alexis physically gestured to the team to celebrate together, and combined that with us not being able to play cohesively at the moment.
It’s a reasonable assessment by a bloke who knows how professional footballers are.
Alright, not every team is a dream team, but the most important thing is to not drag and point your team in public. It is just ridiculous to hear former greats do that. As for me, I have shut down the pre, post analysis from a long time.
Why do we fans say worse than Henry says right here and object to him saying what he is paid to say ?
Because we as fans don’t command the same kind of respect as one HENRY who has a f*cking statue in the Grove and is worshipped by the Arsenal faithful.
So, even if he is paid to spout rubbish, it is important that he doesn’t create the divide. It is one thing quoting what’s going on, another thing fabricating stuff because you are expected to.
Arun. Great commitment!
“It’s difficult sometimes when you are paid to talk, to talk, to talk and only say things that are true and intelligent.”
Best quote of 2018 so far….. and for long 😉
I’m angry about our results, but I can’t prevent myself to love this guy….!
As good a verbal slap as Henry could have gotten for talking shite. He deserves it.
Hate to burst your bubble. But pretty sure Wenger said this in 2017.
Are you related to Pedant?
I love Thierry Henry but I totally agree with Wenger. The amount of negativity towards arsenal is unbelievable
Definitely the media and not the fans who want “Wenger out”. The negativity is the consequence of the fact that the club is no longer improving, not challenging with the likes of Bayern (I thought listening to Gazidis that was the purpose of the move to the Emirates), not dealing well with contracts situation, becoming a regular top 6 club, never challenging for the title. More important, Arsenal was a brand for the beautiful game under Wenger, there was an identity, a style of play. All of that is now gone, and most of the time the team is boring.… Read more »
It is easy to turn that into positives. I do not think Man City is getting much negatives at the moment.
yes
There may be a lot of over-analysing of the situation but the truth is that Alexis does not look a happy bunny.
He’s not playing well (despite scoring a few goals) so obviously he isn’t happy as he knows he can play better.
Henry has been a player and can detect small things that we fans cannot. Henry used to accuse Overmars for giving bad passes to him on purpose. He scored 55 goals for France and out of them Zidane gave him a single assist. Him and Pires almost got into a fist fight during a french national team gathering. I am saying a former player with such experience is better placed to see these things than us.
You don’t know what you are talking about, Bro.
If he was in the dressing room then you’d be correct. But as he only sees this from the outside, he’s just a penny psychologist like everyone else outside.
I’m convinced there is a media campaign against this club. De Bruyne and Sane had relationship problems on the pitch yesterday but the pundits didn’t blow it out of proportion! Sanchez scores, the team celebrate and the Arsenal dressing room is divided apparently.
No, because when they score, the Whole team celebrate as a group.
Did you count All the players joining in a big pile up? for every single goal? What about their keeper? does he also sprint across the entire pitch to give the goal scorer a kiss?
“I’m convinced there is a media campaign against this club.”
There has been for a long time, well before any of us were supporters (bar the odd outlier). It’s actually quite deep-rooted and not just the media.
Care to elaborate? if you have the time
Starting to dislike henry as a person from the day of his mutiny in thebworld cup
Lol, he wasn’t even involved in the so-called mutiny. Evra, Ribery and Gallas were. Henry was only part of the team.
Brûler!
No need to get arsey about it though. There is a rift, the issue is the size. Probably negligible; but you’re probably going to have to better insulate the players from these kinds of stories. If Henry’s speculation makes no difference then just let him have it. The issue is Wenger probably feels talking about a molehill as though we t were a mountain in the press creates one inside the club. That being the case, may the players shouldn’t be as insulated and toughen up. That not being the case, maybe Arsene should just let it be. So long… Read more »
He who pays the piper dictates the tune. That is the curious case of Henry. He is paid to say what his employers want to hear.
So he shouldn’t spot something everybody is seeing. He said that maybe they were over interpretation about the problem, he said it but everybody doesn’t care. He said that whatever is happening in the dressing room, all the team has to celebrate Together. What’s wrong about that. The thing is as a fan, if someone says something bad, then it’s because he’s doing a job against Arsenal. Because of course x nothing bad can be said about Arsenal. When he spoke about Giroud that was comedy at his most. He said something obvious, but he shouldn’t have because he’s suppose… Read more »
Pires is a ‘yes man’? He literally left Arsenal because Wenger substituted him during the Champions League final.
How do you define ‘staying in the patronizing of Wenger did something’? Length as a player or coaching work? Arsenal have a low turnover of coaches, so there are few examples of life out of Arsenal. If it is players, then there are plenty of his former players who are/have been managers, coaches, scouts, directors of football, etc. Hell, one of them even runs a country!
Great man…shit pundit
Henry is an arsehole. Blew us off for Barca, as for a pundit he’s up there with Brian Kerr, and let’s not forgot his 5 second career as a French basketball player.
Henry has always been a bit of a dick, even though he was an awesome player. The nasty attitude towards Oli and the condescending interview with Lacazette finished me, so to hear him shit stirring about people celebrating or not celebrating goals was no surprise. He can fuck off as far as I’m concerned.
Condescending interview with Laca ? Do you understand french ? Laca was talking to someone he sees as a mentor.
Never mind Henry…who chose our outfit for the day. Its like a bad Christmas sweater that bled in the wash because someone left a red marker in the pocket.
Why not just the classic white shorts? Someone trying to be clever again.
So ugly…i saw the kit and knew we would struggle. What an eye sore.
the good news about dec 31 2017. i now hate some one more than donald trump. mike dean
I’ve never followed his punditry so I cannot judge him as a pundi like many of you can. But I do agree with his assessment of Oxlade Chambelain though haha!