The New York Red Bull’s Thierry Henry came on as a second half substitute to a rapturous reception from the Arsenal fans, and then in pure Hollywood style, scored the winner against Leeds United tonight.
It took Henry less than 10 minutes to show the ineffective Marouane Chamakh how it is done as he took one touch to control Alex Song’s clever pass in his favourite inside left position and, before the Leeds defenders could react, he had planted the ball beyond keeper Andy Lonergan and into the far corner. A goal of pure class, and such a typical Thierry Henry goal.
There was a great tweet from Alexi Lalas after the game in which he said:
Wait, how can Henry, who’s been playing in such an obviously inferior league, waltz into the EPL and score?
Some quick thoughts on the match (written from an Arsenal perspective
- What struck me about Henry’s celebration after the goal and after the game was the raw emotion of it. In today’s sometimes sterile Premier League, it was amazing to see a player so genuinely happy to be be playing football, and playing football for a team he loves
- I tweeted this during the game (@wearearsenal) but it really struck me that Marouane Chamakh is the kind of center forward who is at his best when wingers are getting to the goal line and putting in crosses for him to attack. Unfortunately that is not Arsenal’e game, and he is not a player that is comfortable playing Tika-Taka.
- I thought that Andrei Arshavin had his best game in an Arsenal player in a long time. Yes he was frustrating a times, but before Henry came on, he was the only Arsenal player who looked likely to score
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looked dangerous at times, but I fear that he is just a bigger version of Walcott. The two of them are so similar that I don’t know how Wenger could ever play them together in the same side. And if that is the case, keeping both of them for the long-run makes no sense
- Arsenal’s defensive injury woes continued when Coquelin, who was playing at right back, went off with an apparent muscle strain. So expect him to be out for several weeks
So Arsenal progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup where they will play Aston Villa at the Emirates.
What did you think of the game tonight and Arsenal’s performance?
